This past weekend the Big Easy hosted the NBA all-stars for a weekend of festivities. In case you missed any of the action here is a recap of the weekend’s events. Friday night’s main event was the rookie challenge where the leagues top rookies take on the super sophs. Yet again this year the second year stars ran away with the game and a 136-109 victory. The performance of the night hands down went to the Cleveland Cavaliers Daniel Gibson. Gibson was unstoppable from beyond the arc as he hit 11 triples to lead all scorers with 33 points securing MVP honors. Rudy Gay added 22 points, while Brandon Roy and Jordan Farmar chipped in 17 apiece.
Saturday night brought on the 3 point shootout as well as the fan favorite dunk contest. In the 3 point shootout Jason Kapono of the Toronto Raptors repeated as champion. In the final round when it looked like Daniel Gibson might have secured a victory with 17 points Kapono beat the record, which he himself set last year, by dropping 25 points for the title. In the dunk contest Dwight Howard stole the show. Howard opened with a dunk from the baseline, as he tossed the ball off the back of the backboard, caught it with both hands, wind-milled around and dunked left-handed. His best dunk of the night had to have been when he took off his jersey to reveal a superman costume. And once the cape was added, he started at mid-court taking off just inside the free throw line almost laying out completely horizontal as he threw the ball through the net. Howard at 6-11 was the tallest player ever to win the contest, proving that big men can jump.
By the time Sunday night came around everyone was ready for the main event. The game began in typical all-star game fashion looking more like a glorified game of street ball with more points coming off of dunks than jump shots. But that all changed when the game became serious in the second half. It was Ray Allen of the Celtics, a late addition to the team replacing the injured Caron Butler, who gave the East a spark off the bench. Allen scored 28 including sinking three straight 3 pointers late in the fourth quarter to help secure a 134-128 victory for the East. But the play of the game had to be when LeBron James slashed through almost the entire West team and dunked over several of them. That play along with his 27 total points secured LeBron’s second All-Star MVP. If the game itself is any measure of a conferences talent maybe we shouldn’t write off the East’s chances of winning a championship.
All weekend long it was rookies vs. sophomores or East vs. West but the real winner over the weekend was the city of New Orleans. Aside from the income the weekend brought to the city several All-Stars participated in six reconstruction sites around the city. Even though it may have only been for a day, the players did make a difference which is a refreshing change of pace from seemingly always negative stories we hear about athletes.
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