ALL STAR WEEKEND 2018 FURGIES QUESTIONABLE DEVIN BOOKER SETS 3PT NATIONAL ANTHEM CONTEST RECORD IN WIN PAGE 7 PAGE 4 DONOVAN MITCHELL PAYS FULL ALL STAR GAME TRIBUTE TO VINCE SHOE LIST CARTER IN DUNK PAGE 10 CONTEST WIN PAGE 5 LEBRON JAMES HOLDING ALL STAR TROPHY 1 POSTED BY WASHINGTON POST Rising Stars Challenge 2018 Skills Challenge The Rising Stars Challenge frst began in In this past All Star Weekend, ing in an identical course. The 1994. It frst started by having two random athletes also participated in the players must dribble around teams selected from the best rookie play- Taco Bell Skills Challenge. The multiple barriers, then pass ers. It has since adapted in multiple ways Skills challenge began in 2003, the ball into a ring. The players to now be featuring one “Team World” and the frst winner was Jason must then make a layup on the and one “team USA”. Each team must Kidd. The competition has since other side of the court, then pick at least 3 rookies and 3 2nd year evolved to now feature eight return and hit a 3 point shot. players. The players must also be from players in a single elimination In the past two years, big men their respective places, either the United bracket tournament. Four play- Karl-Anthony Towns and Kri- States or anywhere else. This new for- ers are big men, while the other staps Porzingis won. Dinwiddie mat started in 2015 and 2018 was the 4th four are guards. The competi- had to take down Buddy Hield game using this format. Notable players tion consists of two players rac- and Jamal Murray to make it to on Team World were Buddy Hield, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Bogdan Bog- the fnals against Lauri Mark- Brandon Ingram in the Rising Stars Challenge kanen. Dinwiddie then beat danovic. Other famous players on Team -Posted on nba.com USA consisted of Dennis Smith Junior, Lauri Markkanen to take the Jaylen Brown, Donovan Mitchell, and 2018 Skills Challenge title. Brandon Ingram. During the game, the bench for Team World clearly outplayed Team USA. The average plus/minus for Team Worlds bench was +20.6, while Team Worlds starters average was +10.4. For Team USA, the bench averaged a 24.2 plus/minus, while the starters averaged a -6.8 plus/minus. These numbers clearly show how the bench for Team World was able to completely over power Team USA. Bogdan Bogdanovic, a bench player for Team World, fnished the game with 26 Bogdan Bogdanovic holding MVP Trophy points and hit 7 for 13 3 point shots. His 6 -Posted on talkbasket.net assists also helped him win the MVP tro- Spencer Dinwiddie in the 2018 Skills Challenge Spencer Dinwiddie holding the 2018 Skills -Posted on Bleacher Report phy after the game. Challenge Trophy -Posted on solecollector.com 2 3 2018 3-Point Contest 2018 Dunk Contest The current version of the Verizon Dunk Contest originated in 1984. The The three point contest is one in which format of the Dunk Contest has been adapted multiple times since it was players can showcase their range and frst made. The frst winner was Larry Nance Sr.. Other notable winners are shooting ability. The contest originated Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant, and Nate Robinson. This in 1986. The contest has not changed years participants were Donovan Mitchell, Larry Nance Jr., Dennis Smith very much since its beginning.No- Jr., and Victor Oladipo. This year Larry Nance Jr tried to follow his father’s table winners in the past have been footsteps, Larry Nance Sr, who won the frst Dunk Contest in 1984. Notable Larry Bird, who won the contest in its dunks during the contest was Larry Nance Jr’s Rock the Cradle dunk which frst three years. Other winners have paid tribute to his father. Another notable dunk was Victor Oladipo’s Black been Ray Allen, Steve Kerr, Kyrie Irving, Panther dunk where he wore a Black Panther Mask during a dunk shortly and both of the Splash Brothers. Dirk after the movies premier. After the frst round, Donovan Mitchell and Lar- Nowitzki is also the only player that is ry Nance Jr advanced to the fnals. Donovan Mitchell eventually won after paying tribute to VInce Carter on his fnal dunk. After the contest, Dennis 7 feet or taller to win the contest. In Devin Booker in the 3-Point Contest the current format 8 players compete -Posted on arizonasports.com Smith Jr was mad about the scores and tweeted out to qualify to the fnals, in