Basketball fans from around the world will invade the Magic Kingdom this week, taking in the sights while gearing up for the NBA All-Star game, which takes place on Sunday, Feb. 26 at the Orlando’s house of the Magic. The timing of this seems weird, probably because the season started 5 minutes ago.
The actual game is the finale of weekend-long events.The All-Star celebration brings together the league’s top players who are anxious to strut their stuff, mainly on offense.
Greed ruled the NBA offseason with players and owners playing tug-of-war over percentages of the profit. Scheduled games were lost and here we find ourselves already talking about the break when it seems the season just started.
There has already been some rumbling about the insignificance of the game, comparing it to this year’s awful NFL Pro Bowl where the sentiment seemed to be just score and don’t get hurt. It was a joke. And I’m sure we will see a lot of this philosophy on Sunday.
You can bet there will be fast break after fast break, dunk after dunk. Once you get past the throw downs, though, there’s really no content. The event is now more of a meaningless exhibition, full of watered down competition and subpar performances.
The fans truly want a game with real meaning.This is one thing that the MLB got right. The All-Star Baseball game is interesting since the team that wins the game also wins home field advantage for their league in the playoffs.That’s how you get them to play.
Just as in other sports, fans vote for the all-star players who will participate in the game. The players with the most votes this year are Magic Center Dwight Howard (East) and Lakers Guard Kobe Bryant (West).You are probably wondering why Jeremy Lin wasn’t the leader.He in fact didn’t even make the squad.The ballots were cast several months ago before Lin got off the bench and worked his magic. He will however be playing in the Rising Stars game, which fields two teams from first and second year players. That’s Linsanity.
This year’s Slam Dunk contest is different from the past.Four first time participants will be competing in only one round of three dunks. The dunkers include Rockets Chase Budinger, Pacers Paul George, Knicks Iman Shumpert and Timberwolves Derrick Williams. Who? Instead of a panel of judges that hold up score cards after each dunk, the winner will be determined by the fans.
Also included in the All-Star activities is the (yawn) celebrity game where rappers and other wanna-be ballers try to prove they got game. Totally Ridiculous.
It will be fun to tune in and watch the spectacle that incorporates the NBA All-Star extravaganza.And without a doubt, there will be plenty of swag to make this make this weekend a stud-studded affair.
