All-Star Saturday Night Breakdown

By TonyTheTiger - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29372049

All-Star Saturday Night is one of my most favorite nights of the year. It's entertainment at it's best. You have the dunk contest, three point contest, and the skills competition along with things in between for our amusement. I've decided to breakdown every event from All-Star Saturday Night so everybody can see how every player participated and what their outcome means.

First off, it just didn't feel right when we started off with the Skills competition. I was very disappointed that there was no Shooting Stars competition. That was such a fun event. I felt like, once the first half court was made, that is when All-Star Saturday Night officially began. In case you don't know what the Shooting Stars event was, there is a video on it below. Anyways, onto the Skills competition...

The Skills Challenge had a different format this year as the "bigs" went up against the "smalls", the smalls being guards and the bigs being F/Cs. I'll breakdown each participant's performance below.

• Jordan Clarkson had a tough time as he was out in the first round. He wasn't that fast dribbling and did absolutely horrible in the passing section of the competition missing all 3 passes. He let C.J. McCollum get the layup before him and Clarkson was out before he even got to put up a shot as sharpshooter C.J. made his first shot. Clarkson isn't the most talented guard as you could see in the competition even though he is a dynamic scorer.
• Emanuel Mudiay struggled in this competition as he went up against Isaiah Thomas. He ended up losing because he couldn't get the passing as he missed all 3 tries while Thomas got it on the first. Mudiay then came down and lost control of the ball. By the time Mudiay made it to the 3-point shot, Thomas had already made the shot on his second attempt. Mudiay might have had a better shot if he was able to make the pass on his first try, but considering how this guy averages quite a bit of turnovers per game, maybe that is why he struggled with the passing station.
• Draymond Green did pretty well in this contest, though he didn't make it past the first round. He zoomed through the dribbling course and made the pass on his first try. He then did the layup with ease but failed to make a three pointer as he clearly rushed the first one and it was flat. He then missed the second and Karl-Anthony Towns made his before Green could get up another shot. However, Green had given us a look at his guard like skills for a big man and they were impressive to say the least.
• Anthony Davis really took it easy in the contest going pretty slow throughout the whole thing. He couldn't seem to get the three point shot to fall either as DeMarcus Cousin got the shot before he could. Davis looked really tired and slow in the game and if you looked at his face, he looked like he had been a victim of fatigue.
• DeMarcus Cousins had a big disadvantage in this competition. He was probably the slowest one out their. He was no match for Karl-Anthony Towns' speed and Cousins isn't the best ball handler. While we didn't see that much skill from him in the passing as he really couldn't get on pass though, we did get to see Cousins' range as he did hit a clutch three against Davis.
• C.J. McCollum did great in the first round as he went through the competition with ease and hit his first 3. The second round was a different story. He lost the ball through the dribbling course to start it and couldn't catch up with Isaiah Thomas. It is clear that he may be a sharpshooter, but McCollum could work on his dribbling and passing a little more.
• Isaiah Thomas was amazing in this competition. He was so speedy through the dribbling course and he never missed a pass at the passing station. In the final he sped past Towns to get his layup first. In the other rounds, he hit the 3-pointer easily. Of course, when he went against Towns in the finale, he couldn't make the 3-pointer. Isaiah Thomas really showed the world just how talented he was though.
• Karl-Anthony Towns was a beast as he lead the bigs to the win. He showed off his speed dribbling and gave the most effort out of all of the contestants. Towns made it to the end and shot the 3 well enough to win. He is a really talented big man and like Green he shows guard like skills with his passing ability. It was a joy to see Towns in this competition.

The 3-point contest was cool to see as the Splash Brothers took on the rest of the contestants. Let's take a look at how they all did

• J.J. Redick started off great. He hit his first 5. Then he cooled off. Last year if you remember, Redick kept stepping on the line so they didn't count. Well this year, he made sure he was behind the line. Redick started to get tired and that is probably a result of how much jump he has on his shot. Redick tried to win in the tie breaker to get into the final round, but he was taken down by Devin Booker. He really isn't made for the contest because of the jump he has to his shot.
• James Harden just isn't made for this contest. He never seems to be able to just set up and hit shots. Honestly, he can't seem to make them consistently in this contest and he is more of an in game shooter. Nevertheless, I was surprised that Harden did as well as he did.
• Kris Middleton did horrible in this contest. He just couldn't make that many shots. If looked at his shot, it seemed really off center. I was disappointed that Bosh wasn't in the contest, instead we got Middleton who didn't perform well in the contest at all.
• Kyle Lowry shot the ball flat and strong in the contest. That is why he had such a hard time getting shots to fall. He kept hitting back rim. Towards the end, he got tired and started shooting short. It just wasn't that great of a contest for Lowry.
• Devin Booker came out with the jitters. He started off poorly but ended great. This kid is going to be the next Steph Curry in the league. He is a great shooter and he will win this contest sometime in his career. He was nothing short of amazing. I was really impressed with how he played.
• Stephen Curry played real well, hitting the clutch 3 to get him to qualify for the final. He did even better in the final, he just couldn't compete with Klay's 27. The thing I liked about Curry is he didn't really jump on his shot. It was a great set-shot.
• Klay Thompson lit it up just like Curry did last year. He had 27 in the final round. Klay is such a great shooter and if you think about it, it's kind of scary to think that both him and Curry are on the same team. Both of them are too good of shooter.

