NBA All-Star blog – Page 7 – NBA Blog

Goran Dragic replaces Kevin Love in 2018 NBA All-Star game

A post shared by Goran Dragic (@the_1_dragon) on Sep 27, 2017 at 11:47am PDT

InsideHoops.com

Heat guard Goran Dragic has been selected by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Cavs forward/center Kevin Love on Team LeBron in the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Los Angeles on February 18.

This will be Dragic’s first-time as an NBA All-Star.

Dragic is the first player from Slovenia to earn the honor.

The Southeast Division-leading Heat (29-22) have the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference through games of January 31, 2018, and Dragic, a 10-year veteran, has been a big part of their success. He’s averaging team-highs of 17.0 points and 4.8 assists per game.

Dragic joins Kyle Korver (2015), Tyson Chandler (2013) and Sam Cassell (2004) as the most recent players to be named an All-Star for the first time in their 10th season or later.

Love will miss the 2018 NBA All-Star Game due to a fracture in his left hand.

Paul George replaces DeMarcus Cousins on 2018 NBA All-Star team

DeMarcus Cousins has suffered a nasty injury that will end his season.

He’s on the Pelicans, a Western conference team.

So, his replacement on the Team LeBron 2018 NBA All-Star team has to be from the West as well.

Adam Silver has made his decision. It’ll be OKC Thunder forward Paul George.

For more info, read this: Paul George named NBA All-Star game injury replacement for DeMarcus Cousins

Heat surprised that Bam Adebayo did not make Rising Stars Challenge roster

Being named to All Star weekend teams and events matters. To the players who make it, to those who don’t, and to their fans who support them. It’s great exposure, and for the bigger events, it’s a real honor. In this case, the Heat were rooting for their own, for Bam Adebayo not to make an All-Star team — he’s nowhere near that — but to be added to the Rising Stars game, which includes the rookies and sophomores worth watching. Here’s the Palm Beach Post reporting:

For the most part, the Heat brushed off the fact they won’t be represented in this year’s All-Star Game. But when rookie Bam Adebayo’s name was not on the list of players voted into the Rising Stars Challenge, the Heat were surprised.

“That’s crazy. I really didn’t see that coming,” Udonis Haslem said in advance of Thursday’s game against the Kings. “There was no doubt in my mind Bam was definitely going to have a chance to represent the Heat in the rookie game. That’s very unfortunate.

“It’s hard to understand what those things come down to. I don’t know how they pick it. I don’t know if it’s popularity. But the body of work that Bam has put in when [Hassan Whiteside] was out and even with the opportunity he gets when H is in, he’s had a heck of an impact on us and this run that we’ve made. We couldn’t have been able to do it without Bam.”

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No All-Star spots for Carmelo Anthony or Paul George

Russell Westbrook has been chosen as a reserve for this year’s NBA All-Star Game, the league announced Tuesday. With Paul George, Carmelo Anthony and Steven Adams falling short of making the team, Westbrook is the only Oklahoma City Thunder player to be named a reserve. No Thunder players will start.

This will be the seventh All-Star appearance of Westbrook’s career. The last time he missed out on the game, excluding his injury-ridden 2013-14, was during 2010, his second season.

Westbrook was averaging 24.8 points, 9.7 rebounds and a league-leading 10.1 assists heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, bringing him close to a triple-double average for what would be a second consecutive season. He became the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double last year.

“If I make it, then that’ll be a blessing,” Westbrook said of All-Star last week. “If I don’t, then I’ll go on vacation with my family.”

— Norman Transcript

Raptors coach Casey wants Kyle Lowry in All-Star game

A post shared by Toronto Raptors (@raptors) on Jan 15, 2018 at 8:32am PST

The Raptors are 30-13 this season. A very impressive team that is doing it on both ends of the floor. They’re better than they were in the past. Will DeMar DeRozan be their only All-Star? Not if Raptors head coach Dwane Casey has anything to say about it. Kyle Lowry isn’t shooting as well or scoring as much this season, but he’s still one of the main reasons why Toronto is close to the top of league standings. Here’s the Toronto Star reporting:

Raptors coach Casey wants Kyle Lowry in All-Star game

Lowry finished eighth among Eastern Conference guards in voting for starters done by fans, the media and players and the only way he’ll get to the Feb. 18 game in Los Angeles is to be chosen by coaches as a reserve.

That’s where Casey comes in.

“I’ve been texting coaches and going to be in tough with a lot of coaches to get him in,” the Raptors bench boss said Friday morning. “He should be in on his own merits, I shouldn’t have to do that because he is an all-star.

“If you find five other better guards, point guards in our conference than Kyle then I want to see them. I think the basketball gods will do the right thing and get him in.”

Eastern Conference coaches have to name two guards, two forwards and a centre along with two “wild cards” for voting that will be announced Tuesday night.

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Anthony Davis wins 2017 NBA All-Star Game MVP

New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game. Davis finished the game with 52 points, setting an NBA All-Star Game scoring record, previously held by Wilt Chamberlain (42 points, 1962) to go with 10 rebounds as the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference, 192-182 at the Smoothie King Center.

