Dunk, 3-Point Contests Highlight Saturday's All-Star Festivities
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) – All-Star Saturday Night at Staples Center Saturday evening will mark the Los Angeles Clippers lone participation in the three-day NBA All- Star Weekend.
Guard Lou Williams will compete in the three-point contest and recently acquired forward Tobias Harris in the skills challenge.
Williams will be among eight players in the two-round, timed shooting competition. Each competitor has one minute to shoot as many of the 25 balls as he can.
Five balls are placed in five racks. Four of the racks consist of four regulation NBA balls and one multi-colored "money" ball. The NBA regulation balls are worth one point and the multi-colored "money" ball two points.
The fifth rack will be an all-money ball rack. Each competitor will decide the spot for that rack.
The top three scorers in the first round advance to the championship round.
In the skills challenge, two players compete simultaneously on identical courses with the fastest finisher advancing to the next round.
Harris was acquired in the Jan. 29 trade that sent Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons.
The Los Angeles Lakers were supposed to have a competitor in the dunk contest, but they traded Larry Nance Jr. to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Feb. 8.
The trade left Friday's Rising Stars Challenge as the only All-Star Weekend event with Laker participation. Rookie forward Kyle Kuzma scored 20 points in 18 minutes, 52 seconds off the bench and second-year forward Brandon Ingram eight points in 12:07 in Team USA's 155-124 loss to Team World at Staples Center.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 26 points and was selected as MVP and fellow Sacramento Kings rookie guard Buddy Hield had 29 for Team World.
Boston Celtics second-year forward Jaylen Brown had a game-high 35 points for Team USA.
The game matches a team of 10 first- and second-year players from the United States against 10 from outside the U.S. Players were selected in a vote by the league's assistant coaches.
The 6-foot-6-inch Bogdanovic was drafted in the first round of the 2014 draft by the Phoenix Suns, the 27th overall selection. The Serbian native continued to play for the Turkish team Fenerbahce.
The Kings acquired Bogdanovic's rights on June 23, 2016 and signed him on July 13, 2017. He is averaging 11.8 points per game.
In a game with four lead changes and two ties, Team World led 40-32 at the end of the first quarter, 78-59 at halftime and 118-88 after three quarters.
Team World made 23 3-point baskets to 11 for Team USA.
"For the first 36, 37 minutes of the game, it was more competitive than it has been," said Houston Rockets assistant Roy Rogers, who coached Team USA. "They were able to spread out and they made shots. Unfortunately, our shots didn't fall."
Rex Kalamian, the Toronto Raptors assistant who coached Team World, praised the play of Denver Nuggets Canadian guard Jamal Murray, who had 21 points and seven assists for Team World.
"Jamal Murray was really good with the ball and kind of surprised me with some really quick moves with the basketball in his hands," Kalamian saind.
The All-Star Celebrity Game was the weekend's first event as the Rapper Quavo was selected as MVP, making seven of 10 shots and scoring 19 points in Team Clippers 75-66 victory over Team Lakers at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Olympic silver-medal winning sprinter Andre De Grasse added 17 and former New Jersey Nets guard Brandon Armstrong 16 points and a team-high 11 rebounds for Team Clippers.
Rachel DeMita, an NBA 2K host who played for Old Dominion, led Team Lakers with 17 and former NBA point guard Nate Robinson added 14.
Team Clippers led 19-13 at the end of the first quarter, 37-30 at halftime and 54-49 after three quarters.
The Team Clippers roster also included Oscar-winning actor and Grammy- winning singer Jamie Foxx, who was scoreless, missing both his shots, and two- time Masters champion Bubba Watson, who scored two points, after shooting a 1- under-par 70 earlier Friday at Riviera Country Club, dropping into a tie for seventh, three strokes off the lead in the PGA Tour's Genesis Open.
Retired NBA star Paul Pierce scored four points for Team Clippers.
The Team Lakers roster included singer Justin Bieber, who scored four points, Basketball Hall of Fame member Tracy McGrady, who scored three, actor Michael B. Jordan, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and Los Angeles Sparks forward-center Candace Parker, who were all scoreless.
Some things to watch as Los Angeles hosts the All-Star Game for a record sixth time:
LEBRON IN L.A.: James refuses to discuss his free agency during the season, but figure on it coming up in Los Angeles since there's been such speculation about him signing with the Lakers. The Lakers, after a trade with James' Cavaliers last week, would have enough salary cap space to offer a maximum contract to James and another star if he opts to become a free agent and leave Cleveland this summer.
HOMECOMING KINGS: The Los Angeles area is home to a number of All-Stars, including 2017 MVP Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City and runner-up James Harden, along with Oklahoma City's Paul George and Toronto's DeMar DeRozan.
SIDELINED STARS: James' team will look much different than the one he drafted after a number of injuries. DeMarcus Cousins, Kevin Love, John Wall and Kristaps Porzingis all were forced to pull out. George, Andre Drummond, Goran Dragic and Kemba Walker were added as injury replacements by Commissioner Adam Silver.
DUNK LIKE DAD: Larry Nance Jr., one of the players who went from Los Angeles to Cleveland in the four-player trade at the deadline, will be back in his former home arena to compete in the Slam Dunk Contest. He'll try to follow in the footsteps — or flight path — of his father, who won the NBA's first slam dunk title in 1984. Rookies Donovan Mitchell of Utah and Dennis Smith Jr., and Indiana All-Star Victor Oladipo round out the field.
BIEBS IS BACK: Bieber will return to play in the celebrity game on Friday night after winning MVP honors in the 2011 game. He will play on Team Lakers, co-coached by actor Michael B. Jordan. They will play against Team Clippers, who feature Academy Award winner Jaime Foxx.
ALL-STAR SINGERS: Fergie will sing the U.S. national anthem and Barenaked Ladies will perform the Canadian national anthem. Pharrell Williams and N.E.R.D will take the stage at halftime. Kendrick Lamar also is set to perform Friday night in Los Angeles as part of the weekend festivities.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
