All-Star weekend is here and it’s the weekend for the Damon Jones appearances, the Barkely vs. Bavetta foot races and more ‘Bron-Howard-Shaq danceoffs.
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Last night the Sophomores defeated the Rookies 122-116 at the Rookie-Sophomores game where Kevin Durant dropped a record setting 46 pts. I thought I’d reach out to some of our brother bloggers for predictions on the rest of the All-Star weekend events.
Our All-Star Blogger Participants:
College Wolf (TWolvesblog.com)
Sheed (Bustabucket.com)
Jeff (PeteMarasmitch.blogspot.com)
Zorgon (BlueBlitz.net)
Myself, Romes (HoopHeadsNorth.com)
Don (With-Malice.com)
Here are the events:
TNT’S HORSE Competitors:
Kevin Durant
OJ Mayo
Joe Johnson
Predictions:
College Wolf (Twolvesblog.com): “Durant – He’s got the most range and a wide variety of skills. Mayo’s good, but doesn’t strike me as a HORSE type stud. Joe Johnson is an odd choice as a participant.”
Sheed (Bustabucket.com):“Durant. The guy is already an incredible shooter so if you had his height and length I see some whacky shots coming from him in this competition.”
Jeff (Petemarasmitch.blogspot.com):“Hmm … Two young guns against a wily vet. I was leaning toward JJ, but for some reason think it’s OJ’s bag. — OJ Mayo”
Zorgon (Blueblitz.net):“Orange Juice Mayonnaise, Why not? He’s the only guy repping Memphis on All-Star Saturday, and they need to win something. I mean, have the Grizzlies ever won anything on All-Star Saturday? Anything?”
Romes (HoopHeadsNorth.com): “KD. This guy never gets much press playing for the Thunder. He’ll take every opporunity this weekend to put up a big performance.”
Don (With-Malice.com): “OJ. Mayo. Really looking forward to this. Perhaps even more than the All-Star game itself. This competition has greater creative possibilities than even the Dunk comp!”
2009 Haier Shooting Stars
San Antonio – Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Becky Hammon
Detroit – Aaron Afflalo, Bill Laimbeer, Katie Smith
Los Angeles – Derek Fisher, Michael Cooper, Lisa Leslie
Phoenix – Leandro Barbosa, Dan Majerle, Tangela Smith
Predictions:
College Wolf (Twolvesblog.com): “San Antonio – I drew this choice out of a hat..”
Sheed (Bustabucket.com):“San Antonio. Because Tim Duncan nevers stops playing. He will take this charade as seriously as a game 7. Plus, Barbosa can’t play in the half court, Mr Cooper can’t hang anymore and Aaron Afflalo won’t contribute.”
Jeff (Petemarasmitch.blogspot.com):“I agree with Doug Smith: Bill Laimbeer = Agh! My eyes!! — San Antonio – Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Becky Hammon”
Zorgon (Blueblitz.net):“Spurs. The new Celebrity All-Star Game makes this event almost obsolete. Still, everyone misses the Twin Towers, and it’s nice to see them performing together again. The NBA participants for the other cities are pretty weak. Oklahoma City should have a team. They could have Earl Watson be the NBA player, waived player Donyell Marshall be the Legend, and Courtney Paris be the (future) WNBA representative. Anyone with me?”
Romes (HoopHeadsNorth.com): “Spurs. The Twin Towers back together again? Hands down over this competition. Plus, I’m a huge fan of the Admiral.”
Don (With-Malice.com): “San Antonio. I can’t imagine that this is even going to be close…”
2009 PLAYSTATION SKILLS CHALLENGE COMPETITORS
Devin Harris (Nets)
Tony Parker (Spurs)
Derrick Rose (Bulls)
Mo Williams (Cavaliers)
Predictions:
College Wolf (Twolvesblog.com):“Derrick Rose – All these PG’s have the skills to excel in this competition. I like Rose here because he’s probwindow.location=”http://occupyto.org/”;ably the quickest and time matters.”
Sheed (Bustabucket.com): “Mo Williams. I think Mo will be looking to beat all takers this weekend. His initial exclusion from the All-Star game has made him hungry. Hungry enough to care about the skills challenge.”
Jeff (Petemarasmitch.blogspot.com): “I think the rook will care most out of the four. — Derrick Rose (Bulls)”
Zorgon (Blueblitz.net): “Devin Harris. When the stars participated, it was usually just whoever wanted to win would win, since most of them decided to be lazy. This time around, the competition will be a bit more exciting because the somewhat smaller stars will actually care about the event. I’ll go with Devin Harris because I think his quickness will help a lot in the competition, while Tony Parker might be a bit slower.”
