All Star Saturday Not Exactly Dazzling.

All Star Saturday Night was not exactly the thrilling spectacular we are use to. I guess we will start with the only Raptor taking part in the 3 point shoot out. In perhaps the weakest field Kapono has faced in the event he did make it to the final. However much like his season with the Raptors he was not exactly in top form. He would barely make the final and go up against Rashard Lewis from the Magic and Daequan Cook of the Miami Heat. Kapono was forced to shot back to back after being the last to shot he was first up in the finals. That seemed to be costly and he would put up a very low score and was a dead man walking. Lewis who was a surprise finalist to me only because of the way he shoots and it taking so much of a jump in his shot, I thought he was doomed. But he would beat Kapono and sat in the lead. Cook who not many people would claim to know unless you are a true NBA junkie or a fantasy junkie. But dude can make the 3 ball shot and he would deliver a ho hum effort that was good enough to be the best on this night.

So, down goes Kapono, down goes Kapono. Not exactly inspiring. let's rewind to way back before the All Saturday night got going. Outside in the parking lot we saw the first edition of GEICO which you may know as HORSE. Even this was not exactly thrilling. A shot from the stands that were part of the set they created for this was probably the highlight. Kevin Durant who have a record in the rookie and sophomore game of 46 points, he would ride that momentum to be your first Geico champion. Hopeful they improve this event and bring it back but it failed to meet the high expectations it had. That would be a theme for the night ahead.

I guess I will mention the Detroit team who that shooting stars thing. You know that waste of time that I think is designed to promote the WNBA but in reality makes me yawn. The contest takes a current NBA Star, A WNBA star and A NBA Legend and they make shots from various spots on the floor. This event to me does nothing for the NBA Players in it. Does even less for WNBA players and makes legends look old and that can be embarrassing. This event is an embarrassment and it needs to go. If anyone likes this thing and wants to defend it with a comment be my guest. However I think I am in the majority on this one.

Derrick Rose won the weird little obstacle course race they have that they call Skills Challenge. He would throw down a dunk at the end that would be better than what we saw from the eventual winner. Throwing balls through tires and dribbling around obstacles is just not doing it for me. I have never really got this event. It attracts a quality field for it but the competition lacks the sizzle that the entry list would suggest.

Now on to the main event of the evening and this was almost WWE like in nature. I don't mean that is a good way. We had almost a pre-determined final. Could Rudy Fernandez and J.R Smith have done anything to get in the final? based on all the staged events would see after that I would say not likely. Dwight Howard's return of Superman was much like a Superman sequel. It was ok and the whole phone booth thing was a nice touch. He also had a net that could be raised up and he would dunk on the higher basket which was far more impressive than it looked. The winner would be Nate Robinson who would bust out green gear and play up the whole superman gimmick. He would even do a dunk in which he leaped over Howard. But Howard did kinda duck a little. That was about the only dunk he did that impressed me. Nate Robinson gets inflated love for what he does based on his size and size alone. Dwight Howard's catch dunk off the side of the backboard was best of a night of lackluster stuff. It all was like a WWE event right up to the clearly staged moment in which prior to the final dunks Lebron James in the crowd was interviewed.

So, Lebron will you be in the slam dunk contest next year? When he answered Yes that he would, as he put it conditionally put his name in the Dunk contest for next year, it automatically made the end of the dunk contest and after thought. I have said it many times nobody does All Star Weekend better than the NBA. However this year to this point All Star Weekend has been like a forgettable WrestleMania. Like say Wrestlemania 9. Point is this will not be an All Star Weekend that will make the history books to this point.

We still have the Game today but so far thumbs way down from the Dino Blogger.