06-21-2019, 12:34 AM
NEW ORLEANS - In what has become a highlight of the NBA calendar, All-Star Saturday festivities will commence from Smoothie King Center. The night starts off with the Shooting Stars competition, followed by the Skills Challenge, the 3-Point Shootout and the main event, a showcase of athleticism known as the Slam-Dunk Contest. You can catch all of the action live starting at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. Or, one could call All-Star Saturday, "Damian Lillard Day." The Portland All-Star, who competed in the Rising Stars game on Friday, is scheduled to participate in the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Shootout and Slam- Dunk Contest on Saturday. "Im happy that Im really a part of the weekend. I get to compete in all these events, and just to be in these guys company with all these stars," said Lillard. "It lets you know that the hard work is paying off." This year, much like last, Saturdays competitions are broken down into East vs. West. Paul George of the Indiana Pacers is the East captain, while Steph Curry guides the West. Both are starters in Sundays All-Star game. Saturdays happenings start at 8 p.m. ET. Up first will be the Shooting Stars, a simple enough competition where current NBAers join a legend and a WNBA star in a shooting contest from all over the floor. The first round will feature teams from the same conference against each other. The winning teams advance to the final round for the title. Each competitor will be stationed at one of the first three places, and the shot must be made before the next can be attempted. All three will chuck it up from near half-court and the team with the best time wins. Its a family affair for two of the teams as Curry will join his father Dell Curry and Becky Harmon of the San Antonio Silver Stars. On the East team, Tim Hardaway, Jr. of the New York Knicks will partner with his dad Tim and Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky. Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder will pair with Karl Malone and Skylar Diggins of the Tulsa Shock. The other East team is the defending champion trio of Miamis Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash of the Sky. The Skills Challenge underwent some changes this year. Now, there will be two two-man teams from each conference competing against each other to reach the East vs. West final. It will now be a relay format. The Eastern teams will be rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and All-Star DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors as well as rookies Michael Carter-Williams of the 76ers and Orlandos Victor Oladipo. The West will be represented by Lillard and Utah Jazz first-year player Trey Burke and the tandem of Goran Dragic of the Phoenix Suns and Reggie Jackson of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 3-Point Shootout remained largely untouched, although the East v. West format remains intact. The player from the Eastern Conference with the most points will meet the player from the Western Conference with the most points. However, there is one new wrinkle this year. Each player can make one of the five locations to a full rack of five money balls, each worth two points. Defending champion Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers anchors the East team of Orlandos Arron Afflalo, Washingtons Bradley Beal and Joe Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets. Curry and Lillard are on the West team alongside All-Star starter Kevin Love, who won the title in 2012, and San Antonio Spur Marco Belinelli. And now, its time for the main event. This years edition of the Slam-Dunk contest will see many changes, first of which is a Freestyle Round. Lets let the NBA explain: "In a significant first in the events history, the competition will tip off with a Freestyle Round where the dunkers for each conference will have 90 seconds to showcase as many dunks as they want. At the conclusion of the Freestyle Round, the panel of judges will then choose a winner by voting East or West. The winning conference will earn the advantage of deciding whether its dunkers will dunk first or second in the head-to-head battles that take place in the Battle Round." The Battle Round? "The Battle Round will feature head-to-head matchups pitting East dunkers vs. West dunkers, with the judges choosing a winner for each battle. Upon losing a head-to-head battle, that dunker is then eliminated from the competition. The first team to win three battles will win the competition and be crowned 2014 Sprite Slam Dunk champions." No individual champion? "At the conclusion of the team competition, fans will then have the opportunity to vote for the player of their choice as the Sprite Slam Dunker of the Night through SMS, Twitter, NBA.com and the NBA GameTime app." For the first time since 1988, there will be three All-Stars in the Slam-Dunk Contest. George and John Wall of the Washington Wizards team with defending champion Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors, and out West, Lillard, Golden States Harrison Barnes and Sacramentos Ben McLemore round out the team. Wholesale Bruins Jerseys . Fielder has been out with a herniated disk in his neck, and surgery was recommended after a follow-up exam and another scan Thursday with Dr. Cheap Bruins Jerseys Authentic . Serves hit by her surgically repaired shoulder often missed the mark, resulting in 12 double-faults. http://www.cheapbruinsjerseys.com/.J. - The New York Jets have signed former Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Graham Harrell, giving them some added depth at the position. Cheap Bruins Jerseys . Hamelin overcame a weak start to win bronze in the 500-metre race behind winner Wu Dajing of China and American J.R. Celski on Saturday at the world short track speed skating championship. