2009 NBA All-Star Weekend Recap

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With All-Star weekend now over, I cannot help but try to compare this past weekends festivities to others in the past. Ever since I was six-years old, I can remember watching the NBA All-Star Weekend in the family room with my dad. Out of the three major sports, I instantly fell in love with the NBA and especially the Cleveland Cavaliers. Much my of my obsession with the NBA and the Cavs had to do with my childhood idol and former Cavalier, Mark Price.

Growing up, I modeled my game after Price, always trying to shoot 25 foot jumpers in the driveway and during my Saturday morning rec games. It definitely helped we both lived in the same city considering, he played 11 miles away at the Richfield Coliseum. My fondness memories as child watching professional sports occurred at the Coliseum. I was nine-years old when the Coliseum closed and I can still remember what the home court looked like, how the seating decks were arranged, and even what advertising was on the JuboTron!

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Okay, enough of me reminiscing of the old Richfield Coliseum and back to the point of this blog post. The first event I will compare actually had to do with Mark Price so lets get it started!

The 3-Point Shootout: 2009 vs 1993

This year Miami Heat and former Ohio State Buckeye, Daequan Cook won this event. Cook beat out Orlando Magic Rashard Lewis and former two-time champ Jason Kapono. Nothing really exciting in this year's event, except former two-time champion Jason Kapono got knocked out in the final round. A bunch of no names in this year's contest, so it really was not a draw as it was in the past. In my opinion, one of the weaker 3-point contests I have watched.

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In 1993, Mark Price knocked out former three-time champion Craig Hodges in the semifinal round and then went on to beat Terry Porter by one bucket in the finals. Price dominated Hodges and the rest of the field until the final round when the competition got a little tighter. Price finished with a final round of 18 and Porter finished with 17, giving Price his first 3-Point Shootout trophy.

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Price won his second title in 1994, beating Dana Barros 24-13. Even though Price scored at the time, a contest high of 24 buckets (Jason Kapono 25-2008) , I picked the '93 event because he beat out a three-time champion.

-Winner: 1993

The Slam Dunk Contest: 2009 vs. 2000

In this year's contest, Nate Robinson beat former champion Dwight Howard. Robinson, who is 5 ft 9 in, jumped over Howard (6ft 11 in), in the final round sealing the victory.

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Now, that may sound impressive, but if you look above, Robinson pushed off Howard's head with his left hand, making Howard bend forward. By doing that, Robinson cut nearly five inches off the jump, resulting in him not fully clearing Howard. The other players in contest did not have any other dunks that stood out.

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The 2000 Slam Dunk Contest was the best contest of all. Vince Carter blew the competition away on all of his dunks. Some of his dunks included, a reverse 360 windmill, honey dip (dunking the ball along with his whole arm, shown above), and a between-the-legs dunk off of a bounced alley-oop. If it was not for one of the judges, Kenny Smith, Carter would have gotten a perfect 50 on all dunks, but instead, Smith gave him a nine resulting in a 49 in one of the rounds. The ending score did not matter, as Carter beat the field and brought relevance back to the Slam Dunk Contest.

-Winner: 2000

Rookie vs Sophomore Game: 2009 vs. 2008

This year, Thunder forward Kevin Durant exploded for a record 46 points and game MVP, as the Sophomores won 122-116. Durant dominating this game. No one was even close of achieving Durant's performance. This game was a lot closer and much more competitive than the 2008 game.

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Last year's game, featured Cavalier forward Daniel Gibson raining 11, 3-pointers and finishing with 33 points. He led his team to 136-109 win over the Rookies and also received the MVP. This game was a blow out from the start. If you compare the box score (below) of each player, Durant had the better game.

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---------------------Durant---- vs.----- Gibson

Pts:-------------------46------------------33

FGM/A:--------------17/25-------------11/20

3PM/A:---------------4/8---------------11/20

Reb:-------------------7-------------------4

Ast:-------------------4-------------------2

Stl:--------------------2-------------------2

-Winner: 2009

All Star Game: 2009 vs. 2003

This year's game, featured a Co-MVP trophy to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Kobe finished with 27 points and Shaq added 17. Do not be fooled by the Co-MVP choices. In my opinion, Kobe was the MVP. He played better than anyone on the floor, especially Shaq. Shaq did have 17 points, but you know the NBA jumped at the idea of giving both players MVP, considering their rocky relationship.

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Putting the MVP talk aside, this game was really boring. You did not have any amazing dunks throughout the game, until the last minute when everyone gave up playing defense. You had a few nice shots hear and there, but normally for an All-Star Game, they are more common. Plus, this game was a blowout. The only time it was competitive was the first quarter. The West took control and destroyed the East 146-119. A very average All-Star Game to watch in my opinion.

The 2003 game featured Michael Jordan's final All-Star Game. Not only was this game much closer, the hype of Jordan's final All-Star Game was the big story. This historic game did not start out well for Jordan. He missed eight of his first 10 shots, but would recover. The game went back in fourth and went into overtime.

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With 4.8 seconds left in the first overtime, Jordan nailed a jumper over Shawn Marion (above) to give the East a one-point lead. It would have been the game winner, but Kobe Bryant hit a free throw sending the game to a second OT. In the second OT, Kevin Garnett added seven points and gave the West the lead. They never looked back. KG finished with 37 points and was name All-Star MVP.----------------------------------------------nba.com

The 2003 game was the first All-Star Game to go to two overtimes. It gave us another Michael Jordan shot to put on his career highlight reel and also showed Jordan, at 40-years old, could still play.

-Winner: 2003

Every All-Star Weekend will not be like the one in 2003, nor will it be like the one this year. But it does not matter how competitive or exciting the game is, because any child watching the Slam Dunk Contest or the game itself, will always have a memory from it. That matters, because it happened to me when I was six-years old and I can guarantee you, it happened this year.

~Sabol