NBA'S best of the best return to New York
The stars will be out this weekend in New York not for any music, or movie awards they will be out just to play basketball. The fans will be able to enjoy various events, the celebrity charity games, the dunk contest, the 3 point shootout and much more. Fans will get an up close and personal experience in seeing the best players in the NBA on one court. Throughout the year fans vote in whom they want to see in the All Star game because they are fans of the players or of the team. Many people think this is a joke because of it being a three day event. This is a time for the players to acknowledge the fans for the appreciation of voting them in to this game. The only thing that is not happening at the mecca is the New York Knicks. This is the first time in league history that players will have a seven day break. This break allows players from teams who didn't get chosen to take a break, and rest up for the second half of the season. No regular season games ever occur during the All Star weekend event. What makes this interesting about this all star weekend is it being held in two different arena's the BarClay Center home of the Brooklyn Nets, and Madison Square Garden home of the New York Knicks.
The First two days of the events players are doing media days in talking about their charities and what it means to be at the all star game. Also if they are a superstar in the league they are a spokesperson for their shoe company and usually host an event for the new shoes coming out. They also are being involved in helping the local communities. For the players that have been selected for the first time they should enjoy every moment of the event being in New York. This allows the players to realize the fans appreciate the hard work and dedication they have put into the season so far. The Rising Stars game is a chance for fans to get to see future players who may make an impact in future few years. This year they are having the players from the different countries team up to play against the players from the United States.
The events leading up to tomorrow are what fans usually look forward to because of the dunk contest and three point shoot out. Usually the Dunk Contest is the favorite event but tomorrows event that everyone is looking forward to is the Three Point Shootout. The Dunk Contest has not been exciting over the years because of the people they have signed up. I think the last time they were excited about the Dunk Contest was when Nate Robinson won the event twice. The Three Point shootout will have real excitement for the players that will be involved. The contestants for the shootout are Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the Warriors, Kyle Kover of the Hawks, Kyrie Irving of the Cavaliers, Wesley Matthews of the Blazers, and Marco Belinelli of the Spurs, and J.J. Reddick of the Clippers, and James Harden of the Rockets they are calling this the best three point shootout in a long time. Many of these players have a great chance of winning this event they are all considered the sharpshooters from behind the arc. I think it will be difficult to pick a winner because of how good they shoot from the 3 point line. If I had to choose in who I would think would win the event it will be Klay Thompson from the Warriors. I believe he is a stronger competitor and has a higher percentage from behind the arch. He has grown a lot in his game over the past couple of years playing in the league. I think he grew up even more when he played for Team USA in the World Basketball Tournament this past summer. Many players believed he grew up just because he was away from the team that surrounded him in Golden State. He has the better overall idea in what it takes to win a championship and that winning mentality.
The two events that will occur on Saturday night I think will be interesting is the Dunk Contest and Skills Challenge. In the Dunk Contest I think the winner will be Zack Lavine from the Timberwolves who is a high flyer that has had some incredible dunk highlights. In the Skills Challenge I would pick John Wall to win the event. The Skills Challenge is an event that displays the best point guards in the league that go head to head to see who has the better ball handling skills. The Skills Challenge I am curious in what plays out because these players are very good in their ball handling and are very carful in controlling their possession. It should be a good event to see in the younger stars beginning to shine now that more people are noticing them.
The All Star Game will be special because of the best players being on one court going up against one another. The West every year has been stacked from top to bottom but the East has plenty of good players. It will be hard to see if the East can stick with them in how talented the West is. These past couple of years the West has been the dominating conference in how competitive they are throughout the year. The two players I will be watching to see if they can shine is Kyrie Irving from the East and Demarcus Cousins from the West. Even though everyone knows who Kyrie is I think he needs to shine and win back to back MVP's in the All Star game. Demarcus Cousins has a real good chance this weekend to show how good he is. The only thing I believe that is holding back Cousins is his immature attitude in how he plays the game. Kyrie seems like he is growing into his own player that many enjoy watching. The overall winner of the game is the Western Conference because of how deep they are and the East not having a deep bench to keep up the speed and size as well.
Overall, this weekends NBA All Star events is something special for both the fans and players in seeing the best in the game. If you aren't able to attend the All Star game fans have the chance to attend the events occurring all over the city. Another reason for this weekends All Star game being special is because of the history the NBA has had in New York and what basketball means to the state as well. Anytime you go to New York you can find people playing basketball but what is special is that it isn't anyone playing with a million dollar contract it is people playing because they love it. You see people playing hard from beginning to end, and no one complaining because they had gotten hurt. These people take complete pride in the game they love very much. New York fans will tell you the truth in how they feel you are playing. This weekend if you are a fan of basketball I would check it out even though it is not meaningful. With the history of basketball in New York and with all the professionals being apart of this weekend something special is in front of us . Good luck to all the competitors this weekend in the events and to the players competing in the All Star game this weekend.
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