All-Star Recap

With the All-Star festivities lingering in our rear-view mirror, I want to express my thoughts on how the Thunder were represented. The first event to feature OKC was the Rookie-Sophomore game. Serge Ibaka and James Harden had a chance early to showcase the Thunder's young talent.

Serge seemed a little unsure of how the game was supposed to be played. While he knew defense wasn't going to be totally apparent, he seemed to take it even EASIER, as if it was possible. Overall he didn't provide much merit for any water cooler discussion. James Harden on the other hand had his swag turned up to 100k. He played confidently and didn't show any sign of hesitation on any of his shots. Luckily for James, his make-or-break moment in the game barely went his way and got some people wondering where this guy has been.

Harden got the ball on a breakaway and was staring down an open canvas to showcase whatever he wanted. He nonchalantly rose up into the air for what I figured was a left handed tomahawk. That's when he threw down a windmill jam that, on slow motion replay, barely got over the front rim. The thing that most people will reference in determining his position on the nasty scale is the reaction garnered from Carmelo.

After the initial night was over, I was moderately satisfied with OKC's performance. They would get a better chance to show off in the Skills challenge.

I thought this was the best chance for a Thunder player to win their respective challenge. Russell's speed and athleticism should have been enough to emerge victorious.

After the first round, I thought Russell had it in the bag. He posted the best time by 4 seconds and did it in 2nd gear. In the final round, Stephan Curry turned it up and posted a near-perfect round finishing in about 28 seconds. I knew Russell would have to put his best foot forward to take home the title. After he missed his second jump shot, I knew Curry was the champion. So he didn't win, no big deal. I was really looking to forward to the next two events anyway.

Then came my low point in watching the All-Star activities. Durant entered the 3-point contest as the lowest percentage shooter from beyond the arc. However, I honestly believe he had a good chance to compete behind the reasoning that a great shooter unguarded might as well be textbook shooting in motion.

His performance did not back up my assumptions. He posted the lowest total of the competition and wasn't even in the general conversation about the contest until the ending review of what happened. OKC's young superstar enjoyed the rest of the competition watching from the bench.

Finally, the dunk contest was upon us. Blake basically had to show up and the competition was his. But I feel that Serge Ibaka got short-changed. The other dunks were sweet, but Serge did his free throw line dunk on the first try and from farther away than anyone else in history. Yes, even you MJ and Dr. J. Check it out.

It was a pipe dream to think he could win, but I thought more respect was deserved for his dunk. When he did the skit with the little kid and missed his first attempt, he lost a lot of buzz and momentum when they had to bring out a ladder and some muzak while they refastened to doll to the rim. Anyway Blake ended up winning the contest like a storybook ending to a fairytale.

When Durant got a chance to redeem himself in the All-Star game, he played an average game by his lofty standards hopefully erasing the 3-point performance from everyone's memory.

 Overall a good weekend for OKC. But now it's time to get back to business.

Here is the box score for the All-Star Game for those who missed it.