Champions Dethroned on All-Star Saturday Night
All-Star Saturday Night saw two reigning champions fail to defend their titles--and two former champions regain their crowns. The Detroit Pistons won the Shooting Stars competition for the second time in three years, Daequan Cook ended Jason Kapono's two year run as the Three Point Shootout king and Nate Robinson won his second Slam Dunk championship, narrowly denying Dwight Howard's repeat bid. Meanwhile, rookie Derrick Rose made a big All-Star Weekend splash by winning the Skills Challenge, punctuating his victory with a dramatic, double pump reverse dunk.
The Pistons faced a strong challenge from the host Phoenix Suns, who posted the best time in the first round and made their first five shots in the finals before struggling to connect from half court. Bill Laimbeer later explained that the key to Detroit's victory was a change in strategy: he had previously been the team's three point shooter but he realized that his vision is not what it used to be, so he ceded that role to Katie Smith, who he called "the greatest three point shooter in the history of women's basketball."
Derrick Rose glided so effortlessly through the Skills Challenge obstacle course that some observers wondered if he was really even trying his hardest--but Rose said afterwards that he had deliberately paced himself to ensure that he did not make any mistakes. Rose is very similar to LeBron James in that both players are pass-first oriented and know how to lead without being overbearing. They also both have great poise and a pleasant demeanor. Rose still has to hone his skill set to truly become an elite point guard but he has certainly started his career in a strong fashion.
Truthfully, this year's Three Point Shootout field will not go down in history as one of the strongest, as demonstrated by the fact that Rashard Lewis missed 10 straight shots at one point--and still finished in second place. Jason Kapono's stroke seemed to be off right from the jump and he never found a real groove during the event. That opened the door for his Heat teammate Cook, who survived a scare in the event's Finals by making his final four shots on the last rack to narrowly avoid elimination. In contrast, Kapono fell apart in the Finals, missing his final four shots. Cook and Rashard Lewis tied with 15 points each, so they battled in a playoff to determine the winner; Cook prevailed easily, clinching the victory while shooting from the second of five racks.
In the much anticipated Slam Dunk contest, Howard dunked on a 12 foot rim, did a wonderfully difficult slam in which he threw an alley oop to himself off of the side of the backboard--and still lost. Howard received perfect 50s on his first two dunks, while Robinson scored 46 and then 41, but in the end Robinson prevailed, capping off his performance by jumping over Howard and throwing it down. As Robinson said, Howard showed that he is a good sport and classy person by not balking at Robinson's suggestion about that dunk. Howard and Robinson are both great showmen who really seem to have a lot of fun during this event, so hopefully Robinson's comment about retiring from the Slam Dunk contest will turn out to be false.
Although no one would suggest that he outperformed Robinson or Howard, Rudy Fernandez did a couple great dunks that the fans in the crowd loved but only received a lukewarm response from the judges, prompting boos throughout the arena. However, fans voted for the Finals winner via text message, so it can truly be said that the people's choice prevailed in the battle between "Superman" and "Krypto-Nate."
Labels: Bill Laimbeer, Daequan Cook, Detroit Pistons, Dwight Howard, Jason Kapono, Nate Robinson
posted by David Friedman @ 5:36 AM
Superman Takes Over New Orleans
Here is the link to my third All-Star Weekend report for HoopsHype.com (10/7/15 edit: the link to HoopsHype.com no longer works, so I have
posted the original article below).
By the time you read this, you probably have already seen the events of All-Star Saturday night--or at least the highlights. I can absolutely say that there was a tangible buzz in the New Orleans Arena both in anticipation of Dwight Howard's dunks and right after he completed them. I don't have a problem with the fans voting to select the winner, but the several minutes that elapsed after the final dunks and before the announcement of the results were alternately anti-climactic and awkward. Each of the NBA legends who judged the first round of the contest offered his opinion over the house microphone. The crowd grew restless as Julius Erving made a slight case for Gerald Green, pointing out that most fans probably do not understand how difficult it is to jump off of an arena floor and dunk without wearing shoes. There was even some scattered booing, either because people thought that Erving talked too long or because they wanted him to choose Howard. Erving did in fact give Howard the nod, as did each of the other judges in something akin to a non-binding Congressional resolution. Erving was simply being himself: he had the class to acknowledge Green's great effort and enough experience as a dunker to better understand what Green had done than just about anyone else in the building.
No one really put up a huge score in the three-point shootout until the final round, when defending champion Jason Kapono channeled Larry Bird and Craig Hodges to score 25 points to rout Rookie-Sophomore Game MVP Daniel Gibson, who matched his first round total with 17.
