{"id":4544,"date":"2017-02-18T18:12:57","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T23:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=4544"},"modified":"2017-02-18T18:12:57","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T23:12:57","slug":"watchout-nba-all-star-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/02\/18\/watchout-nba-all-star-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Watch For at NBA All-Star Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA All-Star Weekend<\/strong> gets underway from New Orleans on Saturday. Most teams welcome this mid-season break as a time to rest and refocus for the season’s final stretch. Meanwhile, others use the weekend as a platform to showcase their other-worldly skills. While the skills competition, dunk contest, and three-point shootout\u00a0will be\u00a0Saturday’s main attractions, the NBA All-Star game itself takes\u00a0center stage Sunday.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Sunday’s offensive showcase, here are a few storylines to watch for.<\/p>\n

What to Watch For at NBA All-Star Weekend<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s All-Star<\/strong>\u00a0Debut<\/strong><\/h4>\n

After coming into his own this season, the “Greek Freak” is ready to showcase his talents to the basketball world. Giannis, listed at 6’11, has averaged a career-high 23.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in 54 games for the Milwaukee Bucks<\/strong> this season. He encapsulates what it means to be a “do-it-all” player, leading the Bucks in blocks and steals as well.<\/p>\n

What\u00a0Giannis does on a basketball court has simply never\u00a0been seen. Don’t believe me? Look at this<\/a>. The Greek Freak’s\u00a0abilities are utterly jaw-dropping.\u00a0We’ve never\u00a0witnessed a player that can effortlessly\u00a0glide across the court the way Giannis does. NBA fans should be in for a huge treat on Sunday. After all, he’s starting for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.<\/p>\n

Will Russell Westbrook Earn All-Star<\/strong>\u00a0MVP Honors?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When Russell Westbrook participates in an All-Star game, it’s safe to say\u00a0he’s going to go full out. In Westbrook’s past two all-star games, the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong> superstar has averaged a whopping 36 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. Those numbers helped Westbrook become a back-to-back All-Star game MVP. By the looks of it, Westbrook uses the All-Star game\u00a0as a way to measure himself against the rest of basketball’s greats.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the 2017 NBA All-Star game, Westbrook has more motivation to dominate than ever before. He’s looking to prove that not only was he snubbed of a starting spot in Sunday’s showcase but that he has what it takes to become a three-time All-Star game MVP. Only five\u00a0players have done so in NBA history (Bob Pettitt<\/strong>, Oscar Robertson<\/strong>, Michael Jordan<\/strong>, Kobe Bryant<\/strong>, and Shaquille O’Neal<\/strong>). None of those five won the award in three consecutive years. Westbrook could become the first.<\/p>\n

Russell Westbrook – Kevin Durant Dynamic<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Speaking of motivation for Westbrook, after Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors<\/strong> in the offseason, the two former Thunder teammates have had a highly-publicized feud\u00a0throughout the season. When the Warriors and Thunder play, fans have witnessed\u00a0not-so-subtle displays of animosity from Westbrook towards Durant. Westbrook’s anger\u00a0with Durant isn’t exactly helping his team on the court, though. In the teams’ first three meetings this season, the Warriors have dominated the Thunder to the tune of three double-digit wins.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the two former teammates will be on the same team once again, representing the Western Conference All-Stars. Western All-Star Head Coach Steve Kerr<\/strong> has a tough decision to make on whether to play the two together.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how the two stars coexist. Will Westbrook even pass Durant the ball, or look\u00a0to take over the game himself? Will the two stars even talk to or look at one another?\u00a0Those questions\u00a0and much more\u00a0will be answered this Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NBA All-Star Weekend gets underway from New Orleans on Saturday. Most teams welcome this mid-season break as a time to rest and refocus for the season’s final stretch. Meanwhile, others use the weekend as a platform to showcase their other-worldly skills. While the skills competition, dunk contest, and three-point shootout\u00a0will be\u00a0Saturday’s main attractions, the NBA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1862,"featured_media":3827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"542","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[65,306,69,96,636,54,53],"class_list":["post-4544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-kevin-durant","tag-nba","tag-nba-all-star-weekend","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-russell-westbrook"],"modified_by":"Barkev Sivazlian","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1862"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}