All star Weekend

[Snakeyestx]

Curious if anyone here will be there this weekend and what days you'll be going?

I had interest in Saturday's events (Dunk Contest) but after looking at ticket prices, the only thing "BIG" in the NBA is the ridiculously hyperinflated ticket prices! It's a small wonder at $388.00 each for the "cheapest" seats is even considered remotely reasonable.

For years I'd watch ASW on TV and wondered why so many seats would be empty... I think I know why now. Anyone find a better deal?

Oh, and since it's hosted here, will it be blacked out?

[Htownballa1622]

I think it's on tnt.

And i looked up the game on Sunday. $900 were the cheapest I even saw. smh. WAY too much.

[houstonfan]

i will be going to the stuff on Saturday. Should be fun!

[Saddletramp]

I didn't go to any of the games because of those ridiculous prices, that crowd really not being my scene and general apathy for the game (haven't even checked who won) but we went to the Flogging Molly show at the House of Blues and had a blast.

[FOBolous]

I didn't go to any of the games because of those ridiculous prices, that crowd really not being my scene and general apathy for the game (haven't even checked who won) but we went to the Flogging Molly show at the House of Blues and had a blast.

lol yea i completely lost interest in the All-Star game because the players don't try. They just screw around on the court because the game is suppose to be "just for run." i mean...c'mon....Shaq shooting the 3 pointer? so if the players don't take it seriously...why should i? the ONLY event i was interested in was the Rookie vs Sophmore game because the young players actually play hard cause they go something to prove. but they took it awhile and replaced with the stupid Shaq vs Chuck thing

[Snakeyestx]

My take on last weekend :

The Legends Brunch was probably one of the more interesting events of the entire weekend.

I only wanted to go to the Saturday events, mainly the dunk contest. I find it really funny that out-of-towners in the "NBA forum" are all complaining about how lousy Houston was for a venue. Really? All our aerial shots surpass most cities that host the event since we're one of the largest cities in the country. The "decorations" outside and inside looked decent. The biggest issue I had with those people were the douchebags complaining about the crowd. Really? At least a quarter of the crowd were other players, their families or just celebrities. More than half were probably people out of town coming to see the weekend, and whatever was left were executives and people who could afford the $388.00 MINIMUM price for seats - and that's just Saturday's prices... who the hell knows what Sunday's went for.

To make matters worse, the performers outfits were terrible - I wanted to see Ellie Goulding but her song choice was weak and the outfit terrible. Ne-Yo was totally off-pitch (but always seems to dress well), as was Alicia Keys (that was a surprise to me), and WTF was up with singing New York in our venue? Really? Couldn't think of another song to sing instead? Couldn't wear something else that didn't make your hips and *** look so big?

...let's not even get started with "Mister Mariah Carey" ... please. Worst emcee and hype man ever. Worst.

Absolute worst.

Did I say worst?

Know what made the dunk contests of old better? How about the fact that they got the dunk right on the first try in most cases? There's a video floating around on the buzz's links and guests today that show the 80% of missed attempts in a nice little montage. Stop with props, hype men, and other people's jerseys... just do the dunk. It's a dunk contest - not a sci-fi movie.

/rant

[houstonfan]

I do agree with just about everything you said but I was there on the Saturday night and you couldve heard a pen drop most of the time. The fans were HORRIBLE! Plus the building was half empty until the dunk contest. The prices were ridiculous and the music was awful. If you could get a building full of real fans and superstars doing the contests the event would be entertaining. I actually liked alot of the dunks but when they just kept missing i got bored.

My favorite quote of the night was by Daryl Morey who was sitting right next to me: "He's going to jump over a 4'0" kid? Vince Carter jumped over a 7'0"! This is weak!"

[FOBolous]

yea the dunk contests are so lame now. no creativity. all they do is jump over things.

[EDUTEXANS]

I was glad to see judges in the dunk contest again, but they just handed 10s for every dunk and it was only for the first round. It was really a shame White and Green coudn't get their dunks done, I think they had something good for the final round. They need to put stars there again ASAP.

The West against East Saturday was really stupid. And Team Chuck against Team Shaq is ********. I missed just the rookies against the sophs.

The only good things all weekend were Irving and Faried on the rising stars, especially Irving's crossover, and him again on the three-point shootout, the kid really put on a show this weekend. And the Kobe against LeBron thing going on late in the game was really also cool.

And it was REALLY fun to see a Rocket back at the All-Star game, and Harden did play somewhat well.

[Snakeyestx]

This one was kinda creative... IIRC he painted this himself as well.

[EDUTEXANS]

Yeah but the dunk was kinda weak, I mean, he just jumped over that. It's basically what everybody has done lately. Griffin dunked over a car, George over a motocycle, about 300 guys dunked over other players and Ross dunked over a 5-foot kid.

I liked that dunk when Evans got the ball from the guy who was sitting below the rim and jumped over him better, that's hard as hell to do, but he had to try like 100 times before he could get it done. That's another thing that should change, they should have one or two chances to complete the dunk if they miss it.

[mightybosstone]

I was more impressed by Ross' dunk over the kid. Consider this... Ross didn't just dunk over the kid, he had to bring it between his legs AND dunk over that kid. Imagine how many ways that could go wrong. He has to get enough air so that he can bring the ball between his legs without smacking the kid in the face, and if the ball slips or he doesn't jump high enough, he hits that kid in the head on national television in front of millions of people. That's ballsy. Also, I really liked his first dunk in the final round and how he paid homage to VC. It was a classy move and the dunk was worthy of the name on the back of the jersey.

Overall, though, I just didn't think there was a ton of creativity. I wish Gerald Green had made it to the finals, because he has come up with some clever stuff in the past. I'll never forget watching him blow out the candle on that cupcake. That's easily one of my all-time favorite contest dunks.

[EDUTEXANS]

Oh yeah that dunk with the Vince Carter jersey on was cool. T-Jones gave the pass.

[Saddletramp]

I was more impressed by Ross' dunk over the kid. Consider this... Ross didn't just dunk over the kid, he had to bring it between his legs AND dunk over that kid. Imagine how many ways that could go wrong. He has to get enough air so that he can bring the ball between his legs without smacking the kid in the face, and if the ball slips or he doesn't jump high enough, he hits that kid in the head on national television in front of millions of people. That's ballsy.

My first reaction to him dunking over a bent over 9 year old was that he did it as a tribute to the retiring Pope.

[Snakeyestx]

Faried shoulda definitely have gone farther up the contest...

Especially with this one...