Although the Skills Challenge is supposed to test a wide variety of skills, it often comes down to simply who can make the top of the key jumper on the first attempt. Dwyane Wade, the two-time defending Skills Challenge champion, struggled massively on this night, paralleling the dismal season that his Miami Heat are having. Wade dribbled the ball off of his foot, fired errant passes and even missed a layup. Deron Williams defeated Chris Paul in a showdown of rising young point guard stars. The Spurs kicked off All-Star Saturday with a victory in the Shooting Stars competition, an entertaining event that somehow does not seem to have fully captured the public’s imagination.
Earlier in the day, both All-Star squads held brief practices at the NBA Jam Session in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. These practices are an opportunity for the teams to break a light sweat, work on some simple plays and get some shots up. The head coaches are miked up so that the crowd and the television audience can clearly hear what they are saying. East Coach Doc Rivers wants his bigs to run the court "wide" in transition from defense to offense, with the trailing big stopping to set a screen around the top of the key. "Keep our space," he instructed. "They have size, we have speed and skill." All-Star practices always include some split squad shooting contests. The East All-Stars who have eight or more years of playing experience in the league faced off against the youngsters to see which team could make more shots from various locations, including both elbows, both corners and the top of the key. The youngsters won, although there was a friendly dispute over the rules, specifically whether or not a shooter had to rebound his miss and then pass to the next shooter.
All-Star practices traditionally end with a half court shot contest. This time there was an added twist: Guinness World Records representative Stuart Claxton, who monitored the wheelchair free throw shooting record that I described in
my first report, was on hand to certify a new world record for most half court shots made in 60 seconds. After all of the team members warmed up for a couple minutes by shooting one at a time from half court, they selected six players to go for the record: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, Chauncey Billups, Ray Allen and Jason Kidd. James got things rolling by making three half court shots. Wade, Johnson and Billups went next, but could only make one apiece. Kidd batted cleanup and employed a novel strategy: a one hand, underhand toss that kind of resembled a slow pitch softball pitch. This actually worked relatively well and he tied James by making three shots, although not all of his makes were underhand because midway through he switched to the conventional form before reverting back to the underhand technique. Rivers announced to the crowd that the players could either share the record or have a tiebreaker round. The fans clearly wanted to see a tiebreaker but after the players briefly discussed this they decided to share the record, which actually fits in well with the unselfish way that James and Kidd play.
There has been a decided Guinness Book of World Records theme throughout All-Star Weekend. Apparently, someone in the NBA offices decided that it would generate excitement and have some promotional value to be able to say that various world records were set. Most of the various record attempts have been entertaining to watch but one quibble is that most of these records are in new categories, so any kind of performance by definition sets a record--and that is not something that has been clearly explained to the audience; I even heard some fans scream out from time to time asking what the old records were.
During the break between the East and West practices, players from both squads were made available to the media for interviews on the court. As usual, some players were rapidly surrounded by media swarms, while other players spoke to one or two interviewers. Bryant once again attracted the most attention, both from the fans who screamed his name and the media members who followed in close formation as he took a seat courtside and prepared for another round of questioning. I took a position directly to Bryant's left, but soon got nudged aside a bit by ESPN's Mark Jones, who had a cameraman in tow. Jones said, "Excuse me," but also kept trying to move me out of the way. Finally, realizing that was not going to work, he whispered, "Let's try this," and he moved to my right and took a seat directly to Bryant's left, which opened up a space for me between Jones and his cameraman. I made sure to put my recorder close enough to Bryant to be effective, but low enough that it did not interfere with the cameraman's shot, one of the skills you learn after doing a few of these sessions.
I asked Bryant if there has been any change or update regarding his situation with the NBA, which has a rule stipulating that if a player participates in the last game prior to the All-Star Game and then does not play in the All-Star Game he is suspended for the first regular season game after the All-Star Game. Bryant answered, "It's not really a situation. If I have to play, I'll play."
Right after Bryant injured his finger, his shooting percentage went down briefly but since then it has bounced back. I asked Bryant what he is doing to compensate for the injury. "We adjusted how we tape the finger," he explained. "Then, it took me a couple games to get used to feeling like I don't have a finger, if that makes any sense. It just feels like the finger is not there; it's like a spaghetti noodle. It took me a while to get used to that, because when you pick up a basketball and you don't feel that last finger it feels like the ball is going to slip out of your hand every time. So I was constantly checking before I shot. Once I got used to understanding that the ball is not going to fall out of my hand and it's fine then I was able to shoot well."
I asked Bryant if he has to hold the ball differently than normal. "No, I'm just getting used to the sensation. I have to be careful when I catch the ball, though. I can't go and palm the ball; I have to ease into it a little more." I asked Bryant to clarify exactly how the initial injury occurred: "I went for a steal against New Jersey and my finger got caught, I believe, against Jason Kidd's arm. I was going this way (points forward) and my finger popped out that way (points back toward his hand)." Right now the plan is to use ice, rest and treatment to try to keep the swelling down so that Bryant can finish out the season and participate in the Olympics before having surgery to fix the torn ligament. "If it dislocates again, I'm probably in trouble," he candidly admitted. Still, he is able to look at the bright side. "I'm lucky that it was this knuckle here," Bryant said, pointing to the base of the finger, "and not this knuckle here (pointing to the knuckle in the middle of the finger), because then you get the Larry Bird thing where you can't point anywhere and have people understand where you are pointing. Hopefully, I won't have that problem."
