The stars that hang over Texas will gleam for the All Stars of the National Basketball Association in Dallas this weekend. The rosters have been finalized and coaches picked. Fans voted popular players into the game as starters. Snubbed players will bitterly attend the festivities.
The All Star game is an honor to play in because it means the fans thought you were talented or popular enough to play with the “best of the best.”
For the Western Conference names such as Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns and Dirk Nowitski of the host city, Dallas Mavericks have become common place.
Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz Conference, seem to be rising stars, who also made their first list appearance in Dallas.
The Eastern Conference features familiar names like Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Eastern Conference leads the contest 35-24. But everyone knows that the West is fairly strong and can come up at any moment and win the game. For those of you wondering, the West is the reporters’ pick for the game.
The All Star game will not be the highlight for the fans. The dunk contest will. At one time the dunk contest was considered overrated and therefore removed from the festivities until 2000.
That year Vince Carter wowed the crowd with elaborate dunks that inspired an entire generation. Now the likes of Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson took the contest to new heights.
This year’s contest has four players who are largely unknown. After the first half of the season, five players have emerged to be the contenders for the Dunk Contest: Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks, Gerald Wallace of the Charlotte Bobcats, Shannon Brown of the Los Angeles Lakers, DeMar DeRozen of the Toronto Raptors, and Eric Gordon of the Los Angeles Clippers. The standout of the five is past winner Nate Robinson, who took the title in 2006 and then astonished the world when he jumped over Dwight Howard to win the title in 2009.
Another highlight of the weekend will be the celebrities who think they can ball. This has been a highlight for many because it gives the basketball stars a chance to see if their favorite music, radio or TV personality loves the game as much as they say they do.
This year’s roster of stars includes such people as Common (musician/actor), Chris Tucker (actor/comedian), Robert Horry (seven-time NBA Champion) and Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks owner).
The coaches of the teams this year will be Magic Johnson and Alonzo Mourning, with one of the assistant coaches being Saved by the Bell star Mario Lopez.
The weekend will also include a televised game of horse as well as the T-Mobile Rookie and Youth Challenge. These events are fun for all to see who can still play the playground games of yesteryear and run a basketball oriented obstacle course in a small amount of time.
To be honest. no one really goes to the host city of the All Star game for the game itself but for the parties that take place.
Many fans travel to see the entertainers that grace the clubs and lounges.
Players also relax during this because the next half of the season determines who will ultimately be playing well into May and June.