nba all star saturday night 2014 (Photo: LetsGoWarriors.com Instagram account via @unlimitednba)
In case you missed it, here’s a recap round-up of the (debacle of) festivities last night — we reported, as usual, on the behind-the-scenes sights and sounds.
SB Nation ranked all five dunks from Barnes at the bottom: from 16th through 21st in a list of all 21 dunks made in the competition.
But in all seriousness, we’re happy Stephen Curry and Harrison Barnes finally represented the Golden State Warriors in some significant-presence way. So there’s perhaps a balance between that and not having a good team, no bonafide All-Stars, and winning the Slam Dunk Contest (cue Jason Richardson highlights!).
Incidentally, you can apparently download Barnes’s dunk on 2K14.
From Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:
If he had a chance to do it again, Barnes said, he would have started his losing round against Indiana’s Paul George with a different dunk and would have shown more emotion.
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The Warriors’ second-year forward considered wearing a vintage Jason Richardson jersey and re-creating one of the two-time champion’s dunks, but he left the prop in the back and instead tried a two-handed windmill that took three attempts.
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“When you miss that first dunk, you realize you have only two more tries and your hands start getting a little sweaty. Your mouth gets a little dry,” Barnes said. “The conversations I’ve had with older players in the league and vets have been great. I had a chance to talk to a lot of people about basketball and professionalism and about taking care of your body. That’s the biggest thing I’ll take away from this weekend.”
From Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group:
“I think we both kind of laid eggs tonight,” Barnes joked.
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No, All-Star Saturday didn’t go so well for the Warriors. Curry failed to make it out of the first round of the shootout. Regarded as the best shooter in the game, Curry is now 0 for 3 in his bid to win the popular event.
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He wants another crack next year.
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“I’d do it every year, if they would let me,” Curry said. “If you’re a shooter, you have to (win it) at least once.”
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Barnes didn’t come close to picking up the slack for the Bay Area. He failed to stand out in the freestyle round of the dunk competition. Then, in a head-to-head match with Indiana’s Paul George, Barnes was underwhelming.
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Twice he missed his attempt to cock it behind his head before wind-milling it, converting a lesser version on the third attempt. George, on the other hand, dunked home a 360-degree, between-the-legs dunk. Barnes was done.
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He never got a chance to pull out his better dunks and secret weapon.
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“The vintage J-Rich was in the back,” Barnes said of his plans to tribute Warriors’ two-time dunk champ Jason Richardson. “I should’ve brought it out first if I had known I was going to be up against Paul George.”
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area wrote first about Curry:
“It was set up for me, to go out there and know what number I needed to get,” Curry said. “I got to the third rack and thought I had a good shot at it. I just got a little cold.”
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The competition consists of each player shooting 25 3-pointers from five different locations around the arc within a 60-second time limit. Curry made only one of his final five shots, leaving him behind Belinelli and Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (18 points) and even with Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (16).
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“I had fun,” Curry said, “but obviously I’m a little disappointed I didn’t win. Hopefully I’ll get to come back and represent the Warriors and eventually bring a trophy back.”
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“I’ll do it every year if they ask me,” he said. “As a shooter, you’ve got to have that at least once.”
Poole continued with Barnes:
“It’s hard to top a 360, between-the-legs (dunk),” Barnes said of Wall’s winning slam. “So regardless of what I would have done, it would have been hard to top that.”
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Wall had the Wizards mascot hold the ball above his head, then jumped over the mascot’s head, grabbed the ball, dipped it between his legs while spinning and threw it down to win the individual title.
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The crowd ate it up, as did judges Dominique Wilkins, Magic Johnson and Julius Erving. Despite a nice show of teamwork between Kings rookie Ben McLemore and sidekick Shaquille O’Neal, who sat on a throne under the hoop while McLemore soared over him and dunked, Wall’s attempt was a no-doubt winner.
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Barnes attempted to replicate a digitized version of a dunk he did for a video game company. Though Barnes eventually dunked, he lost his battle with George, who won unanimously.
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“To go out there and get swept, oooh,” Barnes said, surprised. “But it was fun.
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