Chase Budinger

Paul George

Derrick Williams

Jeremy Evans

During the halftime break of the D-League All-Star game, the D-League Dunk Contest was held.  I watched the highlights of the contest and I must say that the D-League Dunk Contest was way better than the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.  It was less about showmanship and more on throwing down the most creative, loud and amazing slam.

Haier Shooting Stars

Four teams competed for this years Haier Shooting Stars competition.  Allan Houston, Landry Fields and Cappie Pondexter made up Team New York.  TNT's Kenny Smith, Chandler Parsons and Sophia Young suited up for Team Texas.  Team Atlanta was represented by Steve Smith, Jerry Stackhouse (who replaced Joe Johnson) and Lindsey Harding.  Lastly, the host city included Dennis Scott, Jameer Nelson and Marie Ferdinand-Harris.

Team New York won by beating Team Texas with two best times of the competition, 38.7 seconds in the first round and 37.3 in the final.  Allan Houston, who hasn't played an NBA game in over seven years, hit the half-court shot in both rounds.

2012 Skills Challenge Competition

Participants for this year's Skills Challenge were San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker, New Jersey Nets' Deron Williams, Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo, Washington Wizards' John Wall, Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook and Cleveland Cavaliers Kyrie Irving.  

Deron Williams recorded the fastest time in the first round, 28.3 seconds.  Followed by Tony Parker (29.2 seconds), Rajon Rondo and John Wall (32.8), Russell Westbrook (33.8) and Kyrie Irving (42.2).

Westbrook and Irving were eliminated while Rondo and Wall went into a tiebreaker where Rondo easily won to advance to the final round.

In the last round, Parker clocked 32.8 seconds to win the competition.  Rondo was second with 34.6 and Williams was third with 41.4

Foot Locker Three-Point Contest

Six sharp shooters joined the Three-Point Contest which included the Timberwolves' Kevin Love, Thunder's Kevin Durant, Heat's James Jones (defending Three-Point champion) and Mario Chalmers, Magic's Ryan Anderson and the Nets' Anthony Morrow.

In the first round, Jones (the defending Three-Point Champion) led the contestants with 22 points.  Followed by Durant (22), Love and Chalmers (18), Anderson (17) and Morrow (14).  Love and Chalmers went into a tiebreaker where Love won 5-4.

In the final round, Love and Durant were tied with 16 points eliminating Jones (12).  They went on another tiebreaker where Love won scoring 17 points against Durant's 14.

Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

In this year's Slam Dunk Contest, the winners will be chosen solely through fan voting.  Participants include Chase Budinger (Houston Rockets), Jeremy Evans (Utah Jazz), Paul George (Indiana Pacers) and Derrick Williams (Minnesota Timberwolves).

The fans voted Jeremy Evans as the winner with 29% of the votes.

Check out the highlights from the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge:

With the NBA going in a different format for this year's Rising Stars Challenge, pooling selected rookies and sophomores and have teams draft the players, it certainly adds an intrigue to this year's All-Star weekend.  But with Shaq and Chuck choosing the player's, it's even more fun.

Check out the complete rosters for both teams:

Team Shaq

Blake Griffin, LA Clippers

Jeremy Lin, NY Knicks

Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves

Markieff Morris, Phoenix Suns

Kemba Walker, Charlotte Bobcats

Landry Fields, NY Knicks

Norris Cole, Miami Heat

Brandon Knight, Detroit Pistons

Tristan Thompson, Cleveland Cavaliers

Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons

Team Chuck

Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers

DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings

Derrick Williams, Minnesota Timberwolves

Paul George, Indiana Pacers

MarShon Brooks, NJ Nets

John Wall, Washington Wizards

Tiago Splitter, San Antonio Spurs (out with injury)

Evan Turner, Philadelphia 76ers

Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz

Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz

Team Chuck Rides Irvings 8-of-8 From 3

The no.1 pick in this year's draft led Team Chuck with 34 points, while going 8-of-8 from 3pt.  He finished the game on 12-of-13 shooting together with 9 assists.  Paul George contributed 23 points.  Team Shaq was led by Tristan Thompson with 20 points.  Blake Griffin scored only 10 points on limited minutes.  