Although Bryant thinks that it is in his best interest not to play in the All-Star Game this time around, he definitely is disappointed about missing an opportunity to battle against the league's best players. "I enjoy playing and the reason I enjoy playing is because of the competition. I enjoy competing, matching up and playing hard."
After the media availability period ended, the West All-Stars practiced. Bryant did not wear a jersey or participate and he spent most of the time with his finger wrapped in ice. He cheered on his teammates and stood on the court cracking jokes during the various shooting games. Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and hometown favorite Chris Paul each tried to match the half court shot record set by James and Kidd; only five players attempted this due to time constraints because the start of the practice had been delayed and the D-League All-Star Game was scheduled to begin right after the All-Star practice ended. With fans sporadically chanting for Bryant to participate left handed, Nash and Stoudemire made one shot each and Iverson put up the only goose egg laid by either team. Duncan made one shot, leaving it up to Paul to uphold the West's honor. Paul displayed good form, tying the mark with plenty of time to spare and then earning a spot in the record book by making his fourth half court shot.
Prior to the All-Star Saturday Night events, Commissioner David Stern held his annual All-Star Weekend press conference. He did not say anything that was Earth-shattering, unless you held on to the faint hope that Seattle will be able to prevent the Supersonics from relocating. The thing that strikes me, as I mentioned in a conversation with Stan McNeal of the
Sporting News literally minutes before Stern spoke, is how the Tim Donaghy situation has so quickly vanished from the public eye. I had thought that this would be a lingering sore spot for the NBA throughout this season but it seems to be a complete non-issue with both the media and the fans. One question about Donaghy did come up during the press conference; someone asked Commissioner Stern if he has followed up on his intention to debrief Donaghy about the full scope and nature of his activities. Stern replied that the law enforcement authorities have requested that the NBA not be in contact with Donaghy until after he is sentenced.
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I had quite a busy day and not everything that happened made it into that article. Here are some other news and notes from my experiences on Saturday:
LeBron James has repeatedly said that Kobe Bryant is the league's best player--a stance that James reiterated at Friday's media availability--but Bryant had an interesting take on who he thinks deserves the award this year, Chris Paul: "His maturity is kind of a throwback to the old school style of play. He distributes the ball and makes his teammates better. He's a good defensive player. He's doing two or three different jobs for his ball club. I enjoy his competitive spirit. He plays hard and he wants to win by any means necessary. Nowadays, a lot of players sugarcoat that or try to disguise or hide how competitive they are but he's not one of them; he goes for it."
After the All-Star practice on Saturday, I went back to the French Quarter to try to track down Jude Acers, the chess master who famously holds court at the Gazebo on Decatur Street. I just missed him on Thursday but this time I was very pleased to see him sitting at his chess table wearing his customary distinctive red beret. When I got closer it became apparent that he was giving a chess lesson to a young student, so I sat down quietly and watched for a few minutes. During a break in the lesson, I inquired about playing a quick game against Acers after he finished the lesson. He normally takes on all comers for $5 a game, so I thought that he would appreciate the business but suddenly he got all skittish and started packing up his stuff, gruffly telling me that he would not play a game. I've never heard of him acting like that, so I tried to calm him down by congratulating him on his fine performance in the recent World Senior Championship and telling him that I had traveled quite a distance to cover the NBA All-Star Game and would really enjoy having the opportunity to play a quick game against him. I asked when his lesson would be over or if it would be better to come back at a different time but he refused to even say when he would be available. That is hardly a good way to either promote the game of chess or his business and I found the whole encounter not only disappointing but also simply bizarre. He told me that I would have to leave, apparently failing to understand that (1) I have every right to stand wherever I want to on a public sidewalk and (2) I had no intention of staying there to engage in more fruitless dialogue with him. Although it would have been cool to play a game against an American chess icon, in light of his rude behavior I certainly will not seek him out again, nor could I recommend in good conscience that any other visitor do so.
After that waste of time, I headed back to the Marriott and then took a shuttle bus to the New Orleans Arena. I got there in time to take advantage of the wonderful media hospitality at the Superdome. It seems surreal to eat dinner at roughly where the 50 yard line normally is in the building where, among many other things, William "Refrigerator" Perry scored a touchdown in the Chicago Bears' 46-10 Super Bowl victory in 1986. I enjoyed a wide ranging basketball conversation with several journalists from Turkey and ESPN's John Hollinger and Chris Ramsay.
