NBA All-Star Weekend was held this year in the always festive New Orleans, LA home of the Pelicans. All-Star Weekend couldn’t have come at a greater time for me, just in time for basketball to fully capture my attention after I’ve been in Sports purgatory. Now that I am finally at peace with the fact that the NFL is no longer in my life, I can now avert all focus and attention to the NBA. My Los Angeles Lakers gave the fan in me a pulse with their near loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder before the break as well as Lebron’s dagger 3 against the Golden State Warriors.

The Weekend began with the celebrity game and it couldn’t have been more compelling. The band of characters weren’t the most star studded and Kevin Hart was plastered all over my screen which actually isn’t anything new. The Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stole the show with 20 pts, 11 rebs, and 6 asts on 8/14 shooting. His performance blew me away and he’s easily the greatest celebrity baller of all time. The Rising Stars game was phenomenally offensive and disastrously defensive as always, honorable mentions to Tim Hardaway Jr. WOO HOO! Palmetto Panther pride. The 3 point contest the following day was most certainly riveting, it went into overtime as the Italian Kobe Bryant, Marco Bellini took home the trophy over Bradley Beal. The dunk contest ended abruptly but left no question who the clear dunker of the night was. The East broke the West’s streak and Kyrie Irving from the Cavs took home the MVP.

The latter half of the season is set to be a wild one with teams jocking for seeding & playoff hopes being created and crushed. Will Kevin Durant win MVP? Will the Miami Heat three-peat? Are the Pacers title contenders? Questions like these and many others are set to be answered within the coming months.