The trading window was definitively concluded NBA prepares for another great event. The teams, after having definitively settled the rosters in the marketthey will take a little break from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th February for theAll Star Weekend. During these three evenings, the greatest champions of the league will take part in a series of events that, like every year, will attract a huge audience. The location of this edition will be the Wolstein Center from Cleveland, Ohio, home of the collegiate team Cleveland State Vikings and the team of G-League Cleveland Charge. So let’s go see what events will be scheduled this year and who will be the players and the star involved in the second, unmissable evening.
Saturday 19 February: the evening of challenges
If the first evening of the weekend is dedicated al Celebrity Game e al Rookie Tournament, the second is the one that fans usually expect the most. In fact, two of the most followed and loved competitions in the event are held this evening: the dunk competition and that of three-point shot. But not only that: there will also be the Skills Challenge and, this year, theNBA x HBCU Classic. These two events will also have to be followed closely, and promise spectacle. So let’s see what the events and attractions of the second evening will be.
NBA x HBCU Classic: let’s start with charity
After broadcasting, give it 11 am ETor the 17 Italian timethe training of the players involved in All Star Game on Sunday evening, at 14 (20 Italian time) there will be a tap-off for the first NBA x HBCU Classic. The idea was born from the intention of fortifying the links between the number 1 basketball league in the world and African American colleges and universities (HBCU stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or Historically black colleges and universities). The game will involve two teams of two college historically frequented by African Americans: Morgan State University versus Howard University. The match it will be very important not only to allow promising young basketball players stars and stripes to show off in view of a possible arrival in the NBA, but also because, in the league’s projects, there is also a plan to start a program for the students of these universities by 2022. More than a million dollars it will be destined to support less well-off students in order to help them take their first steps in basketball.
Today, the NBA will announce the first-ever ‘HBCU Classic’ as part of All-Star Weekend ????
Howard University will play Morgan State in Cleveland on Feb. 19th, celebrating the NBA’s 75th anniversary.
During NBA All-Star 2022, more than $1 million will be contributed to HBCUs. pic.twitter.com/Ok6PzxjmLU
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) October 21, 2021
Skills Challenge: new format, even more show
The real night dedicated to the stars of the NBA will begin at 20or the1 at night here in Italywith the Taco Bell Skills Challengetotally renovated and with a brand new one format in teams. If in fact until last year’s edition, won since then Indiana Pacers Domantas Sabonis, recently moved to the Sacramento Kings, the players faced each other in an individual competition that included a series of courses to be completed, from this year the structure of the competition is totally new. Three teams, made up of players related in some way to each other, will compete in a four-way competition round which will test everyone’s skills in some basics of basketball: passing, shooting and dribbling. Every round will bring a certain number of points to the winning team: at the end of the first three the two teams with the highest score will compete in the final.
The three initial challenges, each from 100 pointswill be the Team Shooting Round, Team Passing Round e Team Relay Round. At the end of these three rounds, the two finalists will compete in the Half-Court Shot Challenge: each player must try to make a shot from midfield in 1 minute and 30 seconds. The team fastest to make the shot will be the winner of the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. As we said, the three teams that will compete will be made up of players all in some way linked to each other. The first will be the Team Rooksmade up of three players in the first year in the NBA: the great forward of the Toronto Raptors Scottie Barnesthe playmaker of the Detroit Pistons Cade Cunningham and the equal role of Oklahoma City Thunder Josh Giddey. The second team is the Team Cavsmade up of players from the home team, i Cleveland Cavaliers: the Jarrett Center Allenplaymaker Darius Garland and big forward Evan Mobley. The third team, the Team Antetokounmposwill see precisely Giannīs Antetokounmpowing of the Milwaukee Buckswith which he won the NBA title and that of Finals MVP last year, team up with his brothers Athanasios, said Thanasīs he too ai Buckse Alexandrossaid “Alex”the youngest (born in 2001), who plays as a small forward in the Raptors905in G League.
3-Point Contest: Who will Steph’s heir?
Soon after there will be the MTN DEW 3-Point Contest, the three-point shooting competition that will see eight players compete in a series of shots from beyond the arc. Like every year, over the whole arc there will be five trolleys of five balls each, the last of which, colored white, red and blue, is worth two points instead of one. Each player will have the option to choose a cart to fill with their own bonus balls, depending on the area you prefer. On both sides of the third trolley there will be the so-called DEW Zonea pedestal slightly farther away than the carts that houses a green balloon, said “3-Ball”, precisely because, in the event of a shot, it will give the player three more points. Last year’s race winner, Stephen Currywill not participate in this edition.
The participants of this edition, however, are absolutely no less. Each of them is a specialist in distance shooting, and the show will be guaranteed. The players who compete for the trophy will be the new guard of the New Orleans Pelicans CJ McCollumjust come on Portland Trail Blazersthe playmaker of the Atlanta Hawks bring Youngthe guard of the Chicago Bulls Zach LaVinethe playmaker of the Memphis Grizzlies Desmond Banethat of Toronto Raptors Fred VanVleetthe guard of the Los Angeles Clippers Luke Kennardthe playmaker of the Brooklyn Nets Patty Mills and the Karl-Anthony Center Townsof the Minnesota Timberwolvesone of a kind long in the competition.
Slam Dunk Contest: space for young people to become great again
The third and final race of the evening will be theAT&T Slam Dunk Contest, the dunk competition which, over the years, has been synonymous with show and impressive athletic gestures. In recent years, however, the lack of great players, who have often preferred to prepare for the match of the stars, has somewhat undermined the quality of the event and the interest of the fans has slowly decreased. Also this year there will be many young promises and no real stars, but the potential to make it a great event is there. We will then see who will be the successor of Anfernee Simonswho won the competition last year.
This year there will be four participants who, as usual, will try two dunks each in the first round, which will be given a vote from 1 to 10 by five jurors. The two with the highest score will compete in the final round, in which they will have the opportunity to perform two more dunks. Each player, after completing a dunk, will get three attempts to perform the next one. The most anticipated participant will undoubtedly be Obi Toppinwing of the New York Knicks who made it to the final in last year’s race, losing to Simons. The twenty three he will surely want to make up for the defeat and take the trophy home. To contend for it, however, there will be the small wing of the gods Golden State Warriors Juan Toscano-Anderson, the playmaker of Orlando Magic Cole Anthonyand the second absolute pick al draft 2021the guard of the Houston Rockets Jalen Green.
The second evening ofAll Star Weekend it is, like all weekend competitions, absolutely unmissable. We will see how the new rules will change the Skills Challengewe will find out who will be the new 3-Point Champion and, above all, we hope to see a spectacular dunk game which, unfortunately, has not been seen for too long.
