NBA All-Star Saturday 2011 Results & Winners

If you bet on Derrick Rose, Ray Allen and Blake Griffin to win tonight's All-Star Saturday contests, you were 1 for 3. As predicted, LA Clippers star Blake Griffin took the trophy for the dunk contest, after he leaped over a parked car in a single bound. That car was a brand new Kia and had his teammate Baron Davis inside, tossing the ball out of it from the sunroof.

The dunk contest capped off the night of events for All-Star Weekend 2011, which started with the Haier Shooting Stars contest. Teams of 3 players competed, made up of a WNBA player, current NBA star and legend from NBA past. The winning team was the Atlanta squad composed of Coco Miller, Steve Smith and Al Horford. Horford hit the big half-court three-point shot to help them win in good time. The defending champs, Team Texas, couldn't put that shot away, even with Kenny Smith and Dirk Nowitski on the floor.

Next up, it was the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. Competing in 2011 were Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, John Wall and Chris Paul. Stephen Curry ran through the course featuring dribbling, passing and shooting drills, in excellent time. Nobody was as fast as the young star and he took the trophy while also earning a young female fan a $30,000 scholarship. Not bad!

The Three-Point Shootout was next in line, with all eyes on the new NBA leader in 3's, Ray Allen. Allen would beat out his Celtics teammate, Paul Pierce, and make it to the finals, against James Jones. Jones was not predicted by many to win it, but he was the real deal tonight. The Heat star scored 20 in the finals, while Allen faltered on his final rack, finishing with 15. Congratulations to Jones, although Ray Allen still reigns supreme all-time.

And then there was the dunk contest...People have been sour on this event in year's past, and it did offer some creativity this time around. There was a questionable score of 50 given to Serge Ibaka on his takeoff from behind the FT line. DeMar DeRozan had some impressive slams, but the finals came down to Javal McGee of the Wizards against Blake Griffin of the Clippers. McGee had some interesting dunks, one of which included two basketballs and two rims next to each other. Another included McGee dunking 3 balls into one basket, in succession.

However, Blake Griffin and his hype man coach, Kenny Smith had a master plan. Griffin's final dunk involved a brand new Kia brought to the floor near the basket. Smith had a Crenshaw Choir singing "I Believe I Can Fly" and then Griffin ran, jumped, caught the pass from Davis from the car, and jumped over the hood of the car to dunk. After the recently added idea of fans voting for the finals by text or internet, Griffin had won the event. In an emotional moment, he dedicated the win to his best friend who recently passed away.

Hat's off to all of the competitors on some great contests tonight. Also, a shout to the hilarious commentary of the TNT team with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller. Now we can all look forward to a fun game on Sunday night when East meets West!

NBA All-Star Weekend 2011 Events Schedule & Participants

NBA All-Star Weekend 2011 is here, so it's time to get familiar with which NBA stars will be participating. There's a range of events include the Skills Contest, Three-Point Contest and Sprite Slam Dunk Contest. Stars such as Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin and John Wall will all be featured.

By the way, the Rookies defeated the Sophomores 148-140 on Friday evening, with John Wall capturing the MVP award. DeMarcus Cousins contributed mightily with 33pts and 15rbds, while Wall had 12 points and an amazing 22 assists. Blake Griffin added 14pts, while DeJuan Blair was a standout for the Sophomores with 28pts.

All-Star Saturday kicks off after 8PM EST on TNT.

Haier Shooting Stars 2011:

Team Atlanta: Al Horford (Hawks), Coco Miller (WNBA's Atlanta Dream), Steve Smith (Legend)

Team Chicago: Taj Gibson (Bulls), Cathrine Kraayveld (WNBA's Chicago Sky), Steve Kerr (Legend)

Team Los Angeles: Pau Gasol (Lakers), Tina Thompson (WNBA's L.A. Sparks), Rick Fox (Legend)

Team Texas: Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks), Roneeka Hodges (WNBA's S.A. Silver Stars), Kenny Smith (Legend)

Taco Bell Skills Challenge 2011:

Chris Paul (NO)
Stephen Curry (GS)
Derrick Rose (CHI)
John Wall (WAS)
Russell Westbrook (OKC)

2011 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest:

Ray Allen Boston
Kevin Durant Okla. City
Daniel Gibson Cleveland
James Jones Miami
Paul Pierce Boston
Dorell Wright Golden State

2011 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest:

DeMar DeRozan (Tor)
Blake Griffin (LAC)
Serge Ibaka (OKC)
JaVale McGee (WAS)

This will all be a precursor to the big game Sunday night when East meets West. TNT will air the All-Star game starting at 8PM EST!

