The halfway point of the season is officially upon us. All-Star Weekend, or should I say “All-Star Sunday” is going to be much different than the All-Star Weekend’s of old. How will viewers feel about all of the challenges being done before the game and at half? To add, who is the biggest All-Star snub? Finally, who will come out victorious in these challenges and will that effect the game?
“All-Star Sunday”
Now while I do understand why the NBA has decided to do this all in one day, that does not mean I agree with it. See, I would think of this differently if the participants in the challenges were NOT participating in the All-Star Game. I doubt that Luka Dončić is ecstatic about having to do the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and then go start in the All-Star Game. At least the NBA was smart enough to put all non All-Stars in the dunk contest. Although I have concerns, I don’t think those concerns outweigh the entertainment aspect.
Event Predictions
Taco Bell Skills Challenge
The players that are competing in this skills challenge this year include Luka Dončić, Chris Paul, Julius Randle, NiKola Vucevic, Domantas Sabonis and Robert Covington. While this challenge has two guards, the skill of those 4 forwards and bigs are through the roof. In 3 out of the last 5 years, it was a big man that won this event. With that being said, I think it will be Domantas Sabonis that will win the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. He is definitely best fit on this list to play 1-5 and I think that will show on Sunday.
MTN DEW 3-Point Contest
Participating in the 3-Point Shootout this year is Steph Curry, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Jaylen Brown, Zach Lavine and Donovan Mitchell. Even though this is the 6th go around for Steph Curry in this contest, the arguably “greatest shooter ever” has only managed to win this contest once. So I would not call this a guaranteed win for him. Another thing that is weird about this contest is that there is only ONE person out of the top 25 in 3-Point % on this list. That one person is named Zach Lavine. Funny enough, I don’t think it will be him either. This year, I think Devin Booker is going to going to come home with his 2nd 3-Point Contest trophy (1st-2018).
AT&T Slam Dunk Contest
The All-Star Game’s halftime show will be when the Slam Dunk Contest takes place. This year, the three players in the contest will be Obi Toppin, Anfernee Simmons and Cassius Stanley. These are three high-flying young guys that are ready to put on a show this Sunday night. I think that the ability of one person could possibly make this contest worth while. This is also the person that I think will win on Sunday. For Simmons and Stanley, I’m sorry, but there ain’t no stoppin’ Obi Toppin.
My Lineup Concerns
This year, there were two main questions I had before talking about the game. First, how in the world is Damian Lillard not starting in the All-Star Game over Luka Dončić? I know fans carry only 50% of the vote for starters, so I want to know what players and media thought that Luka is having a better season than Lillard. Without C.J. Mccollum, Lillard has kept the Blazers amongst the top teams in the West. With that said, I am not bashing Luka because he is amazing, I just think Dame deserved it more this year.
The other question I had is when will the NBA universe realize that Devin Booker is NOT JUST A RESERVE. D-Book is averaging 25 points, 4 Rebounds and 4 assists. In February alone, he is averaging 28, 4 and 5 on on 53% from the field and 40% from 3-Point land. The fact that year after year, his play does not get the recognition it deserves by being named an All-Star is crazy to me. If you were to look at the lineup you would have to think, well who is he better than this year? The ironic thing about that is that Booker probably should have made it over his own teammate.
Team LeBron Vs Team Durant
I am happy to see that Adam Silver opted to stay with the format from last years All-Star Game where the 4th quarter is untimed and the teams play to a score from there. This way the game is ended on a basket or a free throw. In my opinion, Team LeBron looks like the way stronger team on the defensive end of the floor. For this reason, it will be Team LeBron that wins on Sunday night. Especially with having no KD makes it that much harder for Team Durant to come out on top.
Sunday should be a day jam-packed with highlights. I am really curious to see how the second units of these All-Star teams will line up with each other since Team LeBron does have more height on the bench. The faster that Sunday passes, the sooner we can start talking more about the playoffs.