which only 3 players make it. Players accumulate @Dennis1SmithJr Double pump= 39 points by shooting from 5 spots around the three point line. At every spot there @VicOladipo No dunk= 31 are 4 balls worth one point and a “mon- ey ball” which is worth 2. Each player also gets to choose one spot in which Dennis Smith Junior was mad that his dunk was not given enough points versus Victor Oladipo’s. all 5 balls are money balls. Since 2014, the maximum amount of points possi- ble is 34 points. The record before this year was 27 points, which was held by both Stephen Curry and Klay Thomp- son. This year, Devin Booker beat Klay Devin Booker holding 3-Point Contest Trophy Thompson and Tobias Harris in the f- -Posted on cbssports.com nals while also reaching a 28 point re- cord. Larry Nance Jr dunking in his fathers jersey. Victor Oladipo dunking in a Black Panther 4 Posted on defpen.com mask-Posted on indystar.com 5 Donovan Mitchell celebrating after performing winning dunk. Posted on nytimes.com Fergies Questionable National Anthem Before the All Star Game, Black Eyed Peas star Fergie per- formed the national anthem. Fergie tried a new rendition of the anthem, but she received a lot of backlash. Many play- ers could not restrain their laughter from the singer’s perfor- mance. In response to criticism, Fergie said I love this country and honestly tried my best. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green trying to restrain their laughter during Fergie’s National Anthem Posted on digitalmusicnews.com 6 7 Kevin Durant in the All Star Game Posted on NBA.com 2018 All Star Game The All Star game may have been one of the most hyped games in recent years. This year, the NBA tried a new All Star game format where the two players with the highest amount of votes get to draft their teams. Lebron James and Stephen Curry were the cap- tains for their teams. On Team Lebron, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Demarcus Cousins were selected to start. On Team Steph, Giannis Ante- tokounmpo, Demar DeRozan, Lebron James and Stephen Curry shaking hands before the game. Joel Embiid, and James Harden Posted on nba.com started. Both teams also select- ed 7 substitutes. The game came down to the wire, and in the end, Kevin Durant and Lebron James were able to stop Stephen Cur- ry’s last attempt to win the game. After the win, Lebron James re- vealed his order, in which he did not pick Kyrie Irving last, which was expected by viewers. Lebron and Irving have had a shaky his- tory and the fact that Kyrie was picked last can give us insight on All Star Game Jerseys Posted on thesource.com the nature of their relationship. 8 9 2018 All Star Shoes During the All Star Weekend, all of the players plus more wore specialized shoes. Here are every player’s shoes with other All Star Contest Participants. LEBRON JAMES KYRIE IRVING Kith x Nike LeBron 15^ Nike Kyrie 4 “All Star”^ BRADLEY BEAL DEMAR DEROZAN Nike React Hyperdunk Low PE* Undefeated x Nike Zoom Kobe 1 Pro- to “Red Camo”* JAMES HARDEN JAMES HARDEN Adidas Harden Vol. 2 “Vision”^ Adidas Harden Vol. 2 “Imma Be A Star”^ JOEL EMBIID GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO Adidas Mad Bounce PE* Kobe A.D. Mid ‘Greece’ PE* STEPHEN CURRY KEVIN DURANT Under Armour Curry 4 “Flushed Pink”^ KD 10 ‘All Star’^ DRAYMOND GREEN Nike Zoom Rev 2018 PE* ANTHONY DAVIS Nike Air Max Dominate PE* PAUL GEORGE GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO Nike PG2 “All Star”^ 10 Kobe A.D. Mid ‘Passion’^ 11 Shoe Image Sources ^-Denotes all Images taken from goat.com Demar Derozan-Image via Bob Donnan for USA Today Sports Bradley Beal-Image via Andrew D. Bernstein for Getty Images Joel Embiid-Image via Bob Donnan for USA Today Sports Giannis Antetokounmpo-Image via Garrett Ellwood for Getty Images Anthony Davis-Image Posted on https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/nba-all- star-best-sneakers/ Draymond Green-Image via Joe Murphy for Getty Images Kyle Lowry/Goran Dragic-Image via Richard Mackson for USA Today Sports Karl-Anthony Towns-Posted @defpenkicks Al Horford-Image via Jesse D. Garrabrant for Getty Images Klay Thompson-Image via Bob Donnan for USA Today Sports Donovan Mitchell-Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images Tracy Mcgrady-Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Devin Booker-Posted @undefeatedinc 14.