The NBA All Star Weekend has been an annual tradition since the league began. Despite changes, the event has always been highly anticipated by fans, media, and players. However, the All Star game just hasn’t had quite the same energy it has had in years past. This year, things changed. The Rising Stars challenge has adopted a USA vs. the World style. The skills challenge finally added big men. The three point contest has the best talent it has ever had. Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon rejuvenated the dunk contest. Even the actual All Star Game had so little defense, that it actually gained some (not much) entertainment value. Let’s take a look back at the weekend day by day.

Friday Night:

I’m not going to waste your time by talking about the celebrity All Star game because quite frankly, nobody cares. Once that was over, the Rising Stars challenge started. The NBA had the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge for years, but once the NBA realized that the rookies were never going to win, they decided to change the format. For a couple years, they had a mixture of twenty four rookies and sophomores that were drafted to teams that were coached by NBA legends. It worked well, but they decided to change it up again in 2015. USA vs. The World is the new format, and it has worked great. This year the USA pulled out the win, but it didn’t come easy for them. The final score was 157-154 and Zach Lavine, who was awarded the MVP, finished with 30 points and 7 rebounds. For the World Team, Kristaps Porzingis led the way with 30 points, and Andrew Wiggins had 29 points. Similar to the All Star Game, there was hardly any defense until the fourth quarter, but it was still a fun way to start off the weekend.

Saturday Night:

Saturday Night began with the Skills Challenge, and there was a new twist this year. For the first time since the Skills Challenge began, there were four big men, and the final was set to be a guard against a forward. The participants had to dribble around cones, pass through a target, run the floor, hit a lay up, and make a three before his opponent to advance to the next round. In all competitions, this was the biggest upset of the weekend with Karl Anthony Towns taking home the trophy. He defeated Isaiah Thomas in the final after they both missed their first two three point attempts, but KAT made his third.

The Three Point Contest was a star studded event, and it definitely did not disappoint. The first round ended with Klay Thompson first, Steph Curry second, and a three way tie for third. Devin Booker, James Harden, and JJ Redick had 30 seconds to make as many threes as possible, and Booker came out on top.

In the final round, Devin Booker finished with only 16 points. Steph Curry went next and put up a respectable 23 points. However, Klay Thompson shot last, and scored 27 points for the highest scoring round of the night. For the second straight year, one of the Splash Bros won the three point contest.

The Dunk Contest has lost some of its former glory the recent year due to the lack of stars and lack of new dunks.  In years past, there has been an increase in props and a decrease in creativity. While the big names still weren’t there, the talent was. This was one of the best Dunk Contests in NBA history. The first round was exciting, but it looked like it was going to be another disappointing year. Round 2 came, and things started to heat up. Aaron Gordon leaped over the Magic’s mascot and put the ball between his legs for what was at that point, the best dunk of the night. Zach Lavine followed that up with an alley-oop FROM THE FREE THROW LINE! Gordon and Lavine moved on to the finals and that’s where history was made.

Gordon started it off with his mascot rotating with the ball in his hand on a hoverboard, and Gordon timed it right, grabbed the ball with his right hand, put his left hand behind his head (Similar to a famous Karl Malone dunk), and continued with a 360 windmill dunk. Needless to say, he scored a perfect 50. Lavine was up next with a similar 360 windmill dunk. It was pretty unanimous that Gordon’s dunk was better, but Lavine’s was still worthy of a 50. Gordon came back on the floor and he was ready to put it away. His mascot held the ball on top of his head, and Gordon leapt over him and put the ball under BOTH LEGS! Gordon took a seat 7 feet in the air, and without question got another 50. Zach Lavine then proceeded to come back with a windmill from the free throw line, Another 50. This was pure madness.

Typically, there are only 2 rounds in the final, but because it was a tie, the dunking continued. Gordon’s teammate, Elfrid Payton, threw the ball off of the side of the back board, and Gordon grabbed the ball mid air and finished with a double clutch 180. Fifty again. Lavine was up next, and he didn’t disappoint. He bounced the ball to himself, jumped from out of bounds behind the backboard, put it between his legs, and finished with a two hand slam. 50. In the fourth and final round, Gordon jumped and out the ball behind his head, back down below his waist, and then back up for a strong two hand dunk. However, the judges only gave him a 47. It was in the hands of Zach Lavine, and all he had to do was score a 48 or higher. So what did he do? He ran across the court, and took flight from the free throw line again, this time going between the legs for his final dunk of the night. Another 50 for Zach Lavine, and he became the back to back dunk contest champion.
Sunday Night:

The All Star Game has never been known for defense; in recent years, it has been nonexistent. Both the East and West broke the all time scoring record, but the West completely shattered it. The previous record, set last year, was 163 points, but the final score of this game was 196-173. With Curry, Durant, and Westbrook all in their prime, this was one of the best all star lineups in history. Despite Paul George finishing with 41 points, Russell Westbrook took home the MVP award, largely due to the fact that the East got blown out. However, this game was partially a celebration of Kobe Bryant. He was the leading vote getter in his 18^th and final all star game. Kobe hasn’t had an all star season, but he is a legend, and he is being treated like one. When Kobe stepped off the court in the fourth quarter, he received a standing ovation from the entire arena.

All in all, this was a very memorable All Star Weekend. It is one of the longest running traditions in sports, and it was good to see some life breathed back into some of these events. Now on to the rest of the NBA season.