The stage was set at the Barclay’s Center Saturday night in Brooklyn, as the league’s most prominent stars gathered to showcase their skills in a series of exciting events in preparation for tonight’s All-Star Game, which will be played at the famous Madison Square Garden. The Shooting Stars, Skills Challenge, Three-point Contest, and of course the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest had fans on the edge of their seats throughout the night, so let’s get right to the action.
The Shooting Stars Competition:
Team Bosh: Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins, Swin Cash
Team Curry: Stephen Curry, Dell Curry, Sue Bird
Team Millsap: Scottie Pippen, Elena Delle Donne
Team Westbrook: Russell Westbrook, Penny Hardaway, Tamika Catchings
- After Team Millsap and Team Curry were unable to advance to the Finals, it was down to Team Westbrook and the two-time defending champs known as Team Bosh. For some reason, Chris Bosh takes on a rare leadership role in this event every year and actually wins something by himself for once. This year Team Westbrook had different thoughts and tried to take the crown away from Bosh and his squad but they couldn’t even complete the four shot course in the Finals and their time run out on them after missing on 26 consecutive attempts from half-court. All Team Bosh had to do was complete the course within the 1:30 time frame and they would be crowned champs again for the third year in a row. They did just that, as former Atlanta Hawk’s Star Dominique Wilkins nailed his half-court attempt with over half a minute to spare, giving Chris Bosh his third title in as many years.
- As for our picks from the Sixerdelphia writers, Mike and I both believed Team Westbrook would break through and take down Team Bosh, and we were close but Team Westbrook didn’t live up to expectations. Rob, on the other hand, was confident that Bosh would lead his team to their third consecutive Shooting Stars Title and he hit it right on the money as he took the early lead over Mike and I, 1-0-0.
Taco Bell Skills Challenge:
The Skills Challenge this year put some new rules on display for the fans. No more stop watches for this event as it became a head-to-head competition this year compared to the old time oriented system. Here were the head-to-head matchups in the bracket format first round.
Isiah Thomas vs. Patrick Beverley
Elfrid Payton vs. Jeff Teague
Trey Burke vs. Brandon Knight
Dennis Schroder vs. Kyle Lowry
- Patrick Beverley of the Houston Rockets defeated Isiah Thomas of the Phoenix Suns to advance to round 2. Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks immediately eliminated my pick, Elfrid Payton of the Orlando Magic, who looked like he was just happy to be in the building. Bucks guard, Brandon Knight, took down the reigning champ Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz to advance and Toronto guard, Kyle Lowry eliminated Dennis Schroder of the Atlanta Hawks to cap off the first round. In the second round, Brandon Knight defeated Kyle Lowry in a thriller that came down to the jump shot to advance to the finals. He would go up against underdog Patrick Beverley in the Championship after Beverley eliminated Jeff Teague in the semi-final event. In the end, Houston Rockets guard, Patrick Beverley took home the trophy after defeating Brandon Knight in another battle that went right down to the wire.
- Our Sixerdelphia expert picks weren’t up to par on this one. I was eliminated in the first round because of Elfrid Payton’s lack of fight, he was clearly just happy to be part of the experience. Rob’s pick, Jeff Teague, was eliminated in the second round and Mike’s pick, Brandon Knight, was the closest to taking home the prize but came up just short. Rob remains the leader after two rounds.
Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout:
Steph Curry
Klay Thompson
James Harden
Kyrie Irving
Kyle Korver
Marco Belinelli
Wesley Matthews
J.J. Redick
- The best three-point shooters in the game were next up on the schedule as this year was highlighted by the Splash Brothers. Golden State Warriors guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson stormed through the first round with ease as they both advanced to the championship round. Kyle Korver, a former 76er, who was one of the favorites coming into the event, struggled to get in a rhythm throughout his round and collapsed under the pressure, failing to make the championship round. In the Championship round, Cavs guard Kyrie Irving couldn’t live up to his first round score of 23, as this time around he settled for a measly 17. Step Curry was just unstoppable, nailing 13 in a row at one point in the championship round and finishing with a record shattering 27 out of the 34 possible points. His fellow teammate, Klay Thompson, couldn’t quite live up to Curry’s performance and struggled in the finals, as Step continues to make his case stronger and stronger for the best shooter to ever play the game.
- The Sixerdelphia experts were wrong again on this one as all three of us took the former Philadelphia 76er Kyle Korver to win the event but we should’ve known from his time here in Philly that he wouldn’t prevail under pressure. Rob still up by one on Mike and I after three events with one remaining.
Sprite Slam Dunk:
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Mason Plumlee
Victor Oladipo
Zach LaVine
- The dunk contest started off with a little home court advantage as Brooklyn Center Mason Plumlee took the floor and showcased is dunking skills. Both of his dunks were “ehh alright” dunks but nothing to advance him to the finals. His highlight dunk was probably jumping over his 6’11 brother, Miles, who plays for the Suns. But at the end of the day jumping over your brother is a cute story and all but not worthy of winning you a dunk contest.
- Next up was “The Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo and believe me that’s the last time I’m typing that name in this piece. Mike and I were both expecting big things from him but he couldn’t even complete his first dunk, resulting in the lowest possible score. His next dunk was better but again nothing that was going to advance him into the finals. Disappointing performance to say the least.
- Rookie Minnesota T’Wolves forward Zach LaVine and Orlando Magic standout star Victor Oladipo were left to go and both shocked the crowd in the first round of dunks. Both guys displayed dunks that could’ve won the entire competition in the first round which was stunning and rare since the days of Vince Carter and Jason Richardson. LaVine came out of the tunnel sporting a Michael Jordan #23 Jersey from the 1996 film “Space Jam” that ignited the crowd into a frenzy. He immediately became a favorite for the competition and showcased his skills with a reverse, between the legs, dunk that had the Barclay’s Center hopping, resulting in a perfect 50 for LaVine. Oladipo would follow with a perfect 50 score of his own as he crowned himself “Mr. 360” after his first round dunk.
- In the championship round between the two, Oladipo couldn’t complete his initial dunk so he had to resort to a backup plan. He and Elfrid Payton went behind the backboard and Payton threw the ball of the back of the board allowing Oladipo to wrap himself around the backboard for the jam but Zach LaVine had something special in mind to top it.
- LaVine did an unthinkable dunk from the side of the court, using teammate Andrew Wiggins as a passer. Wigging threw the ball off the side of the metal that supports the backboard and LaVine caught the ball, went between his legs, and threw it down on his first attempt, and that was all she wrote. It was clear that LaVine won the contest and brought some fire back to the Sprite Slam Dunk that has been missing for quite some time now.
- Rob proved himself to be the All-Star Saturday night expert as he went
Overall grade on the entire night: B+
I really thought the NBA did a nice job of bringing some flare back to All-Star Saturday night. I wasn’t crazy about the new Skills Challenge format but the Dunk Contest came back last night. Zach LaVine and Victor Oladipo brought back some ideas that looked like late 90’s and early 2000’s dunks when the Contest was in its prime. It was fun to watch and hopefully it can improve even more next season.
