Nothing Starry About Saturday Night

I'm actually glad I played poker on Saturday night, rather than subjecting myself to sitting through the entire ordeal that was All-Star Saturday night. While I did enjoy the HORSE contest, some of the shots were so boring. Isn't the point of the All-Star festivities, aside from recognizing the game's best (or most popular) athletes, to step outside the rules and regulations and have a little fun? What fun is shooting a free throw, even if it is a bank shot? And I'm not sure what happened after Casspi lost out, because my DVR dropped about 60 seconds between shows (Thank you, TNT, for not making it ALL ONE SHOW like it should have been), and it was apparently during that one minute that the winner of the HORSE contest was crowned.

Had it not been for Dirk being a member of Team Texas in the Haier Shooting Stars competition, there would not have been one single Maverick invited to participate in any All-Star festivities, aside from the game itself. Can someone tell me when is the last time that the town that hosted the game had its own players snubbed in such a fashion? It was fun to see Dirk hit the halfcourt shot that sealed the win for Team Texas and hold the trophy high, even if it wasn't the one I had expected he would win this weekend.

The Taco Bell Skills challenge proved a little more interesting, and I was amazed to see that even at his "advanced" age, Steve Nash has still got it. The footwork, the passing ability, the jump shot -- Nash has aged much better than most, including our own Mark Cuban, expected he would. To watch him beat the likes of young stars like Deron Williams and Brandon Jennings was awesome, not only because I always root for the long shot underdog, but because even though he now wears the opponent's colors, I still love me some Stevie Nash.

The Foot Locker Three Point Shootout was rather uneventful as well, although watching Stephan Curry was very interesting. He was streaky in spots, but when he was on, dang, he was nailing shot after shot...except, somehow, the money ball of each rack. Odd, and what likely cost him the title. Paul Pierce walked away victorious, which was okay, I guess. Sometimes I remind myself that Pierce and Dirk came out of the same draft, and Pierce has a championship and Dirk doesn't. And then I think about the fact that, championship or not, when his NBA career finally comes to an end, there's not a doubt in my mind that Dirk Nowitzki will be in the Hall of Fame. Paul Pierce? Maybe, maybe not. So I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Which brings me to the Sprite Slam Dunk contest. Yawn. When the most interesting part of the contest is the introduction of the celebrity judges (ex-Mavericks Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, and Derek Harper, all of whom I grew up watching; and former winners Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins), you know you're in trouble. DeRozan was robbed of the title which should have rightfully been his, however uneventful the contest was as a whole. It was a much more interesting and entertaining competition a few years ago, when Dwight Howard joined in the fun. That's what was missing from the dunk contest: the fun. And if Nate Robinson was the same height as an average NBA player, would he still have won? I seriously doubt it. Don't get me wrong, Nate seems to be a very friendly, likable guy, but I think the novelty of him being vertically challenged played into the public perception and helped him edge out DeRozan among the fans, with 51% of the popular vote. If the NBA really wants to make the dunk contest interesting, maybe they should bring in an amateur dunker to face off with the big boys. Maybe that would spark some life, as well as some competition, back into All-Star Saturday night.