Davis, playing in his third All-Star Game (his fourth time named an All-Star overall), becomes the first player in franchise history to win the MVP award of the All-Star Game. Davis was named a starter on January 20, 2017.

Davis has appeared in 53 games this season for the Pelicans, averaging 27.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, ranking fourth, sixth, and second in the NBA in each category, respectively.

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New Orleans basketball fans didn’t have to wait long to get their NBA All-Star moment on Sunday night.

Just 10 seconds into the game, hometown hero Anthony Davis drained a 21-foot jumper from the top of the key. And with that, the tone was set and the most New Orleans-flavored All-Star Game in history was underway.

The bucket was the first of 26 by Davis as he took home MVP honors by shattering Wilt Chamberlain’s 55-year-old All-Star Game scoring record with 52 points.

— New Orleans Times-Picayune

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a team-high 30 points and pounded home some crowd-pleasing dunks, but the Western Conference all-stars pulled away in the final quarter for a 192-182 victory over the East in the NBA All-Star Game at the Smoothie King Center.

New Orleans forward Anthony Davis set an NBA All-Star Game record with 52 points to lead the West, beating the mark of 42 points set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962. Russell Westbrook just missed beating Chamberlain’s mark, scoring 41 points.

Antetokounmpo was impressive with 14-of-17 shooting on layups and dunks. He attempted a single three-pointer and missed it. He scored in the last second to reach the 30-point mark, the most scored by a Bucks player in an NBA All-Star Game. He also had six rebounds, three steals and one assist while playing 23 minutes.

— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Glenn Robinson III wins 2017 Slam Dunk contest

From the NBA down to the D-League, players with Indiana ties were flashing their skills all over New Orleans on Saturday during the NBA All-Star weekend.

But let’s start with the show-stealing Glenn Robinson III, the Gary native and Indiana Pacer who blew away his competition to win the 2017 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest.

Robinson beat Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns in the final round. Robinson clinched the win with a perfect 50 on the final dunk of the night — going over three people for a reverse dunk and nearly touching his head on the rim in the process…

Robinson started with a dunk where he leaped over Indiana teammate Paul George, grabbing the ball from the All-Star before his slam that merited 44 points…

DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers and Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic were eliminated in the first round. Gordon finished second to Minnesota’s Zach LaVine in last year’s contest.

— Indianapolis Star

Kristaps Porzingis wins 2017 Skills Challenge

The Knicks are amid the throes of losing, but all Kristaps Porzingis did during All-Star Weekend was win.

After scoring 24 points in the World Team’s victory Friday in the Rising Stars Challenge, the 7-foot-3 Porzingis captured the Skills Challenge on Saturday, knocking off Gordon Hayward in the finals.

It marked the second straight year a big man has won the skills, after Karl-Anthony Towns captured the 2016 crown.

Sitting with a big gold trophy in the interview room and asked about tasting victory after a 23-34 start, Porzingis, the man nicknamed “The Unicorn” by Kevin Durant, beamed.

“It feels good to win no matter what,” Porzingis said. “Even yesterday it felt good to get a win.’’

— NY Post

Eric Gordon wins 2017 Three-point Contest

The 3-point shootingest team in NBA history has its first 3-point shooting champion.

Eric Gordon had to work overtime. He had to overcome the distraction of James Harden’s fishing lure shiny jacket. He even had to tune out the smattering of boos around Smoothie King Arena, where he played for five seasons before he escaped the “dysfunction” to join the Rockets.

Gordon, however, had spent the season coming off the bench and shooting 3s. With 3 ½ months of preparation, he had the best round of the competition and a triumphant extra round, taking the championship before he even reached his final rack…

Gordon defeated Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving in the overtime shootout, fittingly defeating a player that grabbed headlines with a flat Earth theory in a game of ‘around the world.’

— Houston Chronicle

Jamal Murray wins MVP of 2017 Rising Stars Challenge game

Denver Nuggets rookie Jamal Murray was named MVP of the 2017 Rising Stars Challenge after posting a game-high 36 points (9-14 3FG) and a game-high 11 assists in a 150-139 Team World victory.

Murray, 19, is the first Nugget to win MVP of the Rising Stars Challenge since teammate Kenneth Faried was named MVP in 2013. He is the third Nugget in team history to be named MVP of the game (Carmelo Anthony, 2005).

The Kitchener, Canada native connected on 9-of-14 (.642) threes in the game, the second most made three-pointers in the history of the Rising Stars Challenge (Daniel Gibson of the Cavaliers made a record 11 three-pointers for the Sophomore Team in 2008). Murray’s 11 assists were the most by any player in the Rising Stars Challenge since John Wall handed out 22 assists in 2011.

The University of Kentucky product has appeared in 56 games (three starts) for Denver this season, averaging 8.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 19.9 minutes per game. He has made the second-most threes of any rookie this season (72) and was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for October/November after averaging 10.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the month.

Murray’s teammate Nikola Jokić added a near triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for Team World.