Joint Contrast

By – Ray-Way Wallace

For better or worse, the NBA All-Star Weekend came and went before my very eyes, in high-definition. Here’s proof I remember at least a little bit of it before I offer up my regular-season ending predictions…

All-Star Sunday. Wow. From the intro to it’s finale, how much fun was that shit? From watching Shaq bust a move with a team of dancers, to him playing make-up with Kobe as they at least acted nice with each other. (Guess what‘s done is done, you both lost out on that deal). I wasn’t sure who was trying harder to take home the MVP Award between the two but best believe Phil Jackson did his part to assure Kobe at least got a share of it. And he did, as they both took the top honor. With the Big Diesel benched for most of the fourth quarter Kobe continued pumping out as many shots as possible. Before that though Shaq played the popularity card with amazing give and go’s, and taking part in running the fast break.

Overall the game had it’s moments of typical all-star park ball, and even a little defense mixed in there somewhere, but in the end it didn’t have that same pride factor in terms of going out and winning the game. The Eastern Conference laid to sleep midway through, allowing the West to straight-up blow them out. Hopefully the end of the game was at least a preview of what’s to come from King James, who gave viewers a taste of his dunk talent in the end and promised he “MAY” compete in the contest next year.

But if that was as much fun as it got then you could imagine what the Rookie/Sophomore Game and Celebrity Game were like a couple nights earlier. I definitely could have spent my Friday doing a little something better with my time. The Celebrity Game was more like a Boys and Girls Club scrimmage than anything else. There were old pros looking bad, out-of-shape actors gasping for air while falling and fouling up and down the court. And thought T.O. displayed some outstanding B-ball moves for a football star, he’s still came off like a ball hog. But who’s really surprised by that anyway? He is a receiver, not a QB. As far as the other game starring the youngsters, Kevin Durant put up 46 points in another typical Sophomore squad win.

Then Saturday was supposed to be The Day. There was the hype of the Slam Dunk Contest, which was revived last year by Superman and a Cupcake, and the opportunity for Jason Kopono to become only the third player to three-peat at the 3-Point Shootout (Larry Bird and Craig Hodges also accomplished the feat).

Just be thankful you didn’t hold your breath.

The sad part about the Slam Dunk Contest was that ignorant judges treated it like only two contestants should have even entered in the first place. Even so, I was semi-delighted to see some impressive dunks from a a winner who’s only 5’2”, as that’s amazing in itself. Especially after staging a dunk where he leaped over a 6’-10” freak-of-nature who threw down on a 12-foot rim. Got to give it up for the little man. If the dunk contest was decent, the 3-Point Shootout was an embarrassment. Not much of a shooting contest when you consider I could have walked in there and won. The final round saw seven points posted by Rashard Lewis, which was not convincing enough for newcomer and eventual winner Dequan Cook to stress over.

Seems the best shooter of the weekend was playing H-O-R-S-E, which actually was an event this year. The young stars in that were Kevin Durrant, Joe Johnson, and OJ Mayo. The new addition to the all-star lineup started out a little slow before Durrant turned it into more of a “who has the best jump shot” game to best Mayo with three consecutive shots from downtown. And although it lacked creativity for the most part, it was enjoyable watching these pros throw up a few trick shot attempts.

At least that was more worthwhile than watching the often dull team vs. team shootout with retires and WNBA stars they use to fill airtime with. Just as puzzling though is the Skills Challenge, featuring the likes of up-and-coming stars such as Devin Harris, Derrick Rose, Mo Williams and Tony Parker. It was like watching a NASCAR driver practice maneuverability. So they can dribble, pass and shoot – isn’t that their job in the first place?

Looking back on the weekend in Phoenix (as a Lakers fan, mind you) I couldn’t help but smile about the way the Suns organization has completely fallen apart over the last year, from firing two coaches, trading Shawn Marion for Shaq, then getting rid of Diaw and Bell. Jason Richardson even added a little sugar on top of the situation out there by getting caught doing 90 mile per hour in a 35 as his kid rode shotgun without a car seat. There’s nothing like a little speeding and child endangerment to help matters out in the desert. Hey, I got an idea for ya, now go get rid of the only player you have who’s young enough to build around (Amare Stoudamire). Thanks again, Danny Ainge!

And a sincere congrats to Bill Russell, the new name on the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy.