Column: Looking back at the NBA All-Star Weekend

This All-Star weekend featured several interesting events, including Kobe being Kobe, Justin Bieber getting swatted by Scottie Pippen and Blake Griffin taking a risk in dunking that the Los Angeles Clippers probably would have rather not seen. Here are my grades for the events of the 2011 NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles:

All-Star Celebrity Game: B-minus

Despite the game’s name, the celebrity matchup featured several people I would never recognize, and the event turned out to be all right (considering that it is a celebrity game). Bieber’s presence made the night all the more interesting, especially for the crowd of preteen girls that came out to see him (and pretty much only him). He won the game’s Most Valued Player award from fan voting, despite going only 3-11 from the field. He did have a nice crossover that had rapper Common going down, down, down, down. The game was a passable appetizer for the events to come.

Rookie Challenge: B

I might have given this an A-minus, but unfortunately due to grade deflation I had to drop it down. Blake Griffin put on an explosive dunk show that could have won him the MVP honors of the night if John Wall hadn’t been assisting all of the dunks. Wall gave Griffin an amazing bounce alley-oop pass that the star forward threw down with authority. The Rookies and Sophomores put on a nice show, but other than a few nice dunks, the game was not spectacular.

D-League All-Star Game: ??

The what? Are you sure this was a part of the NBA’s All-Star Weekend? It’s on the schedule? Where? Oh! See, it was on NBA TV. Why would the NBA executives put it on NBA TV if they thought we cared about it? Oh, right. We don’t.

3-Point Shooting Contest: B-

These guys did not really show up for the trophy this year. Ray Allen made history this season by becoming the all-time leader in 3-point makes, but he could not make many in the final round of this contest.

James Jones of the Miami Heat walked away with the trophy with only 20 points in the final round, but managed to tell the two Boston Celtics he competed against that he “finally got a win against y’all in something.”

This comment, of course, referenced the fact that the Heat have lost to the Celtics each of the three times they have played this year. Hearing that must have stung LeBron a little, right? Just a tiny bit?

Slam-Dunk Competition: A

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Although the 3-point shooters didn’t leave it all on the floor for their contest, the dunkers certainly did. These guys brought a level of creativity and athleticism we haven’t seen in some time. JaVale McGee dunked two balls simultaneously on two separate baskets, Serge Ibaka (legitimately) dunked from behind the free throw line, and Blake Griffin vaulted over a car on his way to victory Saturday night. Blake may have received a little boost in the final voting considering all his hype and his home court advantage, but I’m fine with his getting the trophy this year because he contributed some sick dunks to the competition.

The NBA was happy also, because Griffin’s slams helped the NBA’s All Star Saturday night draw 8.1 million viewers, a number 23 percent higher than the previous record of 6.5 million.

60th NBA All-Star Game: A

I felt like giving it an A-plus, but these guys came out way too flat from the outset. Airball after airball rained down on anywhere but the rim from players on both teams until they finally got their rhythm in the second quarter.

Although I wish the players cared a little more about the game, Kobe showed that some players care. Kobe’s inspired play led him to 37 points and 14 rebounds, earning him his fourth All-Star MVP trophy. His victory in front of a home crowd in probably his last All-Star game in Los Angeles was worthy of a Hollywood script, but his dunk on LeBron in transition (starring Kobe as The Dunker and LeBron as The Dunked On) will be the story generating the most buzz.

There were also spectacular dunks from Westbrook, Durant, Kobe, Bosh and LeBron. Oh, yeah, it was an All-Star game. Anyway, the East and the West teams put on a great show and managed to keep the game interesting all the way down to the final seconds.

With Dwyane Wade’s slight ankle injury the only blemish on an otherwise beautiful Sunday night in Los Angeles, the NBA managed to give its fans what they wanted with a great All-Star Weekend.

Now if only they can do the same with next year’s impending lockout.