Working For The Weekend

I have to agree with you, Zee. Kobe was being a total douche bag over the weekend. There's no reason for him to have 10 shot attempts in the first quarter alone. And there's no reason for him trying to outshine Shaq in potentially his farewell all-star game. This isn't the Kobe Bryant show. That's just another example of why Kobe rubs people the wrong way. Both literally and figuratively. Hah! It was a nice gesture to give Shaq Co-MVP honors, even if he did not deserve the award. I can't help but wonder if the ending was predetermined and the voting was rigged. Kobe and Shaq reuniting for one last time, and them sharing the MVP honors? It sounds too good to be true. It's like a hollywood ending. Shaq's line of 17 pts, 5 rebs and 1 blk in only 10 minutes of action is mighty impressive.



Chris Paul's performance was mighty underrated. He almost had a triple-double. 14 pts, 14 asts, 7 rebs and 3 stls. I think he should have been named MVP; or at least, been in the running. But I guess CP3 has no shot of winning the award unless the all-star game is held in Oklahoma. He's not the media darling that Lebron, Dwight, Kobe and Shaq are. On the flip side, Joe Johnson had a horrible performance. In 21 minutes, he has 5 turnovers and 0 points on 0-4 shooting. Hilariously bad for an all-star game. He was the only player not to score on both squads. The West just dominated this game. They made a bold statement. I blame it partly on the league for picking horrible all-star replacements for the East squad. I mean the team already had too many guards, and they replace Bosh with Mo Williams. Come on! No make-up calls! Don't add the guy just to appease Lebron.

I was pretty bored with all-star weekend this year. But I say that just about every year, and I still go out and watch it. Heh. Let's start with Friday night's events. I won't even comment on the Celebrity game. That was just pure garbage. It reminded me of those old Rock-N-Jock games they used to show on MTV. Except this one was not entertaining. WNBA players + NBA Legends + Harlem Globetrotters + Celebrities = Yuck! The Rookies vs Sophomores game was pretty nice though. I remember talking to Zee last week and saying that the Sophomores stood no chance at winning unless Durant went for like 50. Kevin was pretty close to that hitting 46 points, a new record in the event. We both agreed that the rookie squad was more talented, but they just did not play with the same focus or urgency as the sophomores. Durant did a great job of setting the tone and taking over the game. He showed everyone that he deserves to play in the big game. He's a superstar in the making. Beasley put on a nice show, too. I still have no idea why they invite players (Wade and Howard) to coach the teams. But I must say that Lebron as a commentator is a nice fit. He knows his stuff.



Saturday was hit or miss. But more miss than hit. Heh. The inaugural H-O-R-S-E, I mean G-E-I-C-O event was disappointing. The players lacked creativity and it quickly turned into a 3pt shootout. None of the players looked like they wanted to be out there, especially Kevin Durant the eventual winner. He showed like 0 emotion and charisma, and looks like this generation's Tim Duncan. Next year, I hope they invite some cocky players like Rasheed Wallace or Gilbert Arenas to hype up the event more. Guys who will actually try some trick shots. The commentating by Kenny Smith and Chris Webber was pretty funny, though. I will skip over the Shooting Stars and the Skills Challenge events. Those are just a waste of time. The 3pt shootout was alright. I liked it better when the shooters would face off with one another on opposite ends of the court. But now, the players just take turns going. It was hilarious when Kenny Smith said that Daequan Cook had 0% chance of winning the contest. Not only did he win the contest but he had the top 2 scores of the night. What an idiot. They need to pick better players for this event also. Everyone knew guys like Bibby and Granger had no chance at winning. They aren't pure shooters.

Lastly, the slam dunk contest was pretty weak. The judges were on crack, too. Why oh why did they have famous Suns players judging the contest instead of players who actually know something about dunking? They gave perfect scores to some undeserving dunks. And its clear that Rudy and JR had no chance at making the final. Nate vs Dwight was their goal before the event even started. Also I don't understand why they only had 4 contestants. That number seems to go down every year. But back to the dunks, JR's double bounce windmill dunk was aight. But Sonny Weems screwed him over on his second dunk attempt. Rudy's dunks were both underrated. His second attempt when he took a pass of the backboard, grabbed it out of bounds and scooping in a one-handed jam on the other side of the rim was a work of art. He definitely did better than Nate in the first round. I liked how Rudy wore a jersey of Fernando Martin, who was the first Spanish player in the league, but none of the commentators knew who he was. I think one of them jokingly asked if Martin was a reference to Ricky Martin. Hah!



Excluding the dunk over Dwight Howard, I thought Nate Robinson's dunk weren't too memorable. I liked his celebration dance, however. Hah! The dunk off of Chandler's back was especially weak. How is that an impressive dunk? He used his back like a trampoline which makes the dunk even easier to finish. But the above dunk was enough to win the contest for him. The green jersey and ball, the nickname KrypoNate was a nice touch though. It was the best dunk of the night. The dunk contest is not about athletic creativity anymore. It's all about putting on a good show, using the right props, switching jerseys, and stuff like that. Dwight had some nasty dunks though. The 12' foot dunk was crazy. I think he could have gone like another foot or something, too. Also the one-handed jam off the side of the backboard and the 180 degree windmill dunk from out of bounds were both nice. But his last dunk didn't leave a good impression. The free throw dunk looked horrible from a 7 footer. He needed to finish off on a bang rather than a whimper if he wanted to win the event. All in all, a decent event. But Dwight just could not live up to the monster hype and expectations that he set for himself.