Month: February 2013

Usain Bolt joined the East team in the All-Star celebrity game to have a little fun.

He had no idea the West team would take the game so seriously.

Five-foot-2 comedian Kevin Hart took most valuable player honors in leading the West to a 58-38 victory over the Bolt and the East on Friday night.

Afterward the Jamaican sprinter said he was surprised by the intensity of the West team coached by Houston All-Star James Harden

”We got beat bad, but their team was much more serious,” Bolt said.

Bolt did show his athleticism a few times, most notably on a two-handed dunk in the first half.

Hart challenged Bolt to a race during a timeout where the pair each had to dribble and make two layups, and shocked the crowd by winning.

”Kevin Hart is a pleasure,” said Bolt, who used a limited edition Gatorade squeeze bottle during the game. ”I watch all of his standup comedy shows, so for me it was a great honor to get to do that with him.”

He acknowledged before the game that he could dunk well, but that his other basketball skills were lacking. He said he’d like to play a different sport when his track career is done.

”I’m more of a better soccer player than a basketball player, so I definitely want to try soccer,” he said.

Bolt said he was most impressed with Hart, who stole the show with his antics and won MVP for the second straight year, despite being the smallest player on either team.

Hart, the star of BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood, talked a ton of trash before the game, and continued running his mouth and mocking the opposition throughout the game. He even took a shot at East coach and Oklahoma City All-Star Russell Westbrook’s camouflage pants.

— Reported by Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press

Kenneth Faried had 40 points and 10 rebounds and entertained the crowd at the end with a series of dunks, leading Team Chuck to a 163-135 victory over Team Shaq in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night.

Faried, in his second season with Denver, made 18 of 22 shots and was selected the game’s most valuable player. He’ll compete Saturday night in the dunk contest at All-Star Weekend and offered a sneak preview of what he has planned with a series of powerful jams.

For the second straight year, the rosters of both teams were a mix of rookie and second-year players and former stars Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley served as opposing general managers.

Sacramento point guard Isaiah Thomas had 18 points and 10 assists for Barkley’s team. Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving, last year’s MVP, scored 32 points and rookie Dion Waiters, Irving’s Cavs’ teammate, added 23 for Shaq’s team.

The average score of the game over the past five seasons was 138-131, and New Orleans rookie Anthony Davis set the tone with an alley-oop pass to San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard for a dunk 20 seconds into the game.

Barkley’s team finished virtually all of their first-half possessions with uncontested 3-pointers or dunks and led 90-66 at halftime.

Team Chuck went 12 for 18 from 3-point range in the first half and Thomas hit his first four tries. Cleveland forward Tristan Thompson was the only player on Barkley’s team who didn’t hit a 3 in the half, but he made up for it with four dunks.

— Reported by Chris Duncan of the Associated Press

With Kenneth Faried, Kawhi Leonard, Tristan Thompson and Nikola Vucevic fronting a dominating performance in the paint, Team Chuck ran roughshod over Team Shaq, rolling to a 163-135 victory to kick off NBA All-Star Weekend on Friday night at Toyota Center. Faried, the Nuggets’ indefatigable second-year power forward, scored 19 of his 40 points in a runaway first half to earn MVP honors. Faried amassed a variety of dunks along with a surprising 3-pointer to help stake Team Chuck to its 90-66 halftime lead. And when Faried wasn’t assaulting the rim, Leonard, Thomson and Vucevic filled in ably.

“I came out with the intent to put on a performance,” Faried said. “But I wasn’t thinking MVP type of performance. I was just thinking about winning the game and enjoying myself. And pretty much enjoying the game. I love to play.”

Thompson and Vucevic, second-year big men representing the Cavaliers and the Magic, respectively, combined to score 35 points on 15-for-18 shooting. Leonard, the Spurs’ multifaceted albeit overlooked small forward, displayed the all-around skills, posting 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Clyde Drexler, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Rudy Tomjanovich, and Yao Ming will serve as judges in the 2013 NBA Slam Dunk (8pm ET, TNT), the NBA announced today. The five Houston Rockets legends will score all of the dunks in the first round (the Team Round) of the event.

Drexler played 15 seasons for the Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, was a 10-time NBA All-Star, a two-time NBA Champion with the Rockets, enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2004, and was a member of the 1992 USA Basketball Dream Team.

Mutombo, who played the final five seasons of his 18-year career with the Rockets, was a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, an eight-time NBA All-Star, and currently serves as an NBA Global Ambassador.

Olajuwon is a two-time NBA Champion with the Rockets (1994 and 1995), a 12-time NBA All-Star, was named the 1993-94 NBA Most Valuable Player, and was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Tomjanovich played for the Rockets for 11 seasons while being named an NBA All-Star five times and coached the team for 12 seasons, including their back-to-back NBA Championships.

Yao was the number one overall pick for the Rockets in the 2002 NBA Draft and an eight-time NBA All-Star.

The 2013 NBA Slam Dunk will feature six dunkers competing in a two-round competition as part of All-Star Saturday Night, which will pit the Eastern Conference against the Western Conference in an exciting night of competition that will also raise money for charity.

The West features 2012 champion Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz along with the Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Bledsoe and the Denver Nuggets’ Kenneth Faried.

Dunkers for the East include the Indiana Pacers’ Gerald Green, Toronto Raptors’ Terrence Ross, and New York Knicks’ James White.

The 2013 NBA Slam Dunk contest will consist of the three Eastern Conference players competing against the three from the Western Conference in a two-round competition. The highest scoring East competitor and the highest scoring West competitor from the Team Round will compete head-to-head to determine the champion.