Nielsen on NBA: What I learned from All-Star Weekend
Posted February 28, 2012 11:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
I spent the past weekend firmly glued to my couch with my dogs Willie Nielsen and Gracie Mae, a few dozen bags of Doritos and a pair of laptops watching NBA All-Star Weekend in all of its grandeur.
At times it was fascinating, at times it was mind-numbing, and on the odd occasion I discovered something new about the league and its players (or my dogs).
Here are 30 nuggets that I learned over the weekend.
1. I need some new glasses. Every NBA player seems to own a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses whether they are filled with a prescription or not. Charles Barkley described the look as “the intelligent nerd.”
2. Speaking of Barkley, he has no fear. He absolutely destroyed LeBron James and his five-head on Saturday night during the dunkoff. Barkley said, “He’s trying to fight growing bald. He can’t grow it up top, so he is trying to grow it down below.”
3. Willie may love Doritos more than I do. Especially the ones in the orange bag that smell like stinky feet and taste like magic.
4. Run TMC is old.
5. Kevin Durant knows how to talk trash. Prior to the Rising Stars Challenge, he was asked his strategy vs. Dwight Howard. He said, “I’m going to outthink him. I don’t think he knows the game of basketball as well as I do.” Unfortunately his team went out and got blown away as he left Blake Griffin and Jeremy Lin on the bench.
6. Speaking of Jeremy Lin: Why make all the fuss about adding him to the game if he’s too tired to play? He had two days off to recoup after the Rising Stars event – that was bush.
7. They need to get rid of some of the events and combine Friday and Saturday. The celebrity game was a debacle. When Vinny from Jersey Shore is your biggest name, you should be careful about breaking out the term “celebrity.”
8. Among the other events we can toss out are the skills challenge – especially if everyone is going to dog it – and the Shooting Star competition.
9. The one event they do need to add is a trick-shot competition. What fan wouldn’t want to see Jon Brockman in action?
10. No one throws softball questions around like Craig Sager. Except for Stuart Scott. He looked like he was praying LeBron would ask him to roll out to the clubs with him on Friday night.
11. Players from the Rising Stars Challenge I would love to play with: Ricky Rubio, Greg Monroe and Paul George.
12. Players from the Rising Stars Challenge that I would hate to play with: John Wall, Norris Cole and MarShawn Brooks.
13. If you looked up “old-school” in the dictionary, you would see a picture of Greg Monroe. No flash but a whole lot of finish in his game.
14. Reggie Miller loves to talk about Reggie Miller. Especially during a three-point competition.
15. I can’t decide who is creepier at this stage: Kobe Bryant, Richard Branson or Tony Robbins? Whatever they are selling, I ain’t buying.
16. British Stringer Bell’s monologue before Sunday night’s game was inspiring to say the least.
17. A little too much Nicki Minaj on Sunday night. I am fairly certain that the NBA was trying to counter-program the Oscars with Minaj (who was dressed like an extra from Tron) and all of her shirtless male dancers.
18. I have grown a new level of respect for Derrick Rose. He seemed less than thrilled with the WCW-inspired introductions for the starters.
19. While it ran a little long, it was interesting to hear Magic Johnson’s take on the ’92 All-Star Game. Especially when he said, “That was the moment I thought I was going to live for a whole long time.”
20. With 27 points, Kobe Bryant moved into first place on the all-time All-Star Game scoring list with 271 points, passing Michael Jordan.
21. Despite all the NBA players who have headed east over the last few years, the West still has more talent across the board.
22. Some players that need to be in next year’s slam dunk contest: Blake Griffin, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, John Wall and Kyrie Irving. All problems solved.
23. I am still curious if there is going to be any outcry over P. Diddy’s black power manoeuvre on Saturday. Yes, it was in jest but …
24. Cee Lo needs to be careful. That was a lot of sweat pouring off a man sitting in a seat. He looked like he had run a marathon.
25. The wife sat down on the couch for halftime Sunday night’s game, and when Chris Brown popped up through the floor she immediately said, “He makes me so angry.” My question is: Who really likes this guy?
26. What was Dwyane Wade thinking when he did the hard foul on Kobe Bryant?
27. I would have given even odds for Dwight Howard to win the MVP in Orlando. Think he gave it away by chucking threes in the first quarter.
28. After watching KD and LeBron fill the basket, we need are in dire need of a Heat-Thunder final this season.
29. Derrick Rose played 18:17 on Sunday. Luol Deng played just 5:51. Heat stars James (32:09), Wade (32:54) and Chris Bosh (20:08) all topped him. Interesting strategy deployed by Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.
30. Somehow this got lost in the shuffle: Dwyane Wade recorded the third triple-double in All-Star Game history, finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