Labels: Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Jason Kapono, Jason Kidd, Jude Acers, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James
posted by David Friedman @ 2:38 PM
Butler Does it, Washington Improves to 5-4 Without Arenas
Gilbert Arenas
is out of action for at least three months due to his two knee surgeries--including a microfracture procedure--but the Washington Wizards are actually playing better without "Agent Zero." Caron Butler scored 29 points on 10-18 field goal shooting as Washington defeated Toronto 101-97; Butler also had seven assists, three rebounds, three steals and no turnovers. The Wizards are now 5-4 this season without Arenas after only going 3-5 while he was in the lineup. Butler is putting up the best numbers of his career by far in all three shooting categories and is scoring a career-best 23.0 ppg. Antawn Jamison also had a big game against Toronto, producing 28 points and 14 rebounds. Jamison shot 11-18 from the field, including nine straight makes after a slow start. Both Butler and Jamison shoot a better percentage from the field than Arenas does, so maybe one thing that we are finding out is that when Arenas returns the Wizards would be better off if "Agent Zero" shot less--particularly the long jumpers that he loves to launch early in the shot clock--and passed more to Butler and Jamison. Butler has blossomed into a multidimensional player who can score inside and out and who also rebounds, defends and passes well.
Last year, Arenas was touted in some quarters as an MVP candidate. If he is truly that valuable then it would be logical to expect that in his absence Butler and Jamison would not only be attracting more defensive attention but that they would also suffer without Arenas' playmaking; that combination of factors should lead to lower shooting percentages for both players. However, Butler has shot 78-143 (.545) from the field in the nine games without Arenas and Jamison has shot 84-66 (.506) from the field in those contests, well above both of their career averages, better than they have ever shot while playing with Arenas and better than every season in their respective careers except one (Jamison shot .535 from the field in 2003-04 while playing for Dallas). One could argue that this is a small sample of games but, at least in terms of this season, it is a balanced sample (eight games with Arenas, nine games without him). It will be interesting to continue to monitor the Wizards' progress as a team as well as the numbers posted by Butler and Jamison.
The Raptors were also missing their most celebrated player and they were obviously affected by the absence of Chris Bosh (who has a strained groin muscle) much more acutely than the Wizards were bothered by the loss of Arenas. Jason Kapono led the Raptors with 23 points and surprising rookie Jamario Moon had a double double (16 points, 13 rebounds) but Andrea Bargnani (four points, 2-13 field goal shooting) had an awful game and Toronto shot just .432 from the field.
At halftime, the Wizards retired Earl Monroe's number 10 jersey. He is just the fourth Wizard/Bullet to have his number retired, joining Gus Johnson, Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld. Monroe, a Hall of Famer and one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, spent the first four seasons of his career with the franchise, then known as the Baltimore Bullets. He was the 1968 Rookie of the Year and he made the 1969 All-NBA First Team after averaging 25.8 ppg. The Bullets traded Monroe to the New York Knicks in 1971 and he formed the "Rolls Royce" backcourt with fellow Hall of Famer
Walt Frazier as the Knicks captured the 1973 NBA title. During this year's All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas,
Monroe shared with me his memories of playing against various ABA teams--including Dr. J's New York Nets--in some hotly contested interleague preseason games. The Knicks retired his number 15 jersey in 1986, so Monroe is now just
the eleventh NBA player to have his jersey retired by at least two teams. Several of Monroe's contemporaries were on hand for the ceremony, including Mike Davis, Mike Riordan, Archie Clark, Kevin Loughery,
Phil Chenier and Wes Unseld. Davis also played briefly in the ABA and
I had a chance to speak with him at the ABA Reunion during the 2005 All-Star Weekend in Denver.
During the third quarter, Monroe joined announcers Chenier and Steve Buckhantz at the broadcast table to talk about the ceremony and his great career. Monroe explained how he developed his unique playing style: "It was all trial and error for me because I started at the age of 14. Other guys had been playing (from a younger age). What I did was just go to the playgrounds, try this and try that. If it worked, I kept it; if it didn't work I just discarded it." Monroe was not a high flyer but he mastered the spin move and was able to get a shot off against anybody at any time. Chenier described Monroe's style as "herky jerky" because he always had his defender off balance; it has been said that Monroe himself did not know what he was going to do before he did it so his defender had no way of knowing, either. Chenier said that Jamison uses some Monroe-like moves and he also showed some film clips of Tony Parker and LeBron James utilizing spin moves to good effect but I think that the current player whose game is most reminiscent of Monroe's may be Sam Cassell. Like Monroe, Cassell is not a high flyer but he is a master at getting his defender off balance and figuring out how to get off a good shot in any situation.
Labels: Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Earl Monroe, Gilbert Arenas, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards
posted by David Friedman @ 12:05 AM
