4 things to look for during All-Star Weekend
All-Star is here. The participants are set. It’s time to have some corporate-sponsored fun!
The NBA’s best and brightest will show their skills in Cleveland this weekend, with six events on the schedule: the Celebrity Game, the Rising Stars Challenge, the Skills Challenge, the 3-Point Contest, the Dunk Contest, and Sunday’s 71st annual All-Star Game.
Here’s five things you should be paying close attention to during All-Star Weekend:
Myles Garrett ruining the fun of the Celebrity Game
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is one of the baddest motherfuckers on planet Earth. This man is 6’4, 271 pounds and recorded a 41-inch vertical leap at the NFL combine in 2017. He also struck a quarterback in the head with his own helmet in the 2019-20 season.
There isn’t a participant on either team that even comes close to matching Garrett’s athleticism (sorry, The Bachelor’s Matt James). Will he posterize 5’9 Olympic skateboarder Nyjah Huston? Could he act on the country’s general disdain for Machine Gun Kelly and truck him to the ground like he’s Mason Rudolph?
It is not fair that Myles Garrett is playing in this game — which makes it an even better watch.
The new Rising Stars format
This year, there’s four Rising Stars teams consisting of 12 rookies, 12 sophomores, and four G League Ignite players.
The rosters are loaded with talent and intriguing combinations of players — Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, and Franz Wagner together; the ferocity of Anthony Edwards and Isaiah Stewart in tandem with notably quiet guys like Tyrese Haliburton and Saddiq Bey; the joys of LaMelo Ball, 18-year old Scoot Henderson, and Scottie Barnes on the fast break; and similarly, the premise of Josh Giddey spraying the ball around to Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Green and Cole Anthony.
Two games will be played to 50, and the championship game will be played to 24. This is going to be amazing.
Steph Curry’s absence from the 3-Point Contest
Steph is out of the field this year. You’ll have to make your pick from a lineup of CJ McCollum, Trae Young, Zach LaVine, Desmond Bane, Karl-Anthony Towns, Fred VanVleet, Luke Kennard, and Patty Mills.
At first glance, I’m not sure who I’d pick. I know that KAT is immediately out. Trae seems to be a safe bet, although I think he thrives from the randomness of actual NBA action and might not be a drill shooter like this requires.
Final prediction: Luke Kennard.
Who is on the floor for Team LeBron when the Elam Ending kicks in?
If you’re unfamiliar, the NBA adopted Ball State professor Nick Elam’s creation in 2020 — a game mode in which the clock turns off, and the two teams play to a target score. This makes it so every game ends on a game-winner, and there’s no use for end-of-game fouling.
In 2020, it was anti-climactic — Anthony Davis hit a free throw to win it — but the teams were actually trying. It was ten of the best players in the world, giving it their all for about thirty minutes! Kyle Lowry took several charges in the All-Star Game!
There’s a problem: LeBron drafted too many guys who would be unhappy sitting out at the end of a close game. Which of LeBron, Giannis, Steph, DeRozan, Jokic, Luka, or CP3 will be off the court when it’s time to win?
Giannis is a cheat code. CP3 can manage the game. Luka, Jokic and DeRozan are three of the best closers in the NBA. But that invites a world in which both LeBron and Steph are off the floor when they’re trying to win — and unless both are saving their bodies for real NBA games, I don’t think they’ll be okay with it.