NBA All-Star Weekend!

NBA All-Star weekend was a blast, yet also very strange! A seven-foot German import won the three-point shootout, a five-foot-eight basketball player won the dunk contest, Wizards 6' - 4" All-Star Gilbert Arenas was called a "forward" during the pregame starting lineups, and, lastly, Shaq acted as a point guard for one play in the All-Star Game.

All-Star Saturday night was in a bit of controversy as well. If you click here, it will explain the rules of the three-point shootout and the dunk contest. In the first round of the three-point shootout, German Dirk Nowitzki got a score of 12 before going to the last rack. His last shot, worth two points , was released just as the time expired. The last basket should not have counted, yet it did, and he ended up winning the three-point contest.

In the finals of the dunk contest, it was 5'-9" Nate Robinson matched up against 6'-4" sophmore Andre Iguodala.

Before the final two battled in the finals, there were some amazing dunks by both dunkers. In the second dunk by Andre, he used A.I. (Allen Iverson) as a prop. Both teammates were lined up behind the basketball hoop, next to the many photographers. A.I. tossed the ball against the bottom left-hand corner of the back of the backboard, and Andre picked the ball up with both hands, and then made a reverse dunk with the right hand. That gave him an automatic fifty.

On the next dunk, Nate used 1986 dunk contest winner Spud Webb as a prop. Spud stood absolutely still underneath the hoop as he lofted the ball over his head. Nate ran and grabbed the ball instantly, and dunked it in a flash.

These two dunks would be recognized as one of the best of all time, because of the creativity of both NBA players.

After those two spectacular dunks, the dunk contest needed a dunk-off to determine the victor. As quoted by the NBA All-Star game website, Nate, for his last dunk, "leaped mid-air and switched the ball between his legs twice before throwing it off the backboard. He then made a quick approach to the basket, caught the ball at its apex, swung it and slammed it in." That gave him the top grade of 50, and Andre (nicknamed A.I.) could not match Nate's dunk. A.I. originally got a 46, which would have tied Nate. But one of the judges pulled down his 10 and replaced it with a 9, making Nate the 2006 Slam Dunk champion.


In the pregame inroductions to the NBA All-Star game, the PA announcer announced "Gilbert Arenas, a second-time all-star forward for the Washington Wizards!"

In the first quarter, he game was very sloppy, with tons of missed alley-"oops," but became more serious as the game progressed. The West went out on a 23-8 run to end the first half, with many of the "oohs" and "aahs" going to hometown Houston favorite Tracy McGrady. He had spectacular alley-oops from teammate Kobe Bryant, one off the backboard, and another where "T-Mac" had a reverse dunk. The "Kobe-Shaq" feud must have ended, because both laughed, even after Shaq fouled Kobe, throughout the game. In one part in the first quarter, Shaq acted as if he was a point guard, bringing the ball up past midcourt. He even tossed himself a "T-Mac" alley-oop to himself as one of his free throw attempts! Vince Carter, the All-Star replacing injured All-Star Jermaine O'Neal, had two vicious dunks in the game. The only problem was that he missed both of them, each hitting the back of the rim and going to the other side of the court. He hid his embarrassment after the first dunk by hugging T-Mac. The second dunk was on a fast break, and A.I. threw the ball offf the glass with 2 seconds left in the game, and again Vince missed the dunk.

In the end, it was all Pistons and Lebron James. When the East was down by 21 midway through the third quarter, Pistons coach Flip Saunders entered his four all-star Pistons into the game, along with Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh. Then, the Pistons, I mean the East, played superb defense on the West, with one fantastic series played by Piston center "Big Ben" Wallace. When West center Pau Gasol was backing down Wallace as the shot clock was winding down, Wallace blocked two consecutive shots at very different angles. It forced the West into comitting a turnover, a shot clock violation, in fact. The East, soon thereafter, took the lead 102 - 100 on Rasheed Wallace's hook shot, the first lead for the East since the first quarter.

The East thereafter never lost the lead, which led to their 122 - 120 triumph over the Western Conference All - Stars.

Buzzer Beaters!

Man, there were two amazing buzzer-beaters in the NBA yesterday. Lol, it was amazing, dude! :D

There was a game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the offensive-powerhouse Golden State Warriors. The score was 79 - 77, the Grizzlies had the lead, with seven seconds left in the game.
The Warriors were diagramming a play during their last timeout. Point guard Derek Fisher, replacing the injured All-Star caliber player Baron Davis, took the ball to the right side of the paint, and floated a reverse layup off the glass to tie the game up at 79.
The Grizzlies called time immedately thereafter, with three seconds left. Pau Gasol, the first-time-all-star center for the Grizzlies, was set to receive the inbounds pass. He juked right, then spun left at the free-throw line, and, as if in a picture-perfect moment, lifted a turnaround hook shot that swished through the net at the buzzer.
The game was over, and the Grizzlies won a triller against the Warriors.


On the same day, the New Orleans/Oklahoma Hornets (the name is a lot alike to the Los Angeles Angels of Anheim. Lol :P) were hosting one of my favorite NBA teams, the scorching-hot Washington Wizards, who had won five straight games heading into yesterday's game. There were 24 seconds left in this game, with the Hornets leading 95 - 94 when it got interesting.
The Wizards reserve point guard, Antonio Daniels, grabbed a missed shot by the Hornets' P.J. Brown, and hustled to the half court line. The Wizards milked the clock down to ten seconds when All-Star shooting guard Gilbert Arenas, who had an amazing 43 points by the end of the game, hit a shot that hit the back of the rim. Power forward Antwaan Jamison grabbed the rebound in the air on the far left side of the court, near the three-point line and the out-of-bounds line with eight seconds left. In an instant, he lifted a high-arching shot that swished the net. As Jamison was walking back to the other side of the court, he hushed the crowd by putting his right middle finger in front of his mouth. The Wizards were leading 96 - 95!
After that stupendous shot, the Hornets called a timeout with five seconds left on the game clock to settle everyting and for the coach Bryon Scott to draw up a play for their offense.
After a series of picks, small forward David West of the Hornets was wide open on the top of the key, just in front of the three-point line. He grabbed the ball from the player inbounding it, and, instantaneously shot it. Center Brendan Haywood of the Wizards lunged his left outstretched hand towards West, but it wasn't enough. West hit nothing but net, and the Hornets won in dramatic fashion, 96 - 95. Hornets players stormed the court and hugged West therafter. On the other side, the Wizards players hung their heads in disappointment, as their five game winning streak came to a screeching halt.

You had to see it to believe it. As NCAA basketball commentator Dick Vitale would put it, "These games were unbeliveable, baby!"