NBA All-Star Saturday Night 2013 Recap

Feb 16, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; New York Knicks guard James White attempts a dunk during the 2013 NBA all star slam dunk contest at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

To kick-off NBA All-Star Saturday night 2013, a fun and amazing evening, a lone Warrior, Stephen Curry, participated in the three-point shootout.

Unfortunately, with the pressure of being first, Curry scored 17 points, which isn’t bad, but wasn’t enough either.

Ryan Anderson followed Curry with 18 points, and Matt Bonner made 19. Thus, Curry was eliminated.

For the Eastern Conference, Kyrie Irving was first, and  he tallied 18. Following, was Paul George who scored a miserable 10, so he was out right there. The last and most favored to win was Steve Novak, who had 17. The final was set to be Irving versus Bonner.

In an incredible display, Irving caught fire and scored a very high 23, barely missing any shots until the end. Bonner did just as well, but unfortunately only scored 20. The winner was Kyrie Irving.

The dunk contest was equally as fun. Although I had James White winning, with over a 50″ vertical, he mishandled the ball quite a few times and was sluggish.

To start the contest, Gerald Green finished a nice off-the-side-of-the-backboard reverse dunk which immediately had the judges’ support with a combined 50.

Following him was White who, after a couple tries, was able to finish as two-handed dunk behind his head from just inside the free throw line. His dunk was impressive, but only earned a 45. After him was Terrence Ross, the lonesome rookie. He took six tries to complete a behind- the-back 360 dunk, but finally finished it. He received a 50 for degree of difficulty.

For the West, Kenneth Faried started out with a not-so-great off the backboard 180 dunk. He received just a 39 because it wasn’t very impressive. Following him, Eric Bledsoe tried four times to complete a between the legs dunk, but he ultimately settled for a weak 180-like dunk, which was worth only 39 points. The defending champion, Jeremy Evans, got the crowd into it. He was able to jump over a sitting 7’4″ man and finish with a reverse dunk, receiving a 47.

In the second round, White desperately tried to finish a windmill from the free throw line, but he came up empty, but the judges gave him a score of 32.

Gerald Green had an interesting dunk: He took off the net, tried to dunk it, pick the ball up and dunk it again. He failed to do so until the clock ran out, when it didn’t count, of course. Green also received a 32. Terrence Ross was able to score a 49, on a dunk that wasn’t even worthy of a 10. Nevertheless, it was enough to get him to the finals.

For the West, who had done poorly in the first round, Faried had something to prove. This time, he impressed all with an incredible off-the-backboard between the legs dunk, which received a 50 from the judges. After him, Eric Bledsoe also had something to prove after receiving a 39 in the first round. Bledsoe also completed a nice reverse dunk which earned him a 50. Jeremy Evans, however, did just enough with a signature two-ball dunk, which got him a 43.

The final was to be Terrence Ross and Jeremy Evans.

Jeremy Evans’ first dunk in the finals was a left-handed windmill, jumping over a painting of himself and dunking with his left hand. He proceeded to sign the painting. His second dunk was a floating beauty over a man sitting down. It was pretty, but not good enough.

Terrence Ross’ first dunk was a tribute to Vince Carter, wearing his old jersey. Ross caught a ball off the side of the backboard for the 360 slam. Ross’ second dunk was over a ball boy who was “a couple inches taller than Kevin Hart,” according to Kenny Smith. It was a between the legs dunk, and a solid finish. These two dunks locked Ross up for 58 percent of the votes, and we then had a new champion: Terrence Ross.