Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 2-21-17

Sports
Anthony Davis Breaks
Glenn Robinson, III Tops Derrick Jones, Jr. To Win Slam Dunk Contest
GLENN ROBINSON III
Glenn Robinson, III is the NBA's new dunk king, with an assist from Indiana teammate Paul George, the Pacers' mas- cot and a Pacers cheerleader.
Robinson leaped over all three, snagging the ball from George along the way before finishing with an emphatic two- handed reverse jam, giving him a perfect score -- and the title -- on his final dunk Saturday night in the NBA All-Star slam dunk competition.
"I know I'm a jumper," Robinson said. "Like I said, I'm a guy that stays out of the way, but when it's time to shine, that's my thing. I knew all along I had some things planned, and I just wanted to show the world."
Robinson edged Phoenix's Derrick Jones Jr., who was done in by his failure to com- plete his difficult first dunk in the two-dunk final round.
LeBron James Helps Reunite Lil Wayne, The Hot Boys At New Orleans Party
LEBRON JAMES AND LIL WAYNE
LeBron James had a job to do Saturday (Feb. 18) once he got to New Orleans: Reunite the Hot Boys.
The legendary Cash Money rap group -- including Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Young Turk and Mannie Fresh -- took the stage just after mid- night Sunday at Latrobe's on Royal with fellow New Orlean- ian DJ Khaled plus 2 Chainz and Fat Joe during a Beats by Dre party in celebration of the NBA All-Star Weekend.
"I feel so accomplished when I step on a stage with them now. Back then I felt like I was standing next to my big- ger brothers," Lil Wayne said onstage, according to a release. "Now I feel like I'm standing next to my brother."
Magic Forward Aaron Gordon
Wilt's All-Star Scoring
Explains Why He Won’t
Record, Named MVP
Compete In 2018 Dunk Contest
Pelicans star Anthony Davis openly proclaimed ahead of Sunday's All-Star Game that he was going after the MVP award, and didn't make his master plans on howtodosomuchofase- cret.
"Coach Gentry already told me every time I catch it to put it up," said Davis upon being selected to his fourth straight spot on the Western Conference team.
The Western Conference All-Stars seemed to have no problems feeding him on his home floor.
Davis took a game-high 39 shots and finished with 52 points to lead the West over the East at the 66th All-Star Game, 192-182, at the Smoothie King Center.
The 23-year-old's point total smashed the previous record of 42, set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962.
The honor became the first NBA trophy for Davis, who finished fifth in regular- season MVP voting in the 2014-15 season.
Davis, who also had 10 rebounds, held off a late charge by Russell West- brook, who ended the night
ANTHONY DAVIS
41 points, 7 assists and 5 re- bounds.
Giannis Antetokoun- mpo led the East with 30 points.
Westbrook checked in for the first time with 6:07 to play in the first quarter, join- ing Durant, a West starter, on the court as a teammate for the first time since last season's Western Conference finals.
A minute into their time together, Westbrook drove the ball into the lane and hit Durant, positioned in the paint, with a pass. Durant quickly lobbed the ball in the air toward the basket while in mid-air and Westbrook slammed it in to finish off the alley-oop.
Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon was the headline name in Saturday night’s All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, but his performance was short-lived. He was elim- inated in the first round with a score of 72, throwing down a dunk with the help of a drone.
After his quick exit, Gor- don said he wouldn’t be back in the competition next year.
“This event takes a lot out of you when you approach it as seriously as I do,” Gordon told Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated.
After finishing second last year, Gordon had trouble completing any of the dunks he tried this time around. In fact, he didn’t even complete his second dunk attempt, clanking all of them off the rim.
AARON GODON
He was spectacular in 2016, but he struggled might- ily this year. It’s disappoint- ing to hear he won’t be back in 2018 considering how ex- citing of a player he is, but it’s hard to blame him.
At least he gave us a dunk to talk about when he used a drone to assist him.
“I just wanted to do some- thing new, something inno- vative,” Gordon said afterward. “It didn’t go my way.”
Rockets' Eric Gordon Wins NBA 3-Point Shooting Contest
Kevin Durant And Russell Westbrook's Alley-Oop
The 3-point shootingest team in NBA history has its first 3-point shoot- ing champion.
Eric Gordon
had to work over-
time. He had to overcome the dis- traction of James Harden's fishing
lure shiny jacket. He
even had to tune out
the smattering of
boos around Smoothie King
Arena, where he
played for five sea-
sons before he escaped the "dysfunction" to join the Rockets.
Gordon, however, had spent the season coming off the bench and shooting 3s. With 3 1⁄2 months of prepara- tion, he had the best round of the competition and a tri- umphant extra round, taking the championship before he even reached his final rack.
"We run around, we play a fast-paced game, and we shoot a lot of 3s," Gordon said. "It kind of helps. But I just do what I do best, and that's make a lot of 3s."
Gordon defeated Cleve- land's Kyrie Irving in the overtime shootout, fittingly defeating a player that grabbed headlines with a flat Earth theory in a game of 'around the world.'
This is every- thing we needed from the 2017 NBA All-Star Game.
That’s Russell Westbrook giv- ing it up to Kevin Durant (ice starts to crack), who then fires up a per- fect alley-oop pass back to West- brook (and we’re swimming in cold water).
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combine for sweet alley-oop
ERIC GORDON
That turned boos to cheers.
"Yeah, I heard a little bit, but I'm not worried," Gor- don said. "I was focused on trying to win."
They did not seem to bother him. He hit four of five shots on the first rack and had by far the best round of the night. He scored 25 points in the opening round by hitting four of five shots on his rack of money balls that he placed at the top of the key as if Mike D'Antoni was calling for better spacing.
"I thought that was the easiest shot," said Gordon, who has made 47.1 percent of his 3s from the top of the key this season. "You've just got to shoot dead on. That's why I just chose to put my money rack in the middle."
Westbrook told TNT shortly after, “Nice give-and- go, good give-and-go.” That was about seven more words than we expected. Mean- while, Draymond Green called it “cute.”
Every player I’ve asked this weekend has told me that regular-season grudges don’t exist in All-Star locker rooms. DeMarcus Cousins loves DeAndre
Jordan when they’re team- mates. Green isn’t even kicking anyone.
But this was the moment that would test that. West- brook, Durant and James Harden were all out there, along with Green and An- thony Davis. It was exactly what we needed to see early in this game to get those ob- noxious beef story lines out of the way.
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