The Linsanity Tour continues to roll in Toronto with Jeremy Lin hitting the game winning 3 to rally the New York Knicks past the Toronto Raptors 90-87.  He would finish with 27 points and 8 assists and provided yet another highlight to his legendary Knick career.

For those yet to believe in the hype, how about now?!

Where will Linsanity happen next? Stay tuned.

NO.	PLAYER (TEAM)	POS.	HT.	WT.	STATS
7	* Carmelo Anthony (New York)	F	6-8	230	22.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.2 apg
6	* LeBron James (Miami)	F	6-8	250	28.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 6.9 apg
1	* Derrick Rose (Chicago)	G	6-3	190	22.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 7.8 apg
3	* Dwyane Wade (Miami)	G	6-4	220	22.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 5.1 apg
12	* Dwight Howard (Orlando)	C	6-11	265	21.0 ppg, 15.4 rpg, 2.2 bpg
1	Chris Bosh (Miami)	F	6-11	235	19.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.0 apg
9	# Luol Deng (Chicago)	F	6-9	220	16.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.5 apg
55	# Roy Hibbert (Indiana)	C	7-2	260	13.6 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.8 bpg
9	# Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia)	F-G	6-6	207	13.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 5.2 apg
55	Joe Johnson (Atlanta)	G	6-7	240	18.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.7 apg
34	Paul Pierce (Boston)	F	6-7	235	18.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 5.7 apg
8	Deron Williams (New Jersey)	G	6-3	209	20.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 8.6 apg

NO.	PLAYER (TEAM)	POS.	HT.	WT.	FROM
35	* Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City)	F	6-9	235	27.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 3.4 apg
32	* Blake Griffin (L.A. Clippers)	F	6-10	251	21.4 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 3.0 apg
24	* Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers)	G	6-6	205	29.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 5.4 apg
3	* Chris Paul (L.A. Clippers)	G	6-0	175	18.4 ppg, 9.1 apg, 2.4 spg
17	* # Andrew Bynum (L.A. Lakers)	C	7-0	285	17.1 ppg, 12.4 rpg, 2.0 bpg
12	# LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland)	F	6-11	240	23.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.8 apg
33	# Marc Gasol (Memphis)	C	7-1	265	15.0 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 2.2 bpg
42	Kevin Love (Minnesota)	F-C	6-10	260	25.0 ppg, 13.7 rpg, 1.7 apg
13	Steve Nash (Phoenix)	G	6-3	178	15.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 10.0 apg
41	Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas)	F	7-0	245	17.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.3 apg
9	Tony Parker (San Antonio)	G	6-2	185	18.9 ppg, 7.7 apg, 1.1 spg
0	# Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City)	G	6-3	187	22.3 ppg, 5.9 apg, 2.0 spg

* – denotes starter

# – denotes first-time selection

| – denotes injured and will not participate

Source: NBA

(Photo: Internet)

With the trade deadline looming, Kobe Bryant expects the Lakers to make a move to try and tweak their current roster.  The Lakers' superstar, who is obsessed with winning another NBA championship, said:

(Photo: Internet)

Kobe Bryant passed former teammate Shaquille O'Neal for fifth place on the  NBA career scoring list in the game against the Sixers.  He now needs to score about 3,000 points to get past Wilt Chamberlain, and about 4,000 points to get past Michael Jordan for the third spot.  He might not be able Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the latter has 10,000 more points.

Bryant certainly has had a Hall of Fame career which has spanned for 15 years.  At the age of 33, I think he has about 2-3 years left before he hangs it up.  If he continues to play at a high level, he might move up in the NBA career scoring list.  What do you think?

With that being said, it's worth noting his accomplishments.  It's a long list but that's why he will certainly go down as one of the top players in the history of the NBA.  Credits to Wikipedia for the data.

The NBA has just released the 2012 All-Star Starters and it looks more like it's the EAST vs LA West.

NBA 2012 All-Star East Starters
(Photo: Internet)