DJariya

Here's the schedule for this weekend:

Friday:

All Times Eastern (ET)

• USA Basketball News Conference, 9 a.m. | NBA TV
• BBVA Rising Stars Challenge Practice, 10-11:30 a.m. | NBA TV
• Hall of Fame News Conference, 11:30 a.m. | NBA TV
• NBA GameTime: All-Star Interviews, noon | NBA TV
• The Beat, 5 p.m. | NBA TV
• The Jump presented by Sprint, 6 p.m. | NBA TV
• NBA GameTime: All-Star Interviews, 7 p.m. | NBA TV
• 2012 Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, 7 p.m. | ESPN
• BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, 9 p.m. | TNT
• Inside The NBA, 11 p.m. | TNT
• NBA GameTime presented by State Farm, 11:30 p.m. | NBA TV

Saturday:

All-Star East/West Practice & Player Interviews, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. | NBA TV
• Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown, 1:30 p.m. | NBA TV
• 2012 NBA Development League All-Star Game presented by 26 Seconds, 2 p.m. | NBA TV
• Commissioner Stern news conference, 7 p.m. | NBA TV
• NBA Tip-Off, 8 p.m. | TNT
• NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm, 8:30 p.m. | TNT
- 2012 Haier Shooting Stars (1st Event)
- 2012 Taco Bell Skills Challenge (2nd Event)
- 2012 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest (3rd Event)
- 2012 Sprite Slam Dunk (4th Event)
• NBA TV All-Star Weekend Presented by Kia Motors, 11 p.m. | NBA TV

Sunday:

Legends Brunch, noon p.m. | NBA TV
• NBA GameTime: All-Star Sunday, 4 p.m. | NBA TV
• Sprint Pregame Concert, 5 p.m. | NBA TV
• NBA Tip-Off presented by Autotrader.com, 6 p.m. | TNT
• 2012 NBA All-Star Game presented by Kia Motors, 7:30 p.m. (7:37 p.m. tip) | TNT
• Inside the NBA presented by Hyundai, 11 p.m. | NBA TV

DJariya

Here's your dunk contest participants:

Derrick Williams (Minnesota)

Paul George (Indiana)

Jeremy Evans (Utah)

Chase Budinger (Houston)

Key Change:

A new format will be implemented for the 2012 competition. The contest will consist of only one round and each competitor will execute three dunks. Fan voting will open after all four players have completed their first dunk. Previously, the Sprite Slam Dunk contest consisted of two rounds, with the first round scored by a panel of judges which determined two finalists.

devilshalo

Previous year's dunk champions should be forced to defend their title. And only 4 participants?

DJariya

Here's your 3-Point Contest Participants:

James Jones (Miami): Defending Champ

Kevin Love (Minnesota)

Ryan Anderson (Orlando)

Anthony Morrow (New Jersey)

Mario Chalmers (Miami)

Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City)

starman9000

It's a good thing Shumpert backed out, one Lin dish, even on a missed dunk, and he would have run away with the fan vote.

fumanstan

I didn't even know Chase Budinger could dunk.

DJariya

I read some stuff with Griffin and he said the dunk contest isn't really his thing (whatever that means) and things were too busy/hectic during last All-Star Weekend. It sounds like he just wants to relax and be away from all the attention for this weekend.

starman9000

It really is kind of a joke now and should probably just be scrapped.

DJariya

IIRC, they tried scrapping it awhile back because it got so boring and repetitive. They introduced that game called 2-ball and people didn't like that game and begged for the dunk contest to come back.

2-ball eventually became the Shooting Stars game and stuck around when the dunk contest came back.

Deftones

I don't care about the NBA much or the Academy Awards, but did the NBA say why they scheduled the ASG on the same day?

Goat3001

Because the league is run by a bunch of idiots.

DJariya

Honestly, it's 2 different audiences. The people who are really into the Academy Awards/Movies probably aren't going to watch the NBA All-Star and Vice Versa.

The NBA fans who are into the Awards will probably DVR it since live sports usually takes precedent for most people IMO.

WallyOPD

Chase has a surprising amount of athleticism, he just doesn't make use of it very often.

fumanstan

All I ever see him do is drain 3's.

starman9000

It's also up against NASCAR at Daytona, causing some conflict for locals that would like to watch both I imagine. (especially because Danica is on the pole)



Edit...I guess they are at different times and Danica won for the nationwide race, but still...

DeanoBKN

This season has moved so fast I forgot all about the Rising Stars game tonight.

NORML54601

I'm not a big fan of the NBA but I love all star weekend

PopcornTreeCt

The Rookies game was pretty fun. Wish all NBA games were played like it.

Mr. Cinema

So they got rid of that stupid shooting contest where we were forced to watch WNBA players?

Goat3001

They still have a variation of it. It's now a current NBA player, a WNBA player and a former player from one city. They take turns hitting shots from different spots on the floor, the trio to do it the fastest wins.

Larry C.

No variation I think thats exactly what he is talking about.

Goat3001

Didn't it used to be just a current player and a WNBA player and they didn't have to do the half court shot? I don't know, it's stupid either way. At least this year I get to see Allan Houston do it.

I know people want to see Lebron in the dunk contest but I'd actually really like to see him in the skills challenge. He'd beat the rest of the field by a good 5 seconds.

fumanstan

Think so? I think he'd lose by a fair margin.

bootsy

I don't. Zero defense and some sloppy basketball. No thanks

JumpCutz