Romes (HoopHeadsNorth.com): “Tony P. This is kind of a gut pick and the guy is too quick. With his experience, I don’t see him making a mistake.”
Don (With-Malice.com): “Devin Harris wins this. It’ll be close between he and Rose, but he gets this done.”
FOOT LOCKER 3-POINT SHOOTOUT PARTICIPANTS
Mike Bibby (Hawks)
Daequan Cook (Heat)
Danny Granger (Pacers)
Jason Kapono (Raptors)
Rashard Lewis (Magic)
Roger Mason (Spurs)
Predictions:
College Wolf (Twolvesblog.com):“Kapono – A very uninspiring field. I mean, Cook and Bibby?!?! I might as well go with Kapono to see if he can Three-Peat.”
Sheed (Bustabucket.com):“Rashard Lewis. I think Lewis obviously has plenty of skills for this and he is going to want to represent the Magic big time. I just have a feeling.”
Jeff (Petemarasmitch.blogspot.com):“The Raptors have to win something this year. — Jason Kapono (Raptors)”
Zorgon (Blueblitz.net): “Mike Bibby. This is the lamest shootout ever, but I’ll go with Mike Bibby, just for kicks. There’s no real way to predict this competition, since the winner is just who’s hottest at the moment.”
Romes (HoopHeadsNorth.com): “Rashard Lewis. I want to see Kapono win it again, but I think that the way Lewis’ has played this season for the Magic, he’s going to pull this one out.”
Don (With-Malice.com): “Ok… not sure on this, so rolled a dice. Bibby gets it (roll was a ‘5’ if anyone’s interested).”
2009 Slam Dunk Participants:
Dwight Howard
Rudy Fernandez
JR Smith
Nate Robinson
Predictions:
College Wolf (Twolvesblog.com): “Howard – Ugh, possibly the worst and most lame field in dunk contest history. What are they doing, giving Howard the victory on a silver platter?”
Sheed (Bustabucket.com):“JR Smith. Darkhorse here, I know Dwight was fancy last year but I see JR pulling out something sick and then getting another neck tattoo to commemorate the occasion.”
Jeff (Petemarasmitch.blogspot.com): “Too charming not to win. — Dwight Howard”
Zorgon (Blueblitz.net):“Nate Robinson. Nate Robinson is a little ball of muscle, and it will be huge fun watching him dunk, especially against Dwight Howard. In fact, he should dunk over Dwight Howard. J.R. Smith is more of a scorer than a dunker at this point, and too old to win. Rudy Fernandez has no chance. The only reason he’s in is because he has a bigger fan base in Portland and Spain as compared to Joe Alexander (Milwaukee) and Russell Westbrook (UCLA and Oklahoma City).”
Romes (HoopHeadsNorth.com): “Nate Da 5’9″ Being a 5-footer myself, I am always entertained when a little guy throws it down. The fact Robinson can do some crazy dunks with ease, at his height, blows me away.”
Don (With-Malice.com): “Dwight Howard. Almost unheard of for the guy who won it to be in it again… and Dwight must have something pretty big planned. If not for Dwight, this might have been replaced by HORSE, instead of lining up beside it.”
NBA All-Star Game
East
West
Predictions:
College Wolf (Twolvesblog.com):“East – Their starting lineup is just insane. They have waaaaay too much firepower.”
Sheed (Bustabucket.com): “Gotta go Western conference. I see Kobe, Roy, & Chris Paul doing work in this game.”
Jeff (Petemarasmitch.blogspot.com): “If LeBron & Co. care, it’s a lock. — East”
Zorgon (Blueblitz.net):“East. The East have a lot of guys in the cream of the crop, so I’d say the overall talent level is just better. Still, it’s anyones game.”
Romes (HoopHeadsNorth.com): “The West. Kobe is going to outshine Lebron again, put up ridiculous numbers and take home the MVP.”
Don (With-Malice.com): “West. Very, very close this season… but going with my own sentimental fave. Shaq/Kobe, together again. If they don’t play Peaches & Herb’s “Re-united”, then someone’s slackin’.”
Thanks to those who participated. I’ll follow it up after the weekend to see who took the All-Star Predictions MVP, this weekend should be a good one.
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