There is one weekend out of the year when Lakers and Spurs fans agree, Heat and Celtics fans side with each other and fans of every NBA team tune in to watch the same game. NBA all-star weekend is approaching. The best players of the Eastern Conference matchup against the best of the Western Conference, in a high-scoring game.
All players participating in the All-Star Game were selected solely by worldwide fan balloting. The two premier players in the league led in voting, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. After finishing second in last year’s voting to Kobe Bryant, Lebron received the most this year with over 1.4 million votes, about 20,000 more than Durant received.
The top five voting recipients from each team will start. The Eastern Conference team will be coached by head coach of the Indiana Pacers, Frank Vogel. Vogel’s starting five appears to be listed as, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Dwayne Wade.
The Western Conference team will be coached by the head coach of Oklahoma City Thunder, Scot Brooks. Brooks’ starting five consists of Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Kobe Bryant, and Stephen Curry.
Bryant asked his fan base not to vote him in to the all-star game this year but they ignored that, and voted him into the starting lineup as he received over 980,000 votes. Bryant will not play and has been replaced by Anthony Davis.
Davis will be one of four first timers voted into the NBA All-Star Game for the Western Conference. Stephen Curry is the only first-time all star that was voted to a starting lineup this year.
Three players from the Eastern Conference, DeMar DeRozan, Paul Millsap, and John Wall, will be making their first appearances as all stars.
This weekend will be filled with NBA All-Star events, starting on Friday and ending on Sunday with the main event. Some of Saturday’s events consist of the Shooting Stars Challenge, Skills Challenge, Three-Point Challenge, and the highly anticipated Slam Dunk Contest.
The Slam Dunk Contest is often the most exciting of the events before Sunday’s game. This years Slam Dunk Competition contestants will be Paul George, John Wall, Damian Lillard (who is also in the All Star Game, and Skills Challenge,) Terrence Ross, Harrison Barnes, and Ben McLemore. This will take place on Saturday night, and will be televised on TNT.
The 2014 NBA All-Star Game will be the 63rd of all time, and will be hosted this Sunday at New Orleans Arena, and will be televised on TNT at 8pm Eastern Time.
