NBA All Star Weekend Preview

As the NBA All-Star weekend arrives, the unofficial midway point of the season is here. LayupDrill.com takes a look at the upcoming festivites for the weekend’s events, along with the predictions for the winners.

G-E-I-C-O
a.k.a H-O-R-S-E

The contestants for this event are O.J. Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies, Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks, and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. This event could potentially be a hit, or fall flat on it’s face. The one rule I don’t like about this event is there is no dunking allowed. With that being said, I am going to go with Joe Johnson of the Hawks, who can shoot better than both Mayo and Durant combined.

Playstation Skills Challenge
The NBA Skills challenge has always been one of my personal favorite events of the All Star Saturday Night. This year, Tony Parker will find himself going against Devin Harris of the Nets as well as Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls. Given the jitters that may overcome Harris and Rose, I am going to go on a limb and say the wily vet Tony Parker wins this one.

FootLocker 3-Point Shootout
Jason Kapono will go for a three-peat in the three point shootout this year, but he has some of his most fierce comp. yet. Rashard Lewis, Roger Mason Jr., Mike Bibby, Daequan Cook, and Danny Granger will all be vying for the title. I think Kapono makes it to the final round, but falls to Mason Jr.

Sprite Slam Dunk
The Slam Dunk contest will now feature J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets, who takes the place of the injured Rudy Gay. Smith will join Nate Robinson and defending champion Dwight Howard. No matter what J.R. or little Nate does, if Howard brings any sort of crazy creativity that he is expected to do, he will win hands down.

Rookie Challenge
I am looking forward to the Rookie/Sophomore game this year more than ever. Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Derrick Rose, O.J Mayo, and Russell Westbrook all on the same floor. Not too much defense in this one, and it has 144-138 written all over it. The sophomores take it.

All-Star Game
The NBA All-Star Game will cap off the wonderful weekend in Phoenix Sunday evening. With some of the stars voted or selected injured, the game will not have the total flair as it would if all were healthy, but the biggest names will be there. Expect Kobe and Shaq to put together a few classic alley oop moments, but the East will prevail, and I can see the obvious MVP choice going to Lebron James, with my dark horse vote going to Ray Allen if he gets hot from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.

Tagged as: nba all star weekend, phoenix