Sunday, 19th Febraury: 66th NBA All-Star Game
The showpiece event. The crowning of three days of the glorious exhibition. This year’s game has a few interesting storylines.
There was the drama that ensued when Westbrook didn’t make the 10-man shortlist of All-Star starters depsite averaging a triple double this season. The players in the league have often mentioned that the fan voting system that was in place for voting starters usually resulted in snubs but in spite of the revamped voting system (50% fans, 25% players, 25% media), the fan push for Steph Curry was just too much and put him just ahead of Russell in the West backcourt alongside James Harden.
Four Warriors make the All-Star team and discussion of superteams and competitiveness in the NBA must surely have been revived. They will faceoff against LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love who connived to ruin their fairytale season last year but there’ll be little animosity between them this time and it should be mostly fun for either side. This will be third time Steph squares up against his opposite number, Kyrie this season and if the pundits are right, it promises not to be the last.
Then there’s the elephant in the room; Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook playing together on the West team. Following KD’s ignominious departure (at least that’s how some people see it) from OKC last year, the relationship between him and former co-star Westbrook has been tense. This has been further compounded by the fact that Westbrook allegedly hasn’t spoken to KD since then bar jawing at each other on the court during their teams meeting in Oklahoma. It remains to be seen if they will actually play together and how they might fae and this is certainly one of the biggest storylines at the All-Star game this year. Is a reconcilation in the works? Could we see their fued further escalate? You’re going to have to watch this one to find out.
Steve Kerr, coach of the West All-Stars has suggested he will have all four Warriors on the court at some point with possibly Westbrook and this would surely be one of the more interesting things in this year’s game if it happens.
Lost in all this sauce: Giannis Antetokounmpo is a first time All-Star and starter this year after a stellar breakthrough season that sees him leading the Bucks in every major statistical category (stats). The Greek Freak has been unleashed as a Point-forward by Buck’s coach Jason Kidd and he contines to dazzles fans, players, coaches and executives with his versatility and athleticism.
Congratulations to: Chicago’s Jimmy Butler and Toronto’s Demar Derozan who are East All-Star starters for the first time in their careers with Derozan just edging out teammate, Kyle Lowry, Celtics Isaiah Thomas and Washington’s John Wall.
Here’s the full list of starters and reserves:
Eastern Conference Starters:
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Jimmy Butler (Chicago Bulls)
DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors)
Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Eastern Conference Reserves:
Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors)
Isaiah Thomas (Boston Celtics)
Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets)
John Wall (Washington Wizards)
Paul George (Indiana Pacers
Paul Millsap (Atlanta Hawks)
Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks) (replaces Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers due to a knee injury)
Coach: Brad Stevens (Boston Celtics)
Western Conference Starters:
Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
James Harden (Houston Rockets)
Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs)
Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors)
Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)
Western Conference Reserves:
Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors)
Gordon Hayward(Utah Jazz)
Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors)
Deandre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers)
Demarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings)
Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies)
Coach: Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors)