All-Star weekend was a little unconventional due to the Covid protocols, but none the less it was successful. All of the events were held on Sunday night, with the Skills Challenge and the 3 point Contest being held before the All-Star game, and the Slam Dunk Contest was held as half time. Demantis Sabonis started off the Skills Challenge by immediately knocking out Julius Randle. Then Nikola Vucević went up against Robert Covington, and after Covington struggled to make the pass through the hoop, Vucević sent him home. Domantis Sebonis then went up against Luka Donćic who didn’t look like he was taking it seriously, and Sabonis won the round. Next Chris Paul went up against Nikola Vucević, and after blowing the wide open layup, Paul got taken out by Nikola. Then it was Vucević against Sabonis for the finals, and after a shooting battle, Domantis Sabonis won for the second year in a row. The 3 point Contest went down to the wire between Steph Curry and Mike Conley. Conley, who was the only player who gave Curry a run for the title, initially scored 26 in the first round while Curry cashed in 31. In the second and final round, Conley beat his original score by making 27, but Curry in true showmanship fashion, knocked down his last Moneyball to take the lead and win his second 3 Point Contest scoring 28 points. Although Kevin Durant sat out of the All-Star Game due to injury and LeBron only played 12 minutes, the game was still exciting . Most of the headlines came from team LeBron as Stephen Curry and Damion Lillard, who were on the same team, had a 3 point shoot off to see who could go deeper. While they had equal shots made, Lillard did hit a half court 3 pointer to finish the game. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who did not miss a shot the entire game, won MVP of the All-Star Game. The Dunk Contest was honestly terrible to watch and the NBA needs to do something about it, because you are able to see better dunks on YouTube. Out of the 3 contenders there were 2 rookies, and a second year player named Anfernee Simons. Simons won The Dunk Contest by decision after he nearly kissed the rim on a dunk, and that was about the most exciting thing that happened in the contest. This has been the All-Star Edition of Briefly In Depth. Check back Saturday to hear about the start of the second half or the season.
Yaakov Pliner
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