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys .Mila Kunis was a guest on Kimmel last night and revealed a surprising side of herself that comes out when she watches sports. It turns out screaming something vulgar at professional athletes is therapeutic for Kunis.AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - LeBron James took a look at the stat sheet after three quarters and liked what he saw. There was a lot to like. James had 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds to help the Miami Heat build a big lead, and then rested in the fourth quarter of a 110-78 victory against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. It was James first triple-double of the season and No. 37 for his career. "That thing has been pretty elusive, hasnt it?" James asked. "Im just glad it came in a win. That is the important thing about getting those. It is only special if you win the game." James had a triple-double without needing a point, assist or rebound in the final quarter for the fourth time in his career. His last triple-double through three quarters was Jan. 27, 2009, for Cleveland against Sacramento, according to STATS. "Nothing LeBron James does should surprise us," Pistons coach John Loyer said. "Hes the best player in the game, or pretty close to it. He orchestrates for everybody." The banged-up Heat had little trouble with the Pistons even though they were without Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers, Ray Allen and Greg Oden. "At this point, theres somebody out every night," James lamented. The Heat had plenty of players make up for the losses. Udonis Haslem scored 12 of his 17 points in the first quarter, when James already had seven assists. Chris Bosh scored 15, Chris Andersen had 13 points, Norris Cole scored 12 and James Jones added 10 for Miami. "This was one of those games where we had to have different guys step up," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "You cant make excuses about lineups and injuries in this league. Weve got to win games with the guys you can put on the floor every night." Greg Monroe and Will Bynum each had 12 points and Kyle Singler scored 11 for the Pistons, who honoured their 1989 championship team at halftime. Detroits Andre Drummond had 12 points and eight rebounds while Josh Smith was held to nine points on 4-of-14 shootinng.dddddddddddd The Bad Boys didnt seem to inspire the current players, whose lack of effort was "mind-boggling" to Loyer. "We didnt lay it on the line," Loyer said. Detroit was competitive for about a quarter. The Heat led 28-23 after the opening period before outscoring the Pistons by 10 in the second quarter and by 17 in the third. "They punched us in the mouth and we never got back up," Loyer said. "We didnt have any energy in the second half. "They play hard no matter who they play or no matter who they have playing in the game." Both teams scored 18 in the final quarter, but that was when James was on the bench and so relaxed that he smiled for pictures taken by fans during a timeout. Wade said he couldnt play because his right hamstring was bothering him, adding that hes day to day. Wade has played in 51 of 71 games this season, sitting out many by design because the two-time defending NBA champions want to rest his sore knees to make sure hes ready for the playoffs. Chalmers injured his right quadriceps in Wednesday nights loss to Eastern Conference-leading Indiana. Chalmers said hes day to day. Allen missed his second straight game because of the flu, and Spoelstra said he kept Oden out to rest his back. NOTES: James said before the game he was wowed by slugger Miguel Cabrera getting a $292 million 10-year contract from the Detroit Tigers, saying he wished the NBA didnt have a salary cap. James has six-year contract worth roughly $110 million. ... Pistons president of basketball operations and Hall of Fame player Joe Dumars declined to be interviewed before the game and did not address the crowd when the Bad Boys were honoured at halftime. Dumars job seems to be in jeopardy with the franchise likely to miss the playoffs for a fifth straight year. Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas spoke for his teammates during the short ceremony and thanked the fans during his brief remarks. "There were a lot of obstacles that we had to overcome through the years, and we couldnt have done it without your love and support," Thomas said. 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