2018 NBA All-Star Weekend

Rising Stars Challenge is tonight at 9PM EST on TNT. Skills challenge, slam dunk contest, and 3-point contest are tomorrow (Saturday) night at 8PM. All-Star Game is 8PM Sunday night, although the opening intros tend to take a long time, so tip-off is probably closer to 9.

We would have gotten KP defending his title in the skills contest and playing in the ASG, but with him out injured, only Knick we?ll see is Ntilikina in the Rising Stars challenge.

Big attraction will be the 4-man battle for the dunk contest tomorrow night. I?m going to root for DSJ, because I?ve otherwise been rooting against him this season.

Apparently, Mudiay gave Ntilikina advice on the Rising Stars game. Mudiay told him to ?show what he can do? and to ?Enjoy the moment, shoot the ball. When you get it, shoot the ball?.

Joel Embiid on the World team for the Rising Stars Challenge seems kind of silly, but he is technically in the 1st 2 years of his career. World team also has Ben Simmons.

World team starts 3 Sixers (Embiid, Simmons, Saric) along with Buddy Hield and Jamal Murray.

Good start for the scorekeeper as he/she has given all the points to the wrong team so far.

In a game where no one is trying to play too hard, Embiid takes it to another level by refusing to jump for an alley-oop. He probably should have just sat this game out and played in the All-Star Game.

Ntilkina comes into the game with Markkanen, Sabonis, Bogdanovic, and Brooks.

Taking into account that everyone is just screwing around, World team definitely seems to have the better roster.

LOL. Ntilikina takes the pass in the paint and slams home the driving 2-handed dunk. Haven?t you guys been asking to see him dunk?

Real defensive struggle. World team leads 40 - 32 after the 1st quarter.

Both teams are just alternating 1st and 2nd units of 5. Only starter to not come back into the game is Embiid. Markkanen looks like he?ll do double time to spare Embiid.

Chris Webber just told the story of how he gave Andre Iguodala a gift so that he could have the #4 on the Sixers. Iguodala said it was a watch, but it got stolen. Webber then asked if Matt Barnes stole it.

World team definitely stacked with guys who know how to put the ball in the hoop against casual defense. World team leads by 19 at the half. That?s about all I can take of this game. Looking forward to the dunk contest tomorrow.

htr10 said:

LOL. Ntilikina takes the pass in the paint and slams home the driving 2-handed dunk. Haven?t you guys been asking to see him dunk?

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First play I saw was him missing a wide open 16 fter and a few minutes later a wide open corner 3. I posted I didn't think he could dunk one handed, every dunk I've seen has been 2 handed.

tiger0330 said:

First play I saw was him missing a wide open 16 fter and a few minutes later a wide open corner 3. I posted I didn't think he could dunk one handed, every dunk I've seen has been 2 handed.

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I wouldn?t put much stock in anything in this game. Your guy DSJ is 1 for 5 and his only make was a wide open alley oop dunk. I do think there is something to be said for how stacked that World roster is relative to the USA roster though.

htr10 said:

I wouldn’t put much stock in anything in this game. Your guy DSJ is 1 for 5 and his only make was a wide open alley oop dunk. I do think there is something to be said for how stacked that World roster is relative to the USA roster though.

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Not taking it seriously but it would be nice if he was putting up points like Bogie or Brown esp in a game like this where no d is being played.

That was a sweet alley oop by DM. Standing 18 ft from the basket with his back to the basket, he flips an ally oop pass to Collins for a slam dunk.

tiger0330 said:

Not taking it seriously but it would be nice if he was putting up points like Bogie or Brown esp in a game like this where no d is being played.

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Not in Ntilikina?s nature. Only took 6 shots and hit half of them. He?s not Hield who decided to take 22 shots in an exhibition game. This game is silly. Guys are shooting from mid court half the time.

htr10 said:

Not in Ntilikina’s nature. Only took 6 shots and hit half of them. He’s not Hield who decided to take 22 shots in an exhibition game. This game is silly. Guys are shooting from mid court half the time.

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Not a flashy player for sure, looked meh in the game, Markkanen selected one spot ahead of him looked way better displaying a shot, ball handling and athleticism. 23 games remaining and I expect Horn to give him more minutes, let's see if he improves between now and the end of the season

tiger0330 said:

Not a flashy player for sure, looked meh in the game, Markkanen selected one spot ahead of him looked way better displaying a shot, ball handling and athleticism. 23 games remaining and I expect Horn to give him more minutes, let's see if he improves between now and the end of the season

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The most striking thing to me about Markkanen is that he looks confident and he looks like he is having fun. Highly talented offensive player.

As far as Ntilikina, I actually expect Hornacek to continue to not give him very many minutes. There?s something going on between Ntilikina and either Hornacek or the front office. Something bad is brewing for Ntilikina I think.