All-Star Weekend 2017The weekend that every player wants to be apart of is here once again. Of course there is two games to cover, which will begin with the Rookie Challenge, which features Denver's Borislav Perko:
Rookies edge out Sophomores
The Sophomores were unable to gain redemption on last year's loss, losing to the Rookies 85-80. Top ROY candidate Hobbes MacDonald picked up the MVP award for this game with 32 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals. He led an impressive team of Rookies, who also saw nice games from both Dan Garcia (14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Caleb Jackman (12 points, 6 assists). The Suns' Brad Bell was the other double figure scorer with 10 points.
For the Sophomores, Dan Carlos was the high point man with 21 points. He and Chuck O'Farrell (17) proved to be a handful in the back-court, but giant centre Zach Pearson was their standout player. He had a stat-line of 14 points, 17 rebounds and 2 blocks. Josh Gordon was the last of their double-digit scorers with 11 points.
Denver's sole representative in the game Borislav Perko had a solid performance with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. At times he was the main defensive focus for the Sophomores, being triple-teamed as pictured above.
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Rookies Vs Sophomores
Rookies: 85 (MacDonald 32, Garcia 14, Jackman 12)
Sophomores: 80 (Carlos 21, O'Farrell 17, Pearson 14)
Rookie Challenge MVP: Hobbes MacDonald 32 points 5 rebounds 5 steals
Rebounds
Rookies: Garcia 8
Sophomores: Pearson 17
Assists
Rookies: Jackman 6
Sophomores: Carlos 6
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Now onto the main event: East Vs West. The West have dominated the East over the course of this dynasty, but they now have a team that could possibly compete against their opponents. Will the East get one back? Or will the West continue the dominance? Denver have 3 players in this game, 2 of which are starting. Here it is:
Denver dominate All-Star game
It seems in this all-star game, the players of the Denver Nuggets were out to make a statement as the West defeated the East 85-74. With just two players named in the all-star lineup the past 3 years, the Nuggets players were out to prove that they deserved to be there as the West was led by JR Smith. He scored 32 points in the game, which was enough for him to wrap up his first (and possibly not the last) MVP trophy of the season. Not far behind him was Chris Andersen. Birdman had a huge game on the defensive end, grabbing an incredible 20 rebounds and 3 blocks to go with his 10 points. Carmelo Anthony was also a notable contributor for the West with 18 points. Ollie Rose was the only non-Denver player to reach double figure scoring for the West with 10 points.
For the East, Detroit's Christian Lehmann was the high point man with 22 points. Chris Paul was impressive off the bench with 16 points and 7 assists. Dwight Howard played his usual game with a stat line of 14 points and 16 boards, but he was often troubled by the defensive presense of Chris Andersen. Al Horford rounded out the East's double-digit scorers with 12 points.
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EAST VS WEST
WEST: 85 (Smith 32, Anthony 18, Andersen 10)
EAST: 74 (Lehmann 22, Paul 16, Howard 14)
All-Star MVP: JR Smith 32 points 3 rebounds 3 steals
Rebounds
WEST: Andersen 20
EAST: Howard 16
Assists
WEST: Rose 6
EAST: Paul 7
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Other photos from the weekendSwansong?
In what's possibly Birdman's last All-Star game, he picked up 20 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 steal. He's still a defensive beast.Second scorer
Melo has been the second scorer option all year long for Denver. He once again held down the role for the Western All-Star team with 18 points.--------------------------------------------
Things will be back to normal after this. The next round of 5 games should be up fairly soon. Red Dead Redemption has been consuming most of my gaming time of late but I'll still get around to the updates... they might not be as quick as they usually are. Next 5 games will be up next.
