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LeBron James came into the weekend with the hype he’s built through the monstrous 60 percent, 30-point tear that he’d been on for nearly seven straight games.
Kevin Durant dropped (another) 30-spot: It was his third straight 30-point All-Star game.
Kobe Bryant made an timely, game-sealing block with the West up 134-126 and under 2:40 seconds to play in the game.
Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade each played a well-rounded game.
The Slam Dunk contest mostly turned out to be a snooze fest of sorts.
Saturday night actually kicked off with a promising reverse dunk off the side of the backboard from former champion Gerald Green, but took a dive from there, as the contestants repeatedly failed to convert their attempts on the first couple of tries. Green was surprisingly the biggest culprit, as the high-flyer ultimately failed to covert his double-dunk attempt in the allowed time.
With just two games remaining on the NBA schedule before All-Star Weekend — Heat/Thunder, Clippers/Lakers tonight on TNT — most of the league has shifted its focus towards this weekends festivities in Houston.
Today’s case study, Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, who will be a participant in Saturday nights featured event, the Slam Dunk Contest.
If you were on twitter on Wednesday night, you probably heard about what Jeremy Evans did to center Ronny Turiaf during the exhibition game between the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers. Evans scored six points and blocked four shots in the game and displayed the type of athleticism that will quickly help everyone get better acquainted with the second-year forward. Watch the clip below to see his fine play on both ends of the court:
I’m with Green on this one. Jeremy Evans was quite impressive in his two handed-double-dunk (for lack of a better phrase), and I respect that. I also understand Budinger didn’t do any windmill 360s or jump over any cars. But he had creativity, and jumping over P. Diddy with a “White Men Can’t Jump” motto was a cool idea. Not to mention, he dunked blindfolded. Reverse. So hats off to Jeremy Evans, I suppose his dual ball dunk took the cake, but his first dunk was putrid, and he really wasn’t very unique. I must say, I was incredibly disappointed with this year’s Slam Dunk Contest, but that may have to do with lack of quality dunkers. And I do not believe I stand alone on that belief.
