Rookie Challenge
On Friday night, DeJuan Blair of the San Antonio Spurs led the NBA Rookie team to victory over the Sophomores at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Blair recorded the first 20-20 game in the history of the Rookie Challenge with 22 points and 23 rebounds in the 140-128 win.
The Sophomores had won eight of the last 10 Rookie Challenge games and held a seven-game winning streak before Blair and Sacramento Kings' Tyreke Evans came along. Evans earned game MVP after scoring 26 points. Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder was the leading scorer for the Sophomore team with 40 points. Westbrook's 40-point performance came just one year after his Thunder teammate, Kevin Durant, set the Rookie Challenge record with 46 points.
Although the game is supposed to be carefree, Sophomore head coach Patrick Ewing – an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic – was not pleased with his team's effort.
"We got our butts kicked in every aspect of the game," Ewing said in a press release. "I know it's an All-Star Game, but we didn't play with enough pride in my eyes. They outplayed us, they outhustled us, they outscrapped us."
At halftime, the NBA held its first ever Slam Dunk Dunk-In contest. The competition was between Toronto Raptors' rookie guard DeMar DeRozan and Los Angeles Clippers' sophomore guard Eric Gordon. DeRozan, who had never lost a dunk contest before, received 61 percent of the fan votes to secure his spot in the contest on Saturday night.
Skills Competition
Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns beat out Westbrook, Deron Williams and Brandon Jennings to take home the skills competition title. Proving that he's still got it, the 36-year-old took down guys who are all his juniors by more than ten years.
Both Nash and Williams had won the competition before. Nash was a winner in 2005 and Williams, who set the Skills Competition record last year, was the defending champion. They each advanced to the finals and put on a show for the fans. Nash went first and ran through the course in 29.9 seconds. The much-anticipated Williams started off on a roll. After nailing his first two passes and the jump shot, Williams was on pace to top Nash's time, but the final pass gave him trouble and as the time ticked on, his hopes of repeating dwindled. He finished the course in 37.9 seconds and Nash was crowned champion.
"I tried my best without my warm-up," Nash said in a press release. "I missed the run-through because I was a little disjointed from the trip ... I was kind of hoping for the best."
Three-point Contest
After trailing in the first round, Boston Celtics' Paul Pierce came back to take the crown in the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors led after round one, but in the final round Pierce posted 20 points while Curry earned 17, and Denver Nugget Chauncey Billups finished with 14.
Pierce came back with a vengeance after he performed terribly in 2002, scoring only eight points.
"I worked on it, I really took pride in it. In '02 I stunk it up. I wanted to come in here and put on a show," Pierce said in a press release. "I had to work on getting the technique down and knowing what side to pull the ball from, stuff like that. I knew if I got hot, I could win it."
Slam-Dunk Contest
Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks nabbed his third-consecutive title in the Slam-Dunk Contest on Saturday night. The 5-foot 9-inch highflyer narrowly captured the title over Toronto Raptors' 6-foot 7-inch rookie DeMar DeRozan.
Though the dunks weren't too impressive, there were a few that stood out. On DeRozan's second dunk in the first round, Sonny Weems of the Raptors tossed the ball off the side of the backboard and DeRozan caught the ally-oop and glided in, throwing down a tomahawk dunk that made the crowd erupt and earned him a perfect score of 50.
Robinson won the contest on a 360-degree dunk that he threw down after catching his own pass off the backboard. He narrowly won the contest by receiving 51 percent of the fan votes and became the first player in NBA history to win three years in a row.
When asked if he would return next year, Robinson quickly declined.
"No, no, no, no, no. I don't think I can bear that anymore. I'm just happy with this third one," Robinson said in a press release. "This is the last one."
All-Star Game
A world-record setting 108,713 fans packed Cowboys Stadium to see the East defeat the West in a game that came down to the final buzzer. Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh sunk a pair of free-throws to give the East a two-point lead with five seconds remaining. The West took a timeout to set up the final play. A 3-point attempt by Carmelo Anthony fell short, securing a 141-139 win for the East.
Despite trailing much of the first half, the East dominated the third quarter to take a 118-109 lead going into the fourth.
Dwyane Wade took MVP with 28 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and five steals. LeBron James and Chris Bosh backed up Wade with 25 and 23 points respectively.
Dallas now holds special meaning for Wade for two reasons. In 2006, Wade earned MVP honors in the NBA Finals when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks.
"I've had a little luck in Dallas. Of course, 2006 is very, very memorable, something I dreamed of doing for a long time, winning the NBA championship and I was lucky enough and blessed enough to win the MVP there," Wade said in a press release. "To come and do it again is special."
Carmelo Anthony and Dirk Nowitzki led the scoring for the West. Anthony recorded a team high 27 points while Nowitzki added 22 points.
E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
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