Kambui Bomani
Sports Writer
The 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend presented a various compilation of celebrities, young basketball phenomes, and current basketball superstars showcasing their worth in one of the biggest all-star spectacles in American sports.
With the event being held in Charlotte, N.C., around the same time of the Charlotte Hornets’ basketball owner Michael Jordan’s birthday, the NBA was given a unique opportunity to celebrate one of their game’s all-time greats while also showcasing their current, rising athletes.
The opening ceremonies began on the night of Friday, Feb. 15, with the Celebrity All-Star Game featuring a matchup between the Home and Away team. The Home team built an 18-point lead with 8 minutes to go, only to allow the Away team to etch out a two-point victory by the score of 82-80.
Migos Rapper Quavo, who was the 2018 Celebrity All-Star Game MVP, finished with a game-high 27 points. The Away team was led by Instagram basketball comedian, Famous Los, who scored 22 points to help lead his team victory. Famous Los’ performance helped him earn MVP honors in the process.
The Mountain Dew Rising Stars Challenge featured the top rookie and sophomore players of the NBA matching up against each other in a USA vs. World basketball game. Rookie and second year NBA players from the USA were able to showcase their talents against the top first and second year NBA players born and raised outside of the U.S.
Having dominated this newly created Rising Stars format the last two years, team World relinquished their historical threshold as victors to the USA on Friday Night. Led by 35 points from Los Angeles Laker Kyle Kuzma and 30 points from Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum, Team USA beat Team World 161-144.
Due to Kuzma’s large point output, he racked home the Rising Stars MVP award.
All-Star Saturday night presented various competitors in the Skills Challenge, Three Point Contest, and Slam Dunk Contest. In the Skills Challenge, the final round came down to a split decision made by Jayson Tatum when he launched a half court three that banked in to beat Atlanta Hawks’ Point Guard Trae Young for the Championship.
The event helped complete a wildly successful All-Star weekend for Tatum who hopes to be an All-Star representative in the near future.
The Three Point Contest pitted the best three-point shooters this season, percentage wise against each other to decide who the best of them all was. The leagues’ best shooter, Golden State Warrior Stephen Curry, was in attendance to represent for his hometown of Charlotte, but failed to come out victorious like he was predicted to by so many analysts.
Instead, unheralded three-point marksman Joe Harris of the Brooklyn Nets delivered with a strong showing and was the victor over Stephen Curry and Sacramento Kings’ Buddy Hield. Harris tallied a total of 26 points against Stephen Curry’s 24 and Hield’s 19.
The Slam Dunk Contest was probably the most underwhelming out of all three contests on Saturday night to the familiar charring of NBA fans. There were missed dunks, various failed second and third chance dunk attempts, and props gone badly wrong which really took some of the excitement and suspense from the competition as a whole.
Nonetheless, Oklahoma City Thunder Hamadou Diallo executed all four of his dunks en-route to a Slam Dunk Championship over New York Knick Dennis Smith Jr. The victory had Diallo lauding for a potential title defense next year against current Duke Freshman Phenome Zion Williamson who’s presumed to be the number one pick in the 2019 NBA Draft this summer.
Sunday presented the weekend’s closing ceremony known as the NBA All-Star Game featuring Team LeBron vs Team Giannis. The teams were decided through a draft where the top vote getters from the Eastern and Western Conference selected who would play for them on their All-Star team.
With Team LeBron containing Three league MVP’s, five Finals MVP’s, and five All-Star Game MVP’s in their starting lineup, it was easy to assume that his teammates would run away with the win. That was the case albeit only in the last five minutes of the matchup.
Team LeBron went on a 23-11 run during the last media timeout to beat Team Giannis 178-164 and win their second-straight All-Star Game. Kevin Durant won his second All-Star Game MVP with 31 points and Damian Lillard added 19 while providing a huge boost off the bench that help cut a 20-point deficit to two in the waning moments of the third.
Team Giannis was led by a 38 point and 11 rebound performance from their captain Giannis Antetokoumpo but struggled to buy a basket down the stretch to help stem the rallying onslaught of Team LeBron.
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