NBA All-Star 2010 Reserves announced

Reserves for the 2010 NBA All-Star game in Dallas, Texas were announced earlier, with seven first-time players making the cut. These will include Chicago Bull Derrick Rose, Boston's Rajon Rondo, Atlanta's Al Horford, Gerald Wallace of the Bobcats, Kevin Durant of the Thunder, Zach Randolph of Memphis and Deron Williams from the Utah Jazz. Each of these players has earned their first ever spot on the All-Star team, serving as reserve players. All-star reserves are selected by the coaches from the respective Conference, while the starters are voted in by the fans. Here's a look at each conference's full All-star lineups.

Eastern Conference All-Stars

Starters:
Allen Iverson G
Dwyane Wade G
Lebron James F
Kevin Garnett F
Dwight Howard C

Reserves:
Derrick Rose G
Rajon Rondo G
Joe Johnson G
Chris Bosh F
Al Horford F
Gerald Wallace F
Paul Pierce F

Western Conference All-Stars

Starters:
Steve Nash G
Kobe Bryant G
Carmelo Anthony F
Tim Duncan F
Amare Stoudamire C

Reserves:
Kevin Durant F
Pau Gasol F
Dirk Nowitski F
Chris Paul G
Zach Randolph F
Brandon Roy G
Deron Williams G

This will mark Kevin Garnett's 13th appearance in the All-Star game, with Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan each having 12 appearances. Allen Iverson will have his 11th appearance on an All-star team, Dirk Nowitski his 9th, and Paul Pierce will make his 8th appearance on the team. If any player is unfortunately unable to play in the game, NBA Commissioner David Stern selects his choice as replacement.

The 2010 NBA All-Star game goes down on Sunday, February 14, 2010, Valentine's Day, in Dallas, Texas before an expected crowd of more than 80,000 fans.

Celtics Outlast Bulls in Game 7

In what TNT NBA announcer Kevin Harlan called "the most memorable series in Playoffs history", the Boston Celtics were able to close out the Chicago Bulls in Boston Saturday night. The 109-99 victory came in large part from Ray Allen's 23 points and Paul Pierce's 20 points, with their third amigo, Kevin Garnett, cheering them on from the bench in a 3 piece suit. Ben Gordon continued shooting the lights out with 33 points, while rookie sensation Derrick Rose added 18 points for the Bulls.

This game was won for the Celtics largely due to their bench scoring. In the 1st 6 games of the series, the Celtics' bench averaged 12.7 points, but in game 7 they added 30 points when it mattered most. The Bulls bench outscored Boston in 5 of the first 6 games. Add in a ton of game deciding and overtime-forcing amazing shots, and this series was easily a classic. The Chicago Bulls once again showed they are brewing a lot of talent for a future championship contender, should they add more veteran players. Derrick Rose displayed a performance as a rookie similar to a young Dwyane Wade years ago when he first got his taste of the playoffs. If the Bulls hold onto Rose along with Hinrich, Gordon and Noah, and add those much needed vets, they'll have a good shot at advancing deeper in the next year.

See Celtics eliminate Bulls in Game 7 at NESN

Next up for the Celtics will be Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. Will the Celtics have the inside presence without Kevin Garnett to make it past Orlando? Or will it even matter? If Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo can have some hot shooting nights and rack up the points, the outside game may be enough to propel the Celtics forward. While the C's looked smug with victory Saturday night ,judging by this series, the Celtics may be out of gas by the time they get into Cleveland.

2009 NBA Mock Draft

Last year's #1 pick was a toss up between Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley, with Chicago grabbing Rose and making him their franchise player while the Miami Heat took Beasley. For 2009, it appears it may be a toss up between two monstrous players, Oklahoma's Blake Griffin and the human eraser, UCONN's Hasheem Thabeet. Both players have plenty of skills to offer teams in desperate need. Griffin may have a slight edge as he's the better offensive player, but teams can't go wrong by choosing a 7'3 guy who fills the lane, intimidates opposing players and sends shots into the stands.

