Shaqawockeez and Krypto-Nate

Let's recap the All-Star festivities that took place last weekend.

First, the All-Star Celebrity Game.




I watched bits and pieces of the contest. I think I saw more airballs than baskets made during the game.

Best Harlem Globetrotters Show: Handles (a Harlem Globetrotter himself), when he started dribbling like crazy at the top of the key in various ways. He even kept his dribble even AFTER the foul! I found that quite amusing.



Best Alley-Oop: T.O. and Handles near the end of the first half. On a fast break, Handles lobs the ball off the backboard and, well, you know what comes afterward.



Craftiest Move During Game: Jon Barry, the analyst during this game, was going to get drenched with Gatorade/water during a free-throw attempt. We will let you see what happens next.



Now, to the Sophomore/Rookie contest. I didn't see the entire contest (like the celebrity contest, I caught bits and pieces of this one as well), although I saw the end of the greatest scoring performance by an NBA player during an All-Star game.




Not much to say about the event, but this is the only point that I saw repeatedly.

Most Overhyped Dunk: With less than a minute left in the game, Kevin Durant notched his final basket - a reverse dunk - as an exclamation point for the game, which gave him 45 points - an All-Time All-Star-Game-High points in a game. It was the one dunk that was shown in every highlight regarding this contest.



Now, onto Saturday night!

First comes the H.O.R.S.E contest. Or should I say "H.O.R.S.E. sponsored by GEICO." But you get the point.

If you did not get a chance to see the contest, here it is in its entirety.



Best Comeback Performance: After coming to G-E-I-C, and on verge of elimination, KD took charge and blew away the competition with an array of EASY jumpers that the other two players - OJ Mayo and Joe Johnson - failed to make.

Best Starting Performance: OJ Mayo, who started off very strong, and was the last player to get a letter in the game. Although he started off hot (He made a shot from the stands at half-court), he ended with a cold streak and gave the game to KD.

Worse Performance: Joe Johnson, who flubbed spinning the ball off his finger TWICE and AIRBALLED a behind-the-back shot from the paint.

Next is the Haier Shooting Stars competition.




The contest was almost what I expected, except for the very end. Here's a recap:



Worst Ending Performance: Team Phoenix (Ex-NBA player Dan Majerle, NBA player Leandro "The Brazilian Blur" Barbosa and WNBA player Tangela Smith) made ALL five shots in FIFTEEN seconds! They had 38 seconds - an ample amount of time to make a half-court shot to win the title in the championship round. Unfortunately, the home team failed to do so and gave the title to Team Detroit.

Third on Saturday's platter is the Playstation Skills Challenge.




There is only two things to comment on in this contest. Here's a recap.



Best Performance: Derrick Rose, who did well and topped the contest off nicely with a double-clutch backwards dunk to clinch the title. But he did get the following award as well

Worst Look Receiving Trophy: As one commenter put it "Rose looked as if someone told him his mother died and was given poop to eat when he was receiving his trophy."


Your decision.

Worst Performance: Tony Parker, who flubbed his way to last place in the competition. According to NBA.com: "The Spurs' point guard now holds the dubious distinction of having the two slowest times ever recorded in Skills Challenge history. In 2003, Parker finished the course in 45.5 seconds." It was Valentine's day, so I bet he cared more about his wife, Eva Longoria-Parker.


I would do the same as well.

The fourth contest was probably the WORST I have ever seen in a LOOONG time.






Worst Performance: Kapono (Couldn't win a third straight contest), Roger Mason (I had him winning the contest!) and Rashard Lewis (How could you go into the championship round and score only 7 points out of 30?)

He Proved Me Wrong Performance: If you read my last post, I made a rant that Daequan Cook shouldn't even be in the contest. He proved me wrong Saturday night, winning the shootout easily.

Last, but certainly not least on Saturday night was the dunk contest.





Worst Use of Attempts: Pau Gasol. Had he gotten the dunk routine correctly, Rudy might have been in the finals. Because he flubbed many times, that cost Rudy possibly a trophy.

Planned? I don't think so: Many NBA fans were saying that the whole dunk contest was planned, that Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson - the two dunk contest champions - were set to meet in the final round, that Dwight Howard did not deserve TWO 50's in the first round, and that the dunks were very unoriginal. I agree with the last two comments but NOT the first comment.

Best Original Dunk: Dwight Howard's third dunk (first in the final round), where he threw the ball against the side of the backboard and dunked it in.

Worst Use of Texting: I disagree that fans should have the first and only say in the final round. I liked the dunk contests where the final round was decided by the judges. Otherwise, what are they there for? Show? I think that the judges should vote on ALL dunks, and IF there is a tie in the final round after both dunks were made, the fans should then decide.

Worst Dunk: DH's 12-foot dunk. I say this because it took 15 minutes for him to go to the "phone booth", draw another hoop out and then do a normal two-hand flush on the 12-foot basketball hoop. EASILY the worst dunk.

Best Creativity: Nate Robinson. Clever that after the first round, decides to change from his normal Knicks uniform and switch to the St. Patrick's Day jersey's, with lime-colored shoes and basketball - just to become Kryptonite to DH's Superman. He deserved to win, although there was too much entertainment and not enough dunks. After all, it's a dunk contest, not an entertainment contest, people!

Now, to the final performance of All-Star weekend, the All-Star game.




This was enjoyable, but, NBA All-Stars, lay off on the defense! Jeez! It's just an All-Star game, not the NBA Finals!

Well, here are the highlights:



Best Single-Player Introduction: Shaquille O' Neal. Or shall I call him the "Big Shaqawockee"? Excellent performance by the big man in what could be his LAST All-Star game, ever. When was the last time Shaq wasnt part of All-Star weekend?



All, in all, the All-Star festivities were okay, at best.

Grade: C+

Now for the Video of the Day. Today's video is of the Dance-off with Shaq, DH and LeBron during All-Star weekend 2007. Like I always say, Enjoy!