NBA All-Star Weekend 2009 Reflections

This year's All-Star Weekend was one of the most memorable of the past few years. The game itself took a back seat to the anticipation of a Kobe-Shaq-Phil Jackson reunion and the addition of an old favorite, H-O-R-S-E.

Friday Night's Festivities

The McDonald's Celebrity game showed spurts of excitement, with decent play by two-time MVP Terrell Owens and four members of the Harlem Globetrotters. The play of the game would have to go to Owens for his off-the-glass alley-oop dunk from teammate "Handles" Franklin of the Globetrotters. The celebrities, along with the retired NBA players, all showed their skills, from Dan Majerle's range to David Rappaport's ability to foul relentlessly. The East won 60-57.

The T-Mobile Rookie Challenge proved to be a competitive match-up of future stars of the NBA. Still, many eyes were on Dwayne Wade, on the sidelines as a guest coach, as he showed off his "poindexter" look.

On the court, the Rookies definitely showed they could hang with the Sophomores, leading at halftime 61-58.

But in the second half, the Sophomores decided to pick it up a little. All-Star snub Kevin Durant led the way, showing no mercy as he dropped a Rookie Challenge-record 46 points en route to the MVP trophy. In the end, the Sophomores won, 122-116, for their seventh consecutive victory.

Kevin Durant shows off his MVP trophy after dropping 46 on the rookies. (Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images)

All-Star Saturday Night

Saturday's events got started with the old favorite, H-O-R-S-E presented by GEICO. I was a little disappointed by the execution, but appreciated the idea.

I picked O.J. Mayo to come away with the win; I thought he was the most athletic and could pull off the most trick shots, making it harder for Joe Johnson and Durant to keep up. For a while, it looked like he would easily take the W, but Durant pulled off a great comeback, showing off his deadly stroke from downtown to win it all.

Haier Shooting Stars was everything most people expected it to be. The only truly disappointing thing I found in this event was team Phoenix's inability to make their half court shot in the second round. That would have helped them finish with an unbelievable time.

The Playstation Skills Challenge looked a lot more relaxed than it has in previous years; all four competitors seemingly took their time through each obstacle. Devin Harris and Tony Parker didn't move at their usual speed, and Parker didn't even make it out of the first round, as his time was a rather slow 50.8 seconds.

Derrick Rose put a stamp on his win with a very nice reverse double-pump dunk in the second round. He finished with a decent time of 35.8 seconds. (David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)

The question going in to the Footlocker Three-point Shootout was whether or not two-time winner, Jason Kapono, could join the likes of Hall of Famer Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players in NBA history to win the Shootout three years in a row.

But Kapono headed for the exit early, not even making it to the final round and first timer Daequan Cook walked away victorious after a bout with Rashard Lewis in the finals.

The Sprite Slam Dunk Contest seemed more like a battle found in a DC comic book than an NBA event, with Dwight Howard playing Superman and Nate Robinson (a.k.a. Krypto-Nate) playing Lex Luther.

Rudy Fernandez, winner of the fan vote, showed he had some good creativity, teaming up with Lakers F/C Pau Gasol for a nice one-handed reverse double-clutch dunk in the first round.

However, the night belonged to Dwight Howard Nate Robinson, and their excellent performances. Howard's dunk on a 12-foot hoop seemed so easy that it left the judges asking for more. His best dunk was in the second round; he threw the ball off the side of the backboard for a one-handed tomahawk.

5'9" Nate Robinson (green) jumps over 6'11" Dwight Howard to capture his second Sprite Slam Dunk title in four years. (NBAE)

Robinson's best dunk in the contest was his finisher, in which he (at 5' 9") jumped over Howard (6'11") to throw it in. The green "kryptonite" colors were a nice finishing touch to an already very "animated" dunk contest.

Oh yeah, some guy named LeBron James said he was thinking about entering his name into next year's contest.

Sunday: The 58th NBA All-Star Game

This year's game was centered around one of the biggest stars in NBA history, Shaquille O'Neal.

The Diesel made this year's All-Star Game one of the most entertaining games I've seen in a while. He started the evening by performing with the JabbaWockeeZ during intros; he showed off his best dance moves for the home crowd in Phoenix.

He then produced many highlights during the game, including a play in which he took Dwight Howard to school by throwing the ball between Howard's legs for a give-and-go with Chris Paul. It all ended with a thunderous open dunk.

"I realized that this may possibly be my last one, so I wanted to make it memorable for myself and the fans," O'Neal said.

The game was competitive for the majority of the time, unlike past years, when it was more of a show than a game.

LeBron James set the pace early, giving the East a 5-0 lead to start the game. The West retaliated, led by co-MVP Kobe Bryant, to end the first quarter with a 34-27 lead.

The third quarter belonged to Kobe and Shaq, as East coach Mike Brown decided to go small, placing Rashard Lewis at center. The duo quickly took advantage as Bryant dumped the ball into the post and stepped back to let O'Neal do his thing. The West continued to roll past, scoring 74 points in the second half to the East's 52. The game ended as a 146-119 blowout.

While the score doesn't show it, the game was very competitive up until the end of the third quarter, in which the West outscored the East 38-24.

Bryant and O'Neal walked away co-MVPs to end this seemingly too-good-to-be-true reunion. An NBA public relations official later explained that O'Neal won the media voting 5-4, and Bryant received two points for winning the fan vote, and O'Neal received one point for finishing second in the fan vote, making the final tally 6-6.

Shaquille O'Neal (left) and Kobe Bryant come away from the 58th NBA All Star Game as co-MVPs (NBAE)

Final Thoughts

This year's NBA All-Star Weekend was very entertaining and definitely lived up to the hype. Kobe and Shaq showed why they were so successful together, and the rest of the weekend's participants did not disappoint in their respective events.