The King Reigns As Stars Shine at All-Star Game
February 26, 2018
Los Angeles, the center of the sports world, hosted the annual NBA All-Star Game the weekend of Feb. 16-18.
The fun started out with the NBA Skills Challenge where preselected young veterans of the NBA flew threw an obstacle course consisting of layups, three point shots and elite dribbling skills. The 24-year-old guard from the Brooklyn Nets, Spencer Dinwiddie, came out on top.
The next event was the JBL 3-Point Shooting Contest. Sharpshooters like Eric Gordon from the Houston Rockets, Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors and Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder competed in this year’s event. The contest didn’t live up to expectations, but Devin Booker, elite shooter of the Phoenix Suns, took home the title and broke the record of most points in one round.
The last event was the highly anticipated Dunk Contest. Rookie Donovan Mitchell won the contest over Larry Nance Jr. with an updated version of Vince Carter’s gravity defying 360 windmill dunk. The event was messy at the beginning, with missed dunks and sloppy performances, but the projected rookie of the year saved the show and was crowned a champion.
Normally you wouldn’t see the All-Stars trying to play a lot of defense, but this year Kevin Durant, from the Golden State Warriors, and Russell Westbrook, from the Oklahoma City Thunder, showed some ferocious blocks play after play. First year All-Stars like Joel Embiid and Victor Oladipo, showed some skills with multiple blocks also, but Lebron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers, took home the victory with his team and took his third All-Star Game MVP crown with a stat line of 29 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists.
Overall, this year’s All-Star weekend was not the best, but some stars proved to the league why they were deserving of that All-Star spot.