Here's a look at just one NBA Mock draft for the projected draft picks #1 through 14. These team positions will most likely change, as of right now they are determined by worst to best ranking in the NBA amongst teams that may not qualify for the playoffs.

1 Sacramento Blake Griffin So.
2 Washington Hasheem Thabeet Jr.
3 LA Clippers James Harden So.
4 Memphis Jordan Hill Jr.
5 Oklahoma Cty Brandon Jennings Intl.
6 *Minnesota Gerald Henderson Jr.
7 Golden St. Earl Clark Jr.
8 Toronto Chase Budinger Jr.
9 Indiana Al-Farouq Aminu Fr.
10 Charlotte Demar DeRozan Fr.
11 New Jersey Craig Brackins So.
12 *New York Jeff Teague So.
13 Chicago DeJuan Blair So.
14 Phoenix Eric Maynor Sr

Currently opinions vary on where Connecticut Junior Hasheem Thabeet might be drafted. Mock draft sites currently speculate him anywhere from 1-5. MyNBaDraft.com has Thabeet going 5th to Oklahoma City, while draftexpress.com has Thabeet being drafted 4th by the Memphis Grizzlies. Of course, players' stock can rise and fall with the NCAA tournament as well as their performances in team workouts and pre-draft activities.

Also, for the 2009 draft, Minnesota receives the Miami Heat's first round pick, a top 10 selection due to the Ricky Davis trade several years ago.

2009 All-Star Saturday: Skills, 3's & Dunks

Saturday night the stars came out in Phoenix to watch several hot competitions which served as a precursor to the 2009 NBA All-Star Game.

The always anticipated Dunk contest featured a showdown between last year's winner, big man Dwight Howard, and the smaller winner from several years ago, Nate Robinson from the New York Knicks. The battle took on a whole new level as the two finalists donned costumes. Dwight Howard had a second basketball hoop brought in via forklift, then ran to a phone booth in the crowd where he donned his familiar Superman cape. Howard then proceeded to dunk on a hoop that had been raised a lofty 12 feet, displaying his true athletic ability. Howard outdid himself when he did another dunk from the sidelines after tossing the ball off the side of the hoop, catching it, cocking it back and jamming it on the side.

Nate Robinson decided to play arch-enemy to Superman, Lex Luthor, when he emerged from the locker room dressed in the special green Knicks uniform and kicks, resembling Kryptonite. From there, Robinson launched into several impressive dunks. First up was a double-handed reverse. But the dunk that was the icing on the "cape" so to speak, was Robinson calling in his opponent, D-Howard, to stand facing the hoop. Robinson then charged full speed ahead and launched himself up and over Superman. It was a comic book finish to a zany dunk contest, which gave way to Robinson winning his 2nd dunk contest title. Robinson was informed as were fans watching that Lebron James has thrown his name into the contestants for 2010...Just when you thought there's nothing left to do, King Lebron will be ready to innovate in 2010!

Let's not forget about the previous competitions of the night, even though they usually pale in comparison to the dunks. In the skills contest it was Chicago's rookie phenom, Derrick Rose, who took home the victory. Rose even capped off his layup with a sweet dunk of his own...so why no dunk contest Rose? The three point shootout saw a relatively unknown winner in Dacquan Cook of the Miami Heat. He beat out Rashard Lewis in the finals. Detroit's team built of a WNBA star, NBA legend and NBA star took home the title in the team shootout competition.

With the festivities wrapped up on Saturday Night in Phoenix, the stage is set for the 2009 All-Star Game where Lebron, Kobe and the rest of the best will suit up to dazzle and astound the crowd!

2009 NBA All-Star Vote Leaders...

The NBA All-Star game arrives in just a month, illustrating how fast time keeps flying by this 200809 NBA season! This year's All-Star game will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on February 15th. That's just a day after Valentine's day, and many NBA players are hoping fans (or the coaches) show them the love. Here's a look at the current vote totals for the Eastern and Western Conferences....

