Before the All Star game can hit the court, the skills competitions to show off individual talents must be played. The events will be held at American Airlines Center; just a couple miles down the road from Cowboys Stadium where the All Star game will take place. Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout
Contestants: Chauncey Billups(Denver), Daequan Cook(Miami), Stephen Curry(Golden State), Channing Frye(Phoenix), Danilo Gallinari(New York), Paul Pierce(Boston)
Those who do bets know Cook is returning as the defending champion and will have to deal with a whole new batch of shooters as he is the only returning contestant from last year. Billups has been in the competition twice already and is still looking for his first win. Gallinari is leading the league by hitting 2.6 shots from downtown while shooting over 40 percent from behind the arc. Pierce is a clutch performer that should perform well and the same can be said about Frye who is the only big-man in the competition. The wildcard will be Curry. An outstanding shooter in college with unlimited range, he is still shooting very well in the NBA as an undersized guard. With no defenders in the competition, he could put up a big score.
Pick: Stephen Curry
Taco Bell Skills Contest
Contestants: Brandon Jennings(Milwaukee), Steve Nash(Phoenix), Derrick Rose(Chicago), Deron Williams(Utah)
If doing NBA betting you should know rookie point guard Jennings will be in tough to advance in this year’s competition. Not only is he going up against three past champions, and the fastest time record holder, but his passing is not the strongest part of his game. While he and Rose are hovering around six assists a game, Williams and Nash are at 9.8 and 11.1 per contest. Defending champion Rose will have to hope his athleticism can help him the way it did last year if he wants to repeat however neither Williams nor Nash competed in that contest.
Pick: Steve Nash
Sprite Slam Dunk Contest
Contestants: Shannon Brown(L.A. Lakers), Nate Robinson(New York), Gerald Wallace(Charlotte) and either DeMar DeRozan(Toronto) or Eric Gordon(L.A. Clippers)
Dunk-In: Gordon and DeRozan will compete in a one round dunk-off during halftime of the Rookie Challenge to see who will move on to the Dunk Contest on Saturday. With Gordon playing in the actual game, he may be tired, and being a shorter contestant it might affect his dunking abilities. Those who bet college basketball will know DeRozan is an amazing athlete and should be able to come in and move on to the Dunk Contest.
Dunk-in Pick: DeMar DeRozan
Dunk Contest: Robinson will have a tough time winning the competition for the third time. At this point the judges know what he can do so he will have to really step up his game in order to get the big scores. Wallace is more of a slasher and in-game dunker and has not really shown that much finesse that will be needed to win the competition. He is also the tallest competitor which will hurt his scores. Brown and DeRozan are both incredible athletes and first time competitors. They have the explosiveness to really do some damage in this competition.
Dunk Contest Pick: Shannon Brown
