Just a couple of weeks after the Super Bowl the National Basketball Association bring us another huge weekend. We’re talking about the NBA All-Star weekend, which is one of the most entertaining event in the league alongside with the Finals and many people would say in the major competitive sports league. This year Charlotte served as host of the big event.
As usual, the All-Star game was the closing event of the weekend following two spectacular prior days of action, majestic contents, very entertaining exhibition games and more we were able to see before getting to Sunday with the biggest event. Just in case you have missed some details of this weekend or maybe the whole thing, don’t worry, we got you covered here in MindBrews. Get comfy because here is the recap of the 2019 NBA All-Star weekend.
Friday, Feb. 15
We started off the weekend with a great event like the Hall of Fame announcement. However, this was not the biggest deal of the day, as later on, we got to see the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game (7 p.m. ET), one of the biggest attractions of this weekend in recent years. In this game, Home Team took the 82-80 dramatic win with influencer “Famous Los” taking the MVP award home.
Following the Celebrity Game, we had a more “serious” game, when the Rising Stars took the court in order to prevail over their rivals while giving a hell of a show to the public. This year we had a match between Team U.S. and Team World, with the likes of Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum for the Americans, while World counted with impressive names, too, such as wonder boys Luka Doncic and Ben Simmons, for example.
Despite having great names in both squads, it was Kyle Kuzma who stole the show, scoring a game-high 35 points, setting a new record, breaking fellow Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant’s 31 points.
Saturday, Feb. 16
Despite the fact that Saturdays in All-Star weekend aren’t as exciting as they used to be, this is still a good day to sit in front of the TV and watch some magic happen. This day started with both Team Giannis and Team LeBron practicing and speaking to the media early in the day. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver did the same in his Media Availability before the beginning of the action of the second day of activities.
You know how this usually works, but in case you don’t, let me break this day down. We had three events for the All-Star Saturday Night:
• Skills Challenge (first event)
• Three-Point Contest (second event)
• Slam Dunk Contest (third event)
Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum won the Skills Challenge over Mavericks’ Trae Young in a contest full of fun moments and even one or two controversial ones. In the second event, we counted with the names of hometown boy Stephen Curry, great sharpshooters like Buddy Hield and Joe Harris and even with fan-favorite Kemba Walker.
However Curry and Hield started the contest in very good shapes, they decreased their levels in the next rounds while Joe Harris kept the pace, made the shots and was the eventual winner of the contest.
The main event, as always, was the Slam Dunk Contest, the most electrifying contest of the night. People expected some improvement from last year’s show, this time having Hornets’ Miles Bridges, Hawks’ John Collins, Thunder’s Hamidou Diallo, and Knicks’ Dennis Smith Jr. as the players fighting for the big prize.
Collins and Bridges fell short to Diallo and Smith Jr., who took the competition to a different level. However, in the decisive round, it was Diallo who put on a show to take the Slam Dunk championship.
Sunday, Feb. 17
Ok, the day had finally come. After seeing celebrities playing celebrities, rookies and sophomores going at it and more players trying to win awards on Saturday night, the time for the big game had arrived. This season Team Giannis vs. Team LeBron, the two most-voted players of this year, were attending to take their very talented teams to the promise land, showing off their skills, capacity, and desire to win.
Many people believe Team LeBron had a big advantage over Team Giannis after draft day, but that doesn’t and didn’t matter outside the court. This is a game of men, not names and Team Giannis proved that. They managed to have a wonderful first half, scoring a record-equaling 53 points in the first quarter, finishing with 95 at half-time.
Little Team Giannis knew about their rivals’ comeback, because Team LeBron rallied to overcome the 13-point gap and finished the game with even more advantage. Above all, final result was a 178-164 victory for Team LeBron with Kevin Durant taking the MVP award home. We watched very entertaining and fun plays throughout the whole weekend and Sunday night wasn’t the exception because, both teams tried their best to give the public a game to remember.
