The NBA All-Star Weekend is the Super Bowl's closest competitor as far as combining sport and entertainment is concerned. The weekend is chock-full of hoop, and hoopla as Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night all offer quality television to the people. I'll highlight what to watch for during NBA All-Star Weekend, it's sure to provide a range of emotions from laughs to gasps as the world's best basketball players showcase their skills.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game (7 p.m., ESPN)
Although it seems petty and ridiculous at first glance, the Celebrity All-Star Game regularly provides entertaining, and surprisingly competitive action. I mean, where else could you watch Justin Bieber cross over Common? The teams will be coached by Houston's James Harden and Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook, and the two former teammates will likely want to beat each other. This year's roster includes comedian Kevin Hart, entertainer Nick Cannon, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, singers Trey Songz
and Ne-Yo
, Olympic Champion sprinter Usain
Bolt, WNBA
players Tamika Catchings
and Maya Moore, and former NBA stars Clyde Drexler, Dikembe
Mutumbo
, and Bruce Bowen. That's quite the list, if you like pop-culture and basketball, then this game is for you.
MVP Prediction: Kevin Hart, he'll put on a show.
BBVA
Rising Stars Challenge (9 p.m., TNT)
This should be a very, very good game. NBA legends and super-personalities Shaq
and Charles Barkley hand picked their rosters from a list of the best rookies and sophomores in the NBA. Shaq
controversially chose Portland's rookie point guard Damian Lillard
over the flaming hot Kyrie
Irving, but Barkley took it to another level by drafting New Orleans' Anthony Davis over Irving as well. Shaq
has the two best young point guards, and scorers, in the game in Lillard
and Irving and they will be hard to beat. Shaq
also has Harrison Barnes and Chandler Parsons on his roster, and they should light it up. Chuck went big with his roster, drafting explosive post players in Davis and Denver's Kenneth Faried
with his first two picks. Those are two good players, but these games tend to be guard-oriented and his best shooting guard appears to be Washington rookie Bradley Beal. Ricky Rubio will provide some entertainment for Team Chuck though, he doesn't just drop dimes, he converts them into dollars.
Prediction: Team Shaq
wins as Kyrie
Irving takes home the MVP and proves that he should've been the first overall pick.
SATURDAY NIGHT
NBA All-Star Saturday Night (8:30 p.m., TNT)
- The Taco Bell Skills Challenge
The Skills Challenge
features players competing in a two-round, timed "obstacle course" that consists of dribbling, passing, and shooting stations. The East roster includes Philadelphia's Jrue
Holiday, Detroit's Brandon Knight, and Atlanta's Jeff Teague. The West roster consists of San Antonio's Tony Parker, Portland's Damian Lillard
, and Houston's Jeremy Lin. Parker won last year and is looking to defend his title. One champion will emerge from the East and one will from the West, then the two will face off against each other to determine the winner. It should be fun to watch. I like Lillard
to win.
Prediction: Damian Lillard
wins and casts his star even further into space during this dominant rookie season.
- The Foot Locker Three-Point Contest
The three-point contest surprisingly involves a lot of endurance, it's not easy to shoot 25 shots in a minute. The East squad consists of Indiana's Paul George, Cleveland's Kyrie
Irving, and New York's Steve Novak. The West has New Orleans' Ryan Anderson, San Antonio's Matt Bonner, and Golden State's Steph
Curry. Each player will have one minute to shoot as many of the 25 balls as they can from beyond the arc. There are five "money-balls" in play that are worth two points. All of the contestants are deadly assassins from deep, but certain players will take it to another level. I think Irving will win the East and battle Curry out of the West. I look for Curry to showcase his quick release and take home the title.
Prediction: Curry defeats Irving in a battle of young sharp shooters.
- The Sprite Slam Dunk Contest
Many people don't appreciate the dunk contest for what it really is, a display of super-human, memorizing skill. The East roster offers Indiana's Gerald Green, Toronto's Terrence Ross, and New York's James White. The West is bringing the Clippers' Eric Bledsoe, Utah's Jeremy Evans, and Denver's Kenneth Faried
to the table. That's a very nice field, all of those guys can bring down the house. Each player will get a minute and a half to complete their dunk, attempts resulting in missed dunks are unlimited in the time span. The players will complete two dunks in the team round, and one player will advance from each side to the championship round for two more dunks. I like James White to come out of the East and Eric Bledsoe to come out of the West. The final will be a battle of old-school frill against new-school explosiveness. I think White will walk away as the winner after astonishing fans with a crazy free-throw line dunk.
Prediction: White wins the competition and shows the NBA what they were missing when he was overseas.
SUNDAY NIGHT
NBA All-Star Game presented by Kia (8 p.m. on TNT)
The reason for the entire weekend. We saw it get very competitive last year toward the end of the game as LeBron
tried to take over and orchestrate a comeback. This year offers the best of the best, minus a few players because of injuries. The East's starters are by LeBron
James, Carmelo
Anthony, Dwyane
Wade, Kevin Garnett, and Chris Bosh. The West's are Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and Dwight Howard. However, the benches are where the game will be won. The West's bench is much better than the East's, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Tony Parker, Zach Randolph, and Lamarcus
Aldridge
will help the West get the victory. The East is solid with Kyrie
Irving, Jrue
Holiday, and Tyson Chandler off the bench, but the West will be too much.
Prediction: The West wins by 10 and Kevin Durant brings home his second-straight All-Star Game MVP as his skills are perfect for the game.
This weekend offers a lot of great entertainment for those who are looking to stay in and relax at night, or just watch some really great athletes compete and put on a show for the people who make the game possible. It happens only once a year, and I'm excited to see the best players in the world do what they do best.