Thoughts on the 2007 NBA All-Star Weekend

This is my first article I've written in a few days so bare with me. This previous weekend that just now has arrived, and has already made it's exit for us was the 2007 NBA All-Star weekend in Vegas. It was a better weekend then I predicted it would be, and it ended with a boom and a bang when the Western Conference blew out the Eastern Conference 153-132. As every year, it's a meaningless games with events that don't really have a place in basketball whereas they shouldn't matter; however, they do. The Slam Dunk competition isn't what it use to be, but this year, it got a few people off their chairs screaming, yelling, and for the rednecks, "hollering," for Gerald Green of the Boston Celtics. Anyhow, I'm writing this to express my thoughts and analysis, dissecting the 2007 NBA All-Star game:

1.) Dick Bavetta versus Charles Barkley (sprint) -- Okay, okay, I had to love this one. It was especially funny at the beginning when Bavetta walked over to the sidelines to take off his sweatpants, then his warm-up jacket. It made it even more hilarious when he was struggling getting off the sweatpants and nearly fell down. He took his place at the baseline across from Sir Charles (Barkley) waiting for the race to begin. Barkley made a fool of himself a few times by stepping over the line before Ernie Johnson made the final "Go" on the "Ready. Set. Go!" call. He finally completed the start of the race, and Barkley stormed off, dominating the whole way, running back and forth, dominaing the competition like a fat man possessed for some Kripsy Kreme donuts. On the final stretch, Barkley started backpedaling, knowing he was on his way to victory, alas Bavetta made a quick dive for it, one last stretching effort, as he busted his knee in the process, while Barkley tripped up and fell on his ass tumbling to the ground, yet still being crowned the winner of the race. All in all, it was a great race, and was very entertaining. Now next year, why not Shaquille O'Neal versus Charles Barkley versus Magic Johnson versus George Gervin. Gervin being the oldest out of them all, it would be nice to see Shaq come away with the victory since he's more in shape than the other 3.

2.) The 3-point shootout -- I enjoyed it. It was a good event this year with a Heat player coming out and taking stride by shying away from the rest of the competition with 24 points in the last round, sinking some racks like no other. He's been a great attribution for Miami this year, but who really thought he would win the contest? A lot of people did, but I didn't think nothing of it; especially when he had those two air-balls, someone yelled "Why in the hell is this guy in here!?" Well to the man that said that, you have your answer. He defeated Washington's Gilbert Arenas, and defending champion of Dallas's Dirk Nowitzki in the Final Round to be named the champ of the event. I would have liked to of seen Gil make it interesting by knocking down some more jumpers tying it at 24 just to make it more exciting in the end, forcing a sudden death round. However, that wasn't the case as he missed jumpers early, and that cost him. In the end, he started shooting some one handers being the same Gilbert Arenas we all know and love.

3.) The Slam Dunk competition -- even though a Heat player didn't win this one, it was still my favorite competition of all from All-Star weekend. It was the most exciting dunk competition in a while (sure, you can say last years was good, but this year tops it by a long shot) with Gerald Green, doing a two-handed windmill bring-it-back dunk off the backboard, leaping over Nate Robinson for a jam, and then completely pulling an aerial assault over a table by jumping completely over it for a nice dunk giving him a 10 from every single judge. You couldn't really top that. Nate was good this year, but he was more spectacular last year when he could actually wow-ed the crowd with his little-guy dunking antics. This year, they wanted more; and while he brought it, there was another deserving contestant who could (or should) have made the final round. That contestant was Dwight Howard, who made a spectacular dunk to finish off his night, as he flew up, he controlled the ball in his right hand, while putting a sticker (of himself) on the backboard, straight on, not even being crooked, while finishing off the one-handed dunk. It was spectacular in that fashion of the concentration of the dunk and move, and it's unique posture in doing so. That should give upcoming, bright, dunkers some good ideas for the future. That's for sure.

4.) The All-Star game -- As I figured would happen, the West won, and Kobe would win the MVP. I had the thought that this would be the year the West would re-control the pace of what would happen in the All-Star game and they did. They ended a 3 year droubt since they last won it in 2004, and Kobe Bryant dominated the game. Even if the game had no avail, none of the players were truly trying to play defense, or playing very hard what-so-ever; you have to look at the fact that Kobe Bryant rehabilitated himself back to the way he played in 2002 when he won Most Valuable Player honors. He's really had quite a year, and is in third of my MVP choices for the season. Dwyane Wade didn't do so hot with only 10 points. However, he didn't need to, anyway. As I've acknowledged and mentioned, the game had no avail, and players were there to have fun (well 95 percent of them. The other 5 percent were there to win MVP, and that was number 24, Kobe Bryant, and number 23, LeBron James) so I'm sure they all did having a time with their horseplay, and their laughing it up throughout the weekend. Back to speaking of LeBron James, he scored 28 points, and if the Eastern Conference All-Stars would have won the game, he would have easily gotten the MVP privileges and honors despite having 4 turnovers, while finishing the game also with 6 assists, and 6 rebounds, right up there with his season averages.

Most Inevitable Moment of the Night: Shaquille O'Neal's crossover, then pull-up over Utah's Mehmet Okur, in the 4th Quarter. When the Eastern Conference All-Stars were down and out, Shaq wanted to give the fans of Las Vegas, and those like me watching at home something to remember this game by, and something to laugh about as well (that's a no-doubter.) He stepped up into a groove, and pulled up for a shot as the ball flung and bricked off the front iron for a big bricked shot by Shaq. Though, who would have thought it would have went in? We should have expected to of seen something crazy of Shaq (as we seen last year throwing the ball of the backboard of a free throw attempt then slamming it down) and our expectations were met. Next year, our expectations? Maybe a 3-point attempt or two. Why not?!

That was it for All-Star weekend, and this is it for my article. All in all, if I had to rate the weekend, I would have to give it a high 8 (out of 10.) It was overall, an enjoyable experience watching it this year, and I'm already thinking about the future events of what is going to happen next year. It's been a surprising, and blistering (for me) so far this season, and is only going to splinter in as the process goes on. I'll be back with another column as soon as possible.