New Orleans, LA 2014

FRIDAY
Kevin Hart’s Celebrity Game
-Actually enjoyable
-Highlights:
-Hart vs. Skyler Diggins
-Celebs providing some flow by making buckets to start out
-Hart vs. Bruce Bowen (the drive and the strip)
-Snoop Dogg draining a 3, proving you can smoke weed and still be in shape
-Close finish with Hart winning 3rd straight MVP despite losing, then giving it to Arne Duncan

Rookie/Sophomore Game
-Excellent battle with a lot of buckets
-Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dion Waiters go bucket for bucket in 4th quarter with range approaching half-court
-Andre Drummond wins MVP with 30 points & 25 rebounds
-Trophy dropped by snarf
-Perfect Friday for All-Star Weekend

SATURDAY
Charles/Kenny/Ernie/Chris/Shaq
-Random events got us loose
-Decent comedy
-Nice warm-up for Saturday’s events

Team Shootout
-Good father/son pairings (Tim Hardaway’s, Curry’s)
-Chris Bosh nails it from half-court twice, the latter to win
-Nice and quick, got the blood boiling

Skills Competition
-Great change in format: players have a teammate who they pass off to midway through the course
-Trey Burke drives with seconds between him and first place, beating the time by tenths of a second to win with teammate Damien Lillard
-Climactic finish really upped the energy in the arena

3-Point Contest
-Bradley Beal, down six, empties the final rack in the championship round to tie it
-Spurs wizard makes 24 in shoot-off for the title, making entire 4th rack

Kendrick Lamar performance gives us a break. Balls by the NBA and new Commissioner Adam Silver for using hip-hop when the NFL would be too scared to.

Slam Dunk
-New team format kept it moving
-East vs. West, one vs. one dunk-offs result in 3-0 East sweep, emphatically capped by John Wall’s reverse over his mascot, earning him the trophy

SUNDAY
All-Star Game
-Introduction from The Wire’s “Bunk,” also from Treme, a show based in New Orleans
-More from Silver: a slew of rappers bringing out the players live
-National Anthem top of the line by Gary Clark, Jr. on guitar

-An unforgettable first quarter with back-and-forth dunks, notably from LeBron James and Blake Griffin.
-Best part: Dr. John at halftime singing “Jock-A-Mo”

-Griffin went 19/23 for 38 points, but the East won, earning Kyrie Irving MVP
-Overall, both teams combined to break the record for the most points ever

LeBron was right: It’s the best sport in the world.

via Yahoo Contributor Network – contributor.yahoo.com.