On March 7, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia, the NBA All-Star Weekend began. This event happens every year during the middle of the NBA season. The All-Star Weekend has three main events: the dunk contest, three-point contest, and finally, the All-Star game in which players from the eastern and western conferences come together and play under two teams. This year’s teams were known as Team Lebron and Team Durant. Team Lebron’s starting lineup was: Team captain Lebron James, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic. Team Durant’s starting lineup was: Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, and Jayson Tatum. Kevin Durant could not play in the game because of his injured hamstring, which has had him out most of the NBA season. All-Star weekend is an important part of the NBA because it showcases the NBA’s top players all on the same team.
Before watching the dunk contest, people had high expectations for the contestants, but these expectations had a major decline when the dunk contest started. The participants were Anfernee Simons of the Trailblazers, Cassius Stanley of the Pacers, and Obi Toppin from the New York Knicks. Each player gets three slam dunks of their choice, and they are judged on each dunk. This year’s contestants were mediocre at most. All of the players did not do anything new or original. The dunk contest winner was Anfernee Simons, beating Obi Toppins 3-2 in scoring by the judges after the final round. Many fans were disappointed not in the outcome, but by the contest in whole, each of the contestants seemed evenly matched in vertical, but Anfernee Simons did something much different, he tried to kiss the rim before dunking it. He made the dunk but missed the kiss. The judges saw this, and it gave him the upper hand, which is how he won.
The three-point contest seemed to be a no-brainer on who was going to win. The contestants were former champion Steph Curry, Jaylen Brown, Zach LaVine, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, and Jayson Tatum. It was actually an even match until the former champ Steph Curry walked on the court; after that, everyone knew he would win again for the second time. Each competitor has 70 seconds to attempt a maximum of 27 shots on five racks placed around the arc. Curry made 39 out of all 54 of his shots. He was clearly the best three-point shooter on the court.
Finally comes the All-star game where Team Lebron faced off against Team Durant. The teams seemed kind of one-sided since Lebron’s team had many recognizable players, who are top tier. While Durant’s team did have many good players, Lebron’s team was packed full of great players on and off the court. The rules are simple, the team to score 170 points first wins the game. Team Lebron was up the whole game, and the final shot was taken by Damian Lillard with a halfcourt shot. Steph Curry walked off the court before Damian even took the shot because he already knew they won the game.
The All-star weekend was good, but I feel like it could have been better with the Slam Dunk Contest, but I had a fun time watching the All-star game. Being able to see the top players face off against each other was a much better experience than I had thought. All-Star weekend is a great event many will continue watching every year.