Between two days of (relatively) torrential downpour in L.A. for All-Star Weekend and a winter wonderland that maimed people in Dallas during the Super Bowl, one thing is pretty clear: God hates big sporting events in 2011.
Captured: the rare jumbotron segue between Puffy and Shaq. Seriously, this could be from any NBA Dunk Contest from 1997 to today.
The current NBA points-per-game leader, Kevin Durant, flamed out in the three-point contest. His paltry 33.8 percent shooting from behind the arc should make that no surprise.
Paul Pierce, one of the least subtle players in the NBA, celebrates after his final money ball ensured his entrance into the finals. Pierce, who has been in roughly 1 billion three-point contests, is an L.A.-born Boston Celtic, so the hometown boos that rained down on him (including from my New Yorker self) probably served as motivation.
The newly minted all-time career three-point leader, Ray Allen, strolls to the starting line. With he and Pierce comprising two-thirds of the final round, the odds looked good for Boston.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be for those unable to pronounce the letter R. A new king was crowned: understated Miami Heat shooter James Jones took the title.
During the intermission, I ran into TNT’s own Craig Sager. Much to my surprise, his suit did not destroy my camera.
Serge Ibaka’s dunk from (behind!) the foul line was probably the dunk of the night, so, naturally, he didn’t advance past the first round.
This child just happened to wander onto the court with this sob story: “My stuffed animal is stuck on the rim, Serge Ibaka, do you mind grabbing it with your teeth while dunking a basketball?” Why do these problems only pop up during NBA dunk contests?
Serge obliged, envisioned the stuffed animal as Josh Smith, and the crisis was averted.
Next: JaVale McGee, Blake Griffin, Terrell Owens … and Bill Walton