The Cuban Super Bowl

For the past few years, it seems like the All-Star game has been the least regarded event of the NBA All-Star weekend. But I think that might be changing, perhaps out of necessity, but I don't think it's a bad thing. After comparing it to the other major events of the weekend – the slam dunk competition, the three-point competition, and the rookie/sophomore game – it seems that the penultimate event outpaced each of the other events and their primary mode of appeal.

The slam dunk competition is supposedly all about great dunks, but this year's event was a major disappointment. I've seen more creativity in SportsCenter reruns. Shannon Brown and Gerald Wallace have both performed better dunks in games this season than they did in the event. DeMar DeRozan had the best dunk of the night, when he wind-milled from an off-the-side-of-the-backboard pass, but it was in the first round. The best news from what is often the most-hyped event of the weekend was that Nate Robinson actually deserved to win a dunk contest for once.

Considering all that, the All-Star game included some much better dunks, primarily from the two dunkers that most fans would clamor for in the contest: Dwight Howard and LeBron James. If the dunk contest verdict was delayed until Sunday night, one of those two would have won. Easily.

This year's three-point contest was a bit more interesting than the dunk contest, with old-guard Paul Pierce finally winning over up-and-coming Stephen Curry. But the All-Star game had some arguably-as-interesting three-point storylines. After Howard, who has no business shooting three pointers, made one early in the game, he evidently promised three more, creating some odd suspense. Chauncey Billups, on the other hand, didn't have much use for suspense and shot from the left-hand side of the top of the three-point arc pretty much every time he touched the ball. It was fun to watch in a weekend-reality-TV-show marathon sort of way. Both three-point stories from the game added to the TNT-sponsored drama.

The rookie/sophomore challenge does seem to have a slight edge over the main event in terms of showcasing young talent. But with players like Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, and Kevin Durant already promoted to the big-boy rosters and players like Taj Gibson, Jonas Jerebko, and Anthony Morrow filling out the rookie/sophomore benches, the advantage isn't all that pronounced.

All that combines with the fact that the best players in the world actually played some defense in the final few minutes of the game, leading to a two-point win on, of all things, free throws. It seems that, for the first time in a few years, the All-Star game was the most interesting and important event of All-Star weekend.

Well, other than the Mavericks/Wizards trade (which led to both a very giddy Mark Cuban and a potentially giddy Charles, since he can now watch Josh Howard in person again).

Event of the Week:

UNC starts its baseball season this weekend with a series against visiting George Washington.