5 things to know heading into the MLB All-Star festivities
NBA All-Star 2022 begins this weekend in Cleveland and at that place should be no shortage of thrills from the Clorox Rising Stars game on Friday toState Farm All-Star Saturday Night and, of course, the 71st NBA All-Star Game on Sunday.
Beneath are seven questions surrounding those events and more than as NBA All-Star weekend gets underway.
ane. Volition Team LeBron stay undefeated?
Team LeBron has 4 Kia MVPs, just does Team Durant accept the flashier players?
His Hall of Fame-bound resume will mostly focus on his 4 NBA championships, 10 Finals appearances and high continuing among the league'southward respective best scoring and assists list. But LeBron James' track tape during All-Star weekend deserves attention, also. Team LeBron has gone 4-0 in the All-Star Game ever since James became a captain during the NBA'due south new All-Star Game format. He looks well-positioned to stay undefeated with a roster this year featuring Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic.
Granted, the risk with drafting All-Stars pales considerably toward amalgam an bodily NBA roster through the typhoon, trades and free agency under a salary cap. Withal, James has struck a good residuum every year betwixt valuing size and speed, shooters and defenders every bit well as veterans and rising stars.
2. Who volition exist All-Star MVP?
In that location are a number of possible candidates. James could join Kobe Bryant and Bob Pettitt as the only players in NBA history to collect four All-Star MVPs. Giannis Antetokounmpo could join Russell Westbrook as the merely players in NBA history to win the All-Star MVP honor in consecutive seasons. Or Chris Paul could win his second All-Star MVP ix years after winning his kickoff one.
My heavy favorite is on James for multiple reasons. He has the potential to make All-Star history. He can practice so during his return to Cleveland. And he tin feel some relative success after dealing with plenty of adversity during the first half of the 2021-22 entrada with the Lakers. However, don't exist surprised if Joel Embiid, Ja Morant or DeMar DeRozan take dwelling house the newly designed Kobe Bryant Trophy awarded to the All-Star MVP.
3. How will Cleveland gloat NBA 75?
The league will celebrate NBA 75 at halftime of Sunday's game with a anniversary that will include an award-winning singer and Cavaliers' part-fourth dimension possessor (Usher), director and passionate New York Knicks fan (Spike Lee) and comedians (Tiffany Haddish, Anthony Anderson). Safe to say that some members of the NBA 75th Ceremony team will too attend the ceremony. It is not clear who exactly among the living by and present NBA players on that listing will exist there.
I would suspect that nearly will nourish the consequence, though. When the NBA historic its 50th anniversary team during the 1997 All-Star game in Cleveland, 47 of those l players were present.
4. How volition the douse contest bounce back?
Check out the best dunks of the season from Cole Anthony, Jalen Green, Obi Toppin, and Juan Toscano-Anderson.
Last year'due south dunk competition deserves a mulligan. Information technology took identify at halftime of the All-Star Game. There were no fans in the arena. And in that location were simply 3 players that actually competed in the contest. The circumstances all stem from the rubber and scheduling concerns surrounding the pandemic.
Simply even during pre-pandemic times, the NBA has struggled to concenter the talent every bit they could in the 80s (Michael Hashemite kingdom of jordan, Dominique Wilkins), early 2000s (Vince Carter) and this by decade (Blake Griffin, Zach LaVine, Aaron Gordon). Can Jalen Green, Obi Toppin, Cole Anthony and/or Juan Toscano-Anderson offer some creative and high-flying dunks during AT&T Slam Douse? All candidates have some hope. Green has been solid as a rookie partly because of his flair and athleticism. Toppin competed in terminal yr'south contest that entailed two between-the-legs dunks besides as a windmill afterward jumping over both his male parent and his teammate (Julius Randle). Anthony and Toscano-Anderson also have played with conviction and creativity.
5. Who can brand the NBA iii-point contest as enjoyable as concluding year'southward result?
Trae Young, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine highlight the MTN DEW 3-Point Contest participants for this yr'due south State Farm All-Star Sabbatum Night.
Hard to top last twelvemonth's contest when Stephen Curry showed once again how he has become the NBA's all-time shooter of all time. Even if this twelvemonth'southward MTN DEW 3-Point Contest field lacks a frontrunner and fan favorite, the class looks intriguing because of all the parity. Perhaps LaVine rectifies last year'due south outset-circular exit. Or maybe Trae Young becomes a showman just like he did concluding year during the Atlanta Hawks' offset-circular playoff series against the New York Knicks. Or maybe Karl-Anthony Towns serves as the affiche child for big men adapting to the modern game. Don't discount C.J. McCollum, Desmond Bane, Fred VanVleet, Luke Kennard or Patty Mills, though. All of these players tin can hit from deep in bunches.
6. How will the new Rising Stars bracket plow out?
The rosters and new format for Clorox Rising Stars are announced.
The NBA made a new addition to this year's Clorox Rising Stars. At that place are 4 teams comprised of 12 rookies, 12 sophomores and four M League Ignite players that will compete in a iii-game mini-tournament. In honor of the NBA's 75th anniversary, the first ii games will be played until a team reaches 50 points. The winner of the third game is the first team to accomplish 25 points.
The past two NBA All-Star Games have become more competitive than other All-Star snoozers because of the so-called "Elam Ending." Under that format, there is no running game clock in the fourth quarter. In honor of Bryant'southward No. 24 bailiwick of jersey number during the 2nd half of his NBA career, the All-Star Game takes the winning team's score after 3 quarters and adds an boosted 24 points to set the target score needed to win the game.
That format has created a competitive atmosphere for an All-Star Game that has oft lacked information technology in other years. Expect the Rising Stars tournament to play out in a similar fashion.
7. What should we await from the HBCU Archetype?
No matter what happens in the NBA HBCU Archetype betwixt Howard Academy and Morgan State Academy, this issue volition produce a lot of positive outcomes.
We are proud to announce the first-ever #NBAHBCUClassic presented by @ATT betwixt @MorganStBears & @HUMensBB to be simulcast on @NBAonTNT and ESPN2 on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 2 PM ET as part of #NBAAllStar.
Run across you in Cleveland!
— #NBAAllStar (@NBAAllStar) Feb 8, 2022
The NBA and AT&T programme to donate $100,000 to each school, totaling $200,000, in profitable with facility upgrades, bookish resources and health and wellness services. The game will be televised on TNT and ESPN2 (Saturday, 2 p.m. ET). And each team will meet with NBA league and team executives likewise as current and former NBA/WNBA players for professional development and networking purposes.
The game volition also offer well-deserved exposure for HBCU programs that don't receive the same attention every bit teams in the major conferences. LA Clippers forrad Robert Covington is the only current NBA player that attended an HBCU. Charles Oakley, Avery Johnson, Rick Mahorn and Ben Wallace are the almost notable by NBA players that are HBCU alums. But the NBA's efforts in the past ii years to comprise HBCUs into All-Star weekend volition highlight the importance of those schools and how they can create a pathway toward professional success, including an NBA career. And the game itself should bear some fun competition.
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Marker Medina is a senior author/annotator for NBA.com. Y'all can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Dissemination.
Source: https://www.nba.com/news/7-biggest-questions-heading-into-all-star-weekend-in-cleveland
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