Welcome to today’s dish. What an amazing weekend. Today I will recap it and share my thoughts overall on the week. Let’s get to it.
It all started off with the Rookie-Sophomore game. This game was a good one. It kicked off the weekend in great fashion. Both teams came out and competed hard. A lot of times in these games, especially this one, players want to get noticed by throwing flashy passes and ally oops. The Rookies controlled the game for about two thirds of it. The Kevin Durant decided he wasn’t going to lose. Kevin Durant had 46 points and most of them were from beyond the arc. This wouldn’t be the last of Mr. Durant. The rookies started turnover the ball and then missing shots. You can’t do that in this atmosphere. In a very good game the sophomores extend the streak to seven straight years.
The H-O-R-S-E competition was fun to watch. It’s an idea that has needed to be in the All Star weekend for a long time. Now I can’t argue the three players that were chosen (OJ Mayo, Joe Johnson and Kevin Durant). I think they need to have either a really old vet say… Sam Cassell, someone who has been in the league from 10-15 years, where they don’t have the youth and athleticism that they used too. Or use a legendary player like Dr. J or someone like that. We just need someone who has to use their creativity to win. Someone who can rely on through the leg lay-ins. Someone who need to shoot the shot off the top of the backboard and in. With that said, the competition was fun to watch. Durant started out really cold, getting 4 letters before the other two got one. But then Durant heated up. He didn’t go into the stands like OJ Mayo or sit down at a computer and shoot like Joe Johnson. What did Durant do? He shot deep three pointers and drained them. Nothin’ but net like in the Jordan and Bird commercials. Once Joe Johnson was eliminated, Mayo had a “G” to Durant’s “G-E-I-C”, It took Durant five shots (because he missed one) to take Mayo down. It was impressive and so far it had been Kevin Durant’s weekend.
All Star Saturday night is one of the best nights in sports. It is the best skills night of any all star weekend. In years past this night was the talk of the weekend, the theatrics of the night are remembered until the next year. This year was no different. The night started off with the Playstation Skills Challenge. I had predicted a Derrick Rose- Devin Harris finals, I had predicted right. But I chose Harris to win because of his superior shot. Well young Derrick Rose proved us wrong. Winning the competition because he hit his shot quicker than Harris did. Harris missed about six shots form the top of the key before he could make one, costing him too much time. Rose hit the same shot, only taking two shots then finishing the course with a fanatic dunk. The next event was the shooting stars competition. This event is always the bore of the night. They need to replace it with H-O-R-S-E. Detroit won the event because the Phoenix team couldn’t hit the half court shot with 45 seconds left to beat Detroit. The 3 point competition had some hype with Toronto’s Jason Kapono going for the three-peat. My early pick was Roger Mason from San Antonio. Boy was I wrong, he only made seven shots. Miami’s Daequan Cook, Jason Kapono and Orlando’s Rashard Lewis made it to the finals. Kapono started off with a 13 in the final round. Lewis came in with a 14. As Cook got to the third rack it looked like Lewis was going to win. Cook need his last four shots to fall to tie Lewis, he did just that. The finals came down to a shootout. Lewis put up a measly 7 and Daequan Cook passed that in the second round becoming the new three point king.
The main event of the night was up next. All I could think of was what is going to happen tonight? I could only wonder what we would see, how would we be amazed? What would Dwight Howard do? My initial pick was Nate Robinson to win. I foolishly took the late replacement in JR Smith. He didn’t have time to properly prepare. But his first dunk was nice, he caught a lob off two bounces and then did a thunderous windmill. I think going first was a disadvantage. Rudy was up next, he did a marginal behind the back off the backboard one handed slam. Nate came up with a lob and a full windmill. Mr. Howard came out with a lob from behind the backboard, and jumped from one side of the basket caught the ball and slammed it home. The second set of dunks is where the competition became a two man show. Every player has to use another NBA player. This rule use to be teammate. But apparently Rudy Fernandez doesn’t like his Portland teammates. He used fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol of the LA Lakers. While everyone else used an actual teammate Rudy did not. Rudy‘s dunk was nice a pass off the backboard and he finished the reverse. He originally wanted to do a 180 and finish it but he can’t jump high enough to do it and settled for the dunk he did. JR Smith’s was a failed attempted just ended up having his teammate throw it from the stands. Nate brought out a teammate and literally jumped off his back. But the most impressive dunk of the round was done by Dwight Superman Howard. He brought out a 12 foot hoop and then went into a phone booth and changed into “superman”. Nelson threw the passed off the backboard and Howard slammed it home on a 12 foot hoop with ease. The finals were set and when they started Nate Robinson came out in all green and became “KrypotNate” His first dunk was a lob, he went up and got the ball, pulled it down and threw it down. An explosive dunk for how small he is he showed off his power. But Dwight threw his first dunk off the side of the backboard and jumped from outside the key calked back the ball and slammed it down. It was very impressive from where he had to catch the ball and then throw it down. Nate had to do something big and he did. With Dwight Howard’s participation “Kryptonate” literally jumped over superman. He brought down the building. The competition was over. Dwight jumped from just inside the free throw line but it was too little too late. The fan’s voted KrytoNate the winner and the right choice it was. But the big announcement for now is that LeBron James wants to be apart of the 2010 contest,
Here is a video recap of the entire contest. In case you missed it.
Now to the actual game itself, if you remember I predicted a West victory with Kobe garnering the MVP. Well the west won and Kobe got the split MVP with Shaq, who did deserve the Co-MVP. From the dance below to the give and go through Dwight Howard’s legs to Chris Paul then Paul back to Shaq for a huge dunk.
Kobe came out shooting and he was on fire from deep the entire game. This game was competitive from the go, But the addition of Mo Williams killed the east. When you have Rashard Lewis guarding Shaq, you don’t have much of a chance at winning. The game became a blowout for the reason of the West’s bigs were too big for the East’s. It was a great show and the NBA needs to realize how great their product is right now. People care about this All Star game because the players care and want to win it.
Now we do have some news. Terry Porter has been fired from the Suns and Alvin Gentry will take over. Gentry reportedly said he will run Mike D’Antoni’s offense. The seven seconds or less offense is back in Phoenix. Now the question is, do the Suns move Amare Stoudemire now? Only time will tell.
That’s today’s Dish. Hope you enjoyed the recap. Wednesday’s dish will address all the rumors and break down any of the trades that happen if they do.
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