http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4BhhXYZkD4
The 2014 All-Star Weekend had exciting parts and parts that left fans wanting more. The Sunday night showcase was, exciting, full of dunks, and raining treys. We saw 24 of the arguably best basketball players in the world in one game, what’s not to like about such an event? Alley-oops, three point shots from 2-3 feet away from the line, and crazy crossovers that leave the camera men not knowing where the ball is. The same goes for the Rising Stars game where we see 24 of the best rookies and sophomores battle it out. This year wasn’t as high flying as past years, remember when John Wall and Blake Griffin kept connecting, but we saw a one-on-one match for the ages with threes and crossovers. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dion Waiters go at it in the second half of a game that would have been boring otherwise. Hardaway was interviewed after the game, and said that they decided to give a show for the fans to get them excited because the building was dead at halftime. And he’s right, the first half was full of Andre Drummond going after every board and basket, and occasional dunks. But the second half had these two youngens going at it, as well as what could possibly be the block of the night.
Despite how great the games were, Saturday night’s events proved to be disappointing again. However, not for a lack of effort as we saw the stars come out. The skills challenge used to be a big highlight of the night, when we saw Deron Williams and Steve Nash weaving through plastic defenders, making bounce passes and long outlet passes (which point guards rarely ever make, that’s definitely a big man thing to do). However, now all we get is a relay format (which I actually like) where neither player has to do the bounce pass or the long outlet pass, completely disregarding the difficulty of the actual challenge. The skills portion is so far removed that these guys seem like they might as well run in a straight line rather than be weaving through plastic defenders now.
The three point contest never ceases to amaze me. As someone who loves to shoot threes, this event has always been a personal favorite, especially during the years of Stojakovic, Allen, and surprisingly Pierce (only because he hyped himself up). This year, a rack full of money balls was provided so rather than being out of 30, the final score would be out of 35. Despite this advantage, only one player hit more than 3 balls on the money rack (Arron Afflalo), and one player didn’t event finish all 5 racks (Joe Johnson). The suspense was saved when Bradley Beal caught fire and hit his final 6 shots of the 2nd round to force a shoot out between himself and Marco Belinelli. In the final round, Belinelli got the highest score of the whole event at 24, and won himself the contest.
And for the event that everyone was waiting to see, the first dunk contest which featured 3 all-stars since the late 80s. For the first minute and a half, we saw a freestyle round which featured players from each conference dunking one after another. The East was so overpowering with their skill between Paul George, John Wall, and reigning champion Terrence Ross. The West featured rookie Ben McLemore, Harrison Barnes, and Damian Lillard who participated in all events on Saturday. After the freestyle round, one player from the West would have a one-on-one duel with one player from the East. The East won each match up and the night was over. Simple as that. There was second round, no dunk off, nothing. The most anti-climatic ending to a dunk contest, considering the skilled dunkers in the event. This dunk contest had star-named participants which has been a problem for years passed. The format was changed to avoid instances such as Nate Robinson’s and Chris Andersen’s numerous failed attempts, but it was changed to make it a team event and based on a team effort rather than an individual winner. Although John Wall was named “dunker of the night” for his amazing dunk over the Wizards mascot, we needed more.
The NBA Dunk Contest is the most awaited event of the NBA season (aside from the playoffs) and this is what it’s turned to. A slight tease making the fans want more, ironically in the first year since the 80s with 3 all-stars. Hopefully this new format is changed, even just adding one more round would help. Have the winners of the one-on-one round battle it off to be the “Dunk Champion”, not the “Dunker of the Night” and maybe then, we can return the dunk contest to what it was at it’s peak.