Now if you know all-star weekend, you know that the dunk contest is usually where it's at. And it was true for this year. The contest was thrilling. Let's take a look at how the players did.

• Will Barton was really disappointing. He just couldn't make the dunks that LaVine and Gordon could make. He just can seem to get enough air on his dunks.
• Andre Drummond was pretty disappointing too. I thought he was going to do great in the contest. When he brought Steve Nash onto the court, I was expecting something really special, but it wasn't that great of a dunk.
• Aaron Gordon was great. He had the style. He did great, especially for a two foot jumper. His under-the-legs dunk was the dunk of the night by far. What he did was beyond amazing. He really set the bar high. In fact, he might have set it a little too high as he ran out of dunks towards the end and couldn't find something really creative like his other dunks. But that is besides the point. Gordon put on a show, a great show for the whole NBA nation. Even though he didn't win, he did some amazing dunks that left my jaw dropping from a dunk contest that hasn't been that good for years.
• Zach LaVine was just as great as Gordon was. The two dueled it out with some amazing dunks. Just when you saw one of Gordon's spectacular dunks, LaVine would could out with something spectacular as well. He gave us an alley-oop, between the legs, and a windmill FT line dunks, dunks that have never been done in an NBA dunk contest before from that far out. While Gordon had the better dunk, Zach LaVine's performance was just as amazing as he came out to win the contest. When Zach was handed the award, he said that Gordon was the dunk contest too. Not to mention, after the dunk contest, LaVine said that the dunk contest win was a win for his old head coach that recently passed away, Flip Saunders. Flip was the won who drafted LaVine and LaVine said that "He's the one that always believed in me and drafted me!". LaVine and Gordon's performance was completely amazing and I'm still in awe about that contest.

As you can see, All-Star Saturday night is one of the best event of the year. It is sad though, that it is once a year, and we have to wait another year to see the next one. But that, it was makes it so amazing. It doesn't happen that often. And it doesn't happen that often when we get to see an All-Star Saturday night as great as this. As Kenny Smith always says, "it's over ladies and gentlemen, it's over". Now we wait, til next year.

Thunder VS Magic: A Double Overtime Story

This game was a double overtime thriller with ton of clutch shots by multiple players. Everybody seemed to be hitting shots and it seemed like some players just couldn't miss. At the end of the 4th, Kevin Durant hit a 3-pointer that ties up the game. Then Victor Oladipo hit a 3 to put them up. With only 3.9 seconds left. The shot was really impressive as he drove and then stepped-back to hit the open shot. So with 3.9 seconds and no timeouts left, Russell Westbrook hits a bank shot in between halfcourt and the 3 point line to put the game into overtime. There were many more plays that went into overtime, but this to me was the best part of the game.

Victor Oladipo Is An All-Star
Last night, Victor Oladipo had a triple-double. His 21 points, 10 assists, 13 rebounds, 1 block, and 3 steals really helped any fantasy owners that owned him. While he racked up so many stats and hit so many big shots, he only shot 29.6% from the field, and 30% from deep. He really needs to shoot better from the field if the Magic expect to win a lot of games. Despite Oladipo's great performance, I think his shooting was the main reason why they lost this game. However, if Oladipo continues to put up these great numbers, I do see him making the all-star team this season.

Kevin Durant Is Back!
KD was looking great. This game, he didn't have Kawhi Leonard blocking and contesting his shots, and Durant was knocking tons of shots down. He had 43 points on 15-30 shooting on the night and 10-11 on free throws. He also did really well on the boards, getting 12 rebounds, and he really showed off his defense as he had 2 blocks and 1 steal. It was clear that he was the difference maker in that game and lead his team in that comeback as he fought alongside...

Russell Westbrook!
Westbrook did really well in the game as he had 48 points, 8 assists, and 11 rebounds. What did Westbrook do that really helped this Thunder team? He did great on the offensive rebounds. His 5 offensive rebounds were great and really helped the team. The whole team was on the offensive rebounds though. The team had a total of 22 offensive rebounds. One thing concerning about Westbrook last year was his shooting. He really took good shots in this game and shot 47.2% in this game. However, his 3-point shooting could improve as he shot 1-5 from deep. The other thing is Westbrook's turnovers. He had 6 turnovers in the game and that is something he can also improve on.

How About Them Magic Starter Kids?
The starting 5 for the Magic really played well. They had a combined total of 113 points. 4 of the starters had over 20 points. That is pretty impressive. They really had a great night, especially Tobias Harris 30 points and 9 rebounds. I was very impressed by this starting 5 and I expect them to have a great season. If there is an exciting team to watch this season, it is going to be the Magic. So far I haven't been disappointed by this team.

Other Points

• The Thunder were a little disappointing with the fact that they only had 19 assists on their 139 points. Hopefully we see some more assists in more games to come.
• Aaron Gordon had a nice performance off the bench with 15 points. Gordon will be a big key to Orlando's success this season.
• D.J. Augustin had 12 points and 5 assists off the bench and was a big part of that comeback run. It was really nice to see someone other than Durant or Westbrook contributing to the team.
• The Thunder really had a big advantage on the boards as they had 62 rebounds, versus the Magic's 49 rebounds. If the Thunder continue to crash the boards like that, they are going to have lots of success.
• Durant and Westbrook had a combined total 91 points. While their performances were great, the rest of the team really needs to get involved. I would like to see more from Ibaka who had an under performance of 8 points.

This was a great game and I'm excited to see more from both teams in future games. This was a very entertaining game and these are the game I love to watch.