The Cleveland Cavaliers defended their city by participating in and winning events throughout the NBA All-Star’s Weekend festivities.
Over the weekend, Cleveland hosted their third-ever NBA All-Star Weekend, with their last time doing so happening in 1997. Therefore, it became the first time the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse hosted the festivities. And what better year for them to do so. Over the course of the previous three NBA seasons, the Cavs boasted one of the league’s lowest winning percentages (27.4%). Moreover, the Cavaliers posted the fourth-worst record last year and second-worst in both of the seasons before that.
However, this year is an entirely different story with the sixth-best record in the NBA and tied for third-best in the Eastern Conference, Cleveland’s quickly emerging as an elite playoff team. And yet, the NBA world continues overlooking and discrediting them. This weekend, though, changed that narrative tremendously. Not only did the Cavs send two players to the All-Star game itself, but they also took part in Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge, as well as Saturday night’s Skills Challenge.
Friday Night: Future Stars Showing Out in Cleveland
The NBA’s All-Star weekend is as entertaining, exciting, and eventful as it gets in professional sports. Although the Dunk Contest generally generates the greatest interest, this year’s rendition really disappointed people. I am sure the local Cleveland fans would’ve preferred seeing their own Isaac Okoro participate, as his bunnies were on full display in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night.
In a new format, the Rising Stars Challenge included four five-player teams. Furthermore, members of the NBA’s 75th-anniversary team head coached each team. Specifically, legends Gary Payton, Rick Barry, James Worthy, and Isiah Thomas received the honors. Each coach selected their rosters from a draft pool and then engaged in a four-team mini-tournament. Ironically enough, Team Barry ended up including both of Cleveland’s players: Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro.
In Game 1, Team Barry narrowly defeated Team Payton by a score of 50-48. Mobley led the way for the victors by providing a team-high 13 points (tied with Cade Cunningham) and eight rebounds. Whereas Okoro contributed in his own way by scoring six points, along with a rebound and steal too.
In the final round, Team Barry faced off against Team Isiah. However, this time around, the target score was only set at 25 instead of 50. In an intense battle, Rick Barry’s roster overcame an early deficit to win 25-20. Once again, though, Mobley matched Cunningham by scoring a team-leading five points while getting one assist, block, and even nabbing three boards too. Unfortunately, Cunningham walked away with the Rising Stars Challenge MVP, but Mobley certainly gave him a run for his money. Hopefully, Mobley will get back at him later on by winning the true trophy all rookies fight for, the Rookie of the Year Award.
Saturday Night: Team Cavs Wins the Skills Challenge
If any night could ever overshadow the actual All-Star Game, it is Saturday night’s festivities because it’s provocative; it gets the people going. Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest, and Dunk Contest. Knicks forward Obi Toppin topped the field to win the anticlimactic Dunk Contest. Karl-Anthony Towns proved big-men can shoot too by winning the always exciting Three-Point Contest. Arguably the most exciting aspect of the night came from the new-and-improved Skills Challenge.
In the first round of shooting, each team’s player shot individually from one of five spots, while the other two rebounded for them. As the last team to go, Team Cavs offered up the highest-scoring mark of 44, thereby earning them 100 skill points.
In round two, teams passed into three separate targets worth two, four, or six points. The challenge required each team to hit each target at least once while not having individual players repeatedly use the same one. In the end, Team Rooks tied with Team Antetokounmpo with 88 points, but since the Greek squad completed more outlet passes (the longest type), they earned 100 skill points.
The relay race rounded up the challenges, but the Rooks were the lone team to finish. In doing so, they booked their spot in the finale round. However, Team Cavs and Antetokounmpos needed a three-point shoot-off tiebreaker to decide the Rooks opponent. Thankfully, Cleveland rostered a shooter of their own as Darius Garland defeated the Antetokounmpos.
To decide the winner of the Skills Challenge, each team needed to sink home a halfcourt shot as quickly as possible. The Rooks went first and seemingly set a strong pace by swishing a half-courter in 9.9 seconds. However, Evan Mobley, a fellow rookie, stole the honors by hitting this clutch shot in almost half of the allotted time.
Sunday Night: Jarrett Allen & Darius Garland’s First-Ever All-Star Game
Ironically playing without KD, Team Durant faced an uphill battle by playing the King of Cleveland, LeBron James. Not to mention Team James rostered both Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland too.
In the first quarter, Team James narrowly edged out Durant by a score of 47-45. Doing so earned LeBron’s charity of choice, the Kent State’s I Promise Scholars, a significant charitable donation. Unlike the rest of the game, the contributions came from everywhere. Joel Embiid‘s 11 points led both sides, while LeBron, despite his inefficiency, led with nine points. As for the Cleveland Cavaliers, their roles off the bench were limited.
In the second quarter, though, the benches played much longer. Garland bounced back from not scoring in the first to have 10 points. However, as true for the whole game, Stephen Curry stole the show, but more on that later. Team Durant did win the quarter 49-46, giving them a one-point lead heading into halftime. Moreover, their quarter victory earned the Cleveland Food Bank a hefty donation.
Garland and Allen provided little offensive help for the remainder of the game as the starters took control. However, Allen did earn himself some clutch minutes in the final stanza by defending and even blocking the behemoth that is Embiid two times. Both stops ended up being very important as Team LeBron barely overcame the deficit to win 163-160. The final shot came from who else but LeBron James and his signature wildly contested post-fade jumper. In the end, the game stinted $450,000 for the Kent State I Promise Scholars and $300,000 for the Cleveland Food Bank.
A Kid From Akron Named All-Star Game MVP
No, not LeBron James. Instead, his former adversary and the most hated man in Cleveland for nearly half a decade, Stephen Curry. This article has been running on for quite a while, but it’d be a shame not to talk about the historical night Curry put together. Curry proved yet again to the entire world why he is the NBA’s all-time leader in made threes. After a comparatively quiet first period with just two buckets from beyond the arc, Steph came out firing in the second.
After sitting for most of the period, Curry entered and immediately broke an NBA record. By making six threes, on just seven attempts, of course, Curry broke the all-star game record for made threes in a quarter (which used to be four). However, that is not all. No, Curry was not satisfied, as, after the fantastic halftime presentation, he came out even hotter. Curry went 7/10 from deep, with at least half coming from logo range. Furthermore, in his patented fashion, Curry turned away from most, knowing they would all fall.
The one downside of Curry’s fantastic night came when it mattered most (something Cleveland fans would say is”typical” from him). Curry struggled to make one last three-pointer in the final period, which would’ve broken the all-star game’s scoring record of 52 points. Nevertheless, Curry shall be more than content with this ungodly stat line: 50 points, 16/27 from deep (five of which he missed in the 4th quarter), five rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and one steal. Even if Team Durant pulled it off, Curry simply had to win the MVP because that right there, folks, is straight-up insane, especially if you actually go back and look at the shots he made.