2008-09 NBA All-Star Top Vote-Getters: (1/1/09)

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

GUARDS: Dwyane Wade, Miami, 1,473,225; Allen Iverson, Detroit, 1,027,153;

FORWARDS: LeBron James, Cleveland, 1,521,272; Kevin Garnett, Boston, 1,101,541

CENTERS: Dwight Howard, Orlando, 1,709,088

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WESTERN CONFERENCE:

GUARDS: Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, 1,534,020; Tracy McGrady, Houston, 961,852;

FORWARDS: Tim Duncan, San Antonio, 1,132,095; Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix, 743,639;

CENTERS: Yao Ming, Houston, 1,396,126;

As you can see from the above totals released January 1, 2009, Dwight Howard leads all vote-getters with 1,709,088. In case you're wondering where Portland's rookie center ranks, Greg Oden is 5th amongst Western Conference centers behind Yao, Shaq, Bynum and Mehmet Okur. That should change within a few seasons. As for this past season's top 2 draft picks, Michaels Beasley is 2nd to last for East forwards, while Chicago Bull Derrick Rose is 8th. Two of the guards that Rose has received more votes than are Jose Calderon (TOR) and Jameer Nelson (ORL), who just might find spots on the reserve section for their first appearance.

Also of note, but not shown above is that New Jersey's new addition, Yi Jianlian, is third in votes for Eastern Conference forwards with 959,324 votes. Overall, he's not too far behind Boston's KG, and has a good shot of capturing a spot. Yi is ahead of previous all-stars Chris Bosh and Paul Pierce with the votes, but if he isn't voted in, don't expect him to edge out either of those guys for a reserve spot. Chalk up the Yi vote to the Yao vote as the Chinese have embraced the NBA greatly since Yao's arrival to Houston.

You can see the rest of the 2008-09 NBA All-Star votes here at azcentral.com. Balloting for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game officially ends on January 19th, 2009.

Derrick Rose Cuts out of Practice

Derrick Rose is usually making cuts on the basketball court to avoid defenders and sneak to the hoop for layups. But according to recent reports, the rookie guard missed practice due to a bad cut in his arm. The reason for the incident? Rose explains that he was slicing an apple in bed, got up, forgot he had a knife in his bed, then went to lay back down and cut his arm. The "gouge" in his arm required 10 stitches and Rose to miss Bulls practice on Monday.

Some aren't buying the apple/knife story, saying it sounds far-fetched. Is Rose a cutter, as in non-basketball cutting? Was Rose involved in a knife fight with his other self? Was there some sort of altercation that Rose is covering up? Was he attempting to self-tattoo or even worse? It's hard to speculate on that, but with the recent NFL situation involving Plaxico Burress shooting himself, we now have Rose knifing himself. No suspensions, fines or other penalties have been levied against Rose though. Let's hope all's well with the rookie guard who's been making a great impact in Chicago during his freshman campaign.

On the positive side, here's an article discussing Rose's transition to the leadership role in Chicago:

Chicago Tribune article on Derrick Rose.

Bulls Make Rose #1 Pick

With their first draft pick since taking Elton Brand at #1, the Chicago Bulls drafted phenom Derrick Rose. Now the Bulls add another piece to their puzzle as they attempt to regain playoff glory. The Bulls of course failed to make the playoffs last season, one of the more enigmatic teams, besides Miami. The general consensus now seems to be the Bulls will be trading either Hinrich, Gordon or Larry Hughes, or more than 1 of them. Smart money may be on Hinrich, who was running the show there, but don't rule anything out yet.

Forward Michael Beasley went at the 2 spot to Miami, giving them another frontcourt player along with Marion. There had been rumors of a trade by Pat Riley, but nothing materialized. In other news, the Knicks once again gave their fans something to jeer about as they selected an Italian player whom Jay Bilas claims "won't be a star, but will be a solid player". Always great to appease the hometown fans on national TV.

There were a couple trades too. The Nets dealt away longtime star Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for last year's #7 pick, Yi, and Bobby Simmons. The Pacers traded away their All-star, Jermaine O'Neal in exchange for TJ Ford, Nesterovic, and a draft pick. It's puzzling why Toronto would add O'Neal in with Bosh up front, as they are identical type players. TJ Ford has been touted as one of the quicker guys in the league and maybe now can jumpstart the Pacers again.

There's sure to be more moves made in the coming weeks, but for now the draft has ended and benefited several teams.