NBA All-Star: Everything but the Game

The evening before the actual All-Star game is played is when we enjoy the highest level of basketball-related goofiness: the NBDL All-Star game, HORSE, Shooting Stars, the skills competition, the three-point shootout, and of course the dunk contest.

It is an evening long orgy attended by novelty, awkwardness, and the NBA (and the NBDL, who shows up with a creepy mustache). If you love watching those elements blend together it gets no better.

The events became more exciting for me when I made a simple bet with Rip City Project . We each predicted winners for the events (starting with the Shooting Stars competition), and whoever had the most correct picks would win the night.

If I won, RCP would have to write a post on Bust a Bucket on a topic of my choosing. If I lost, well we never really talked about that. Clearly I was thinking like a champion from the very beginning.

The Rip City Project picks:

Shooting Stars:

Skills: Deron Williams

Three-point: Stephon Curry

Dunk: DeMar Derozan

My picks:

Shooting Stars:

Skills: Steve Nash

Three-point: Danilo Gallinari

Dunk: Shannon Brown

I will (gleefully) come back to how the bet turned out at the end of this recap.

NBDL All-Star Game

Winner: The West…and this guy :

Ok, so I technically didn’t watch this game at all. That picture sort of makes me wish I did. I’m going to get into the D-League eventually. Promise. Maybe.

HORSE

Winner: Kevin Durant

Is this the first and last year we see this thing live and unedited? I like that they have the contest but could live with a pre-taped condensed version that cuts out some misses.

Peter Robert Casey had a suggestion of streaming a live version online, which I would be down with. Also, as suggested by Rip City Project, reduce the TNT folks’ banter and allow the actual participants to trash talk each other.

I was disappointed that they made an actual trophy to give to the winner. I loved the My Little Pony hardware from last year. It was hilarious to hand something so crappy to an NBA player. Oh well.

Durant ended up winning after a tie-breaking three-point shootout with Rajon Rondo. Why was a three point shootout used to decide a game of HORSE? Because they ran out of time, of course.

Omri Casspi didn’t do so great in spite of a super enthusiastic cheering section. But he did the following during the Rookie Challenge, so all is forgiven:

The best part is that this wasn't even the first time Casspi did that to Gallinari this month . If I'm Danilo I start calling in sick whenever I see the Kings on the schedule.

SHOOTING STARS

Winner: Texas

Much like the Jamie Foxx Show, this event is pure goofy fun. It’s also a reminder that women basketball players are often better shooters than their male counterparts, especially when you factor in that the women are using a different sized ball than they're used to.

My favorite part of this competition is that it usually comes down to who hits the half-court shot the quickest. A team can overcome a shaky start as long as they come through on that final shot. The hometown team put up a smoking final round score to take the victory and give me an early lead on the bet.

SCOREBOARD: BUST A BUCKET: 1 , RIP CITY PROJECT: 0

SKILLS COMPETITION

Winner: Steve Nash

I ran through the skills competition course at an NBA fan event once. I thought I did well until my time was crushed by the ten year old that went immediately after me. That has nothing to do with tonight’s event, but I have little else to say.

As soon as Steve Nash, who lit the Olympic Torch in like an hour before the competition, flexed his muscles and raised his eyebrow during the introductions this thing was over.

Speaking on his demanding travel schedule, Nash said , “it makes it OK when you win a résumé-builder like this.” I love that man.

SCOREBOARD: BUST A BUCKET: 2 , RIP CITY PROJECT: 0

THREE POINT SHOOTOUT

Winner: Paul Pierce

We saw some low scores posted in the shootout this year. It’s kind of funny how when the contestants don’t bring it in the three-point event nobody talks about how the contest is dead or broken, but when we have a mediocre dunk contest people act like the NBA is about to fall of the face of the Earth. Hmm...

Paul Pierce, who was picked to win by pretty much nobody, ended up beating out fan-darling Stephon Curry and Chauncey Billups in the final round. More importantly, neither I nor RCP picked the correct winner, sealing my victory.

SCOREBOARD: BUST A BUCKET: 2 , RIP CITY PROJECT: 0

DUNK CONTEST

Winner: Nate Robinson

I have a pet peeve involving people that talk about how un-entertaining the dunk contest is. This year I have to make an exception. There are a handful of previous dunk contest losers would have came away victories in this 2010 competition.

But still, let’s not get all crazy and proclaim the dunk contest dead (ahem ) and all of that. People have said as much before, and they were just as wrong then as the people are who will be saying it now. The contestants just didn’t bring it this time, end of story.

Unfortunately, tonight we saw Nate Robinson become the first three-time winner of the dunk contest. More interesting is the fact that so many people actually rooted against a small man in a dunk contest. Has that ever happened? Will it ever happen again?

FINAL BET SCOREBOARD: BUST A BUCKET: 2 , RIP CITY PROJECT: 0

Sweet, sweet victory . Per the terms of our bet, Rip City Project owes Bust a Bucket an entry on a topic of my choosing. What should I go with? I have some ideas floating around in my head, mostly involving RCP's favorite movie ever, Eddie , but I want as much input as possible before making a decision. Please put any ideas you have in the comments.