Martin Voogd
02/16/2020 - 12:50
- Clarín.com
- sports
If there is something that NBA executives know is to reinvent the business. They did it in the 50s when they came up with the launch of the All Star Game, copying the Major League Baseball model, to recover the disenchanted spectators then an illegal gambling scandal that had stained (and much) the ball orange. They did it in the 80s, with the recently deceased David Stern as an intellectual author, by breaking down the borders and globalizing the league with Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and, above all, Michael Jordan, and they did it again now, in full duel for the tragedy that ended the life of the legendary Kobe Bryant, with a Star Weekend that once again becomes a must-see by force of controversy and show.
The duel between two teams led by the two most voted in the league, a decision taken years ago, restored competitiveness to the bland parties between East and West. The fact of wanting to beat the other is very attractive. LeBron James, the closest thing to Jordan and Bryant today, does not like to lose even the Tinenti . And the same for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the young Greek giant who appears as the future superstar of this increasingly global league together with the versatile Slovenian Luka Doncic.
That's what is to come tonight at the United Center in Chicago, the house where Jordan's unforgettable Bulls, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson shone. But not only Sunday's action wins in appeal. Also, although on a smaller scale, it generates attraction what happens on Friday and Saturday. The celebrity game is still very local consumption, but the clash between promises is not negligible, with the incipient rivalry between the United States team and the Rest of the World team, as an appetizer.
And it was also revitalized on Saturday with skills, triple and dump contests.
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It is interesting how big men predominate among the most skilled when it comes to handling the ball, running and hitting doubles and triples in the shortest possible time. There it was all for the 2.08 meter Miami Heat Bam Adebayo pivot wing, which showed that more and more NBA big men have a good hand to drive.
He also won in excitement the three-shot competition, which added more money balls (three-color ABA-style balls) that add double and two fluo-green balls (in honor of the soda -extinct in Argentina- that sponsors the test) that they are worth three to make the actions of the shooters more changing.
It seemed that the best of the night had happened with the triumph over the cicada of Buddy Hield, but it was not so. The strawberry of the evening, as in the times of Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan, His Majesty of the Air, arrived with the dump contest.
There were only four candidates for the crown, but he ended up becoming one of the most memorable in history. For the tribute of Dwight Howard dressed again as Superman (or rather SuperKobe) to remember Bryant.
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And for the cataract of perfect dumps that stretched the suspense until the second tiebreaker in the final match between Derrick Jones Jr., of Miami Heat, and Aaron Gordon, of Orlando Magic.
It all ended in controversy and anger. The winner was the birthday boy Jones Jr who explained with facts his nickname of 'Airplane Mode', beyond which everyone thought that the prize should have been left to Gordon.
Is that the eaves of the Magic defied physics in each of his attempts until the jury surprised by giving an unexpected 47 to the dump in which with his jump he had raffled the 2.26 meters of humanity of Tacko Fall, the giant of Boston Celtics
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While Jones was receiving the award, Gordon - who had already been harmed in the definition of 2016 at the All Star held in Toronto at the hands of Zach Levine - still couldn't believe the jury's decision and warned that he would never participate in the contest again. Those who know say that his dump was not clean, as he brushed his head against Fall's head. And that was what made him leave points along the way. But you have to jump 2.26 meters and stay empty handed.