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Kevin Durant won the All Star MVP Award. Kobe Bryant broke Michael Jordan’s All Star scoring record and had his own nose broken. Kevin Love won the three-point shootout. Kyrie Irving was the best young star amongst a host of young guns at the Rising Stars competition. And a certain ‘King’ James – for his brilliance and for his mistakes – made some headlines in Orlando during the mid-season festivities.
The All Star Weekend presented a kaleidoscope of various NBA talents and events, those keen to impress, those that showed kept adding to their growing legacy and those who kidded around to enjoy the weekend to the fullest. In the end, it was the ‘Special Ks’ – Kevins, Kobe, Kyrie, and the ‘King’ – who left Orlando as the biggest stories of the weekend.
The All Star Weekend began with the Rising Stars Competition, which soon morphed into an exhibition of Kyrie Irving’s shooting prowess. The rookie Irving, who was the first pick of last year’s NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, follows the footsteps of another Cavalier great that was picked first eight years before him, a man whose real name starts with an ‘L’ (LeBron) but who has instead chosen to crown himself with a ‘K’, too (King James).
Cavalier fans may have been heartbroken over the King’s departure, but Kyrie has been pretty successful in lifting their spirits in his short NBA career. The top candidate for the rookie of the year award, Irving went on a tear in the Rising Stars Game, hitting 8 of 8 three-pointers to end with 34 points and lead ‘Team Chuck’ to a 146-133 victory.
‘Team Shaq’ may have had more hype, since it featured both Blake Griffin and the currently the world’s most popular player, Jeremy Lin, but they weren’t good enough to hang with Chuck’s more balanced side. Shaq’s squad did feature an entertaining performance by Spanish rookie Ricky Rubio, tantalising fans with the possibility of what he could achieve on the bigger stage. The lesson here: Let’s have Ricky in the real All Star Game from here on!
The Knicks – another ‘K’ – had a pretty good weekend, too. Point guard revelation Jeremy Lin, despite only officially featuring for nine minutes in the entire weekend (in the Rising Stars Game), continued to be the NBA’s hottest story, as fans and media flocked the breakout young star. A day later, New York’s side for the ‘Shooting Stars’ event – featuring former Knick Allan Houstan, current Knick Landry Fields, and New York Liberty’s Cappie Pondexter – won the contest. Struggling with injury over the past few weeks, Knicks’ All Star Carmelo Anthony had a decent showing at the All Star Game for the losing East side, scoring 19 points to go with 9 rebounds.
A short while after the Shooting Stars contest on Saturday night, two guys named ‘Kevin’ – Kevin Love and Kevin Durant – were the last remaining shooters in the three-point shootout. Durant, a known lethal force from long range, didn’t surprise anyone with his presence in the final round. But it was double-double machine Kevin Love – known more for his prowess in the post than his shooting range – that brought his three-point skills to the big stage. Love upset all those who bet against him to claim the title, outscoring Durant in the final.
Utah’s Jeremy Evans – a late substitute for Iman Shumpert – won the Slam Dunk Competition by a mere one percent of fan votes over Chase Budinger. It was a night of forgettable dunks, really, with more effort gone into gimmicks than creative dunks. Budinger has my award for the funniest dunk of the night when he did the ‘Diddy Jump’, a dunk over P. Diddy. Derrick Williams (dunk from the side from the Ricky Rubio pass) and Paul George (dunk over 7 foot 2 Roy Hibbert) had their moments but no one blew away the voters, who this time, were the fans themselves.
But it was Evans who was the most above average amongst the average, highlighting the night his ‘double-dunk’ where he slammed in two basketballs with each hand. He also paid homage to a legendary ‘K’ of the Jazz – Karl Malone – by donning his jersey, and dunking over another Kevin: comedian Kevin Hart!
But it was Kevin Durant who stood out as the brightest star amongst a galaxy of NBA stars on Sunday night at the All Star Game. Durant had 36 points and 7 rebounds, showing his complete arsenal of offensive moves as he captured the All Star Game MVP award for the first time in his young career.
Durant’s West enjoyed a sizeable lead for the majority of the game, but in second half, LeBron ‘King’ James struck fire from the three-point line, burying a flurry of three-pointers to bring the game close again. LeBron finished with 36 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists, and his Heat teammate Wade (24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) and Nets’ Deron Williams (20 points) contributed to the comeback. East made it a two-point game with less than a minute remaining in the game.
it was James’ costly mistake here that iced the game for the West – a bad pass by LeBron gave the ball back to the West, who were able to hit a free-throw and survive for a 152-149 win. The game will be remembered for a hot shooting night by Kobe Bryant too, who had 27 points and in the process overtook Michael Jordan as the leading scorer in All Star Game history. Russell Westbrook added 22 points off the bench for the West.
The weekend was done, but the ‘Ks’ had one last headline before regular service was to resume in the NBA.
Although the Sacramento Kings barely made their presence felt in Orlando (apart from Rising Stars participant DeMarcus Cousins), they did hear some good news back home. After a tense year where it was believed that their beloved Kings may not have a new arena to hold them in Sacramento, fans were gifted with the news that the Kings and the city of Sacramento had reached a deal to build a new tentative arena, and thus keep the franchise in the city. It was former NBA player and current mayor of the city Kevin Johnson – another Kevin, mind you – who was at the forefront finalising the deal.
The NBA returns on Tuesday night, and it will return back with full force into the condensed packed schedule. All of the teams will hope to be well rested for the second half of the season. At the top of the rankings of the Eastern and the Western conferences lie the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, two teams who are also favourites to make the NBA finals. And if could well be the Ks – Kevin Durant and King James – leaving a mark on the 2011-12 season before the end.
Guess the Lakers players!
