The first half of the NBA season concluded and All-Star weekend was held. This year’s All-Star game took place in Cleveland, Ohio in the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse . There were five events that took place over the three day weekend; the Ruffles Celebrity All-Star Game, the Rising Stars Game, Taco Bell’s Skills Challenge, Mtn Dew 3 Point Contest, AT&T Dunk Contest, and the 70th Annual All-Star Game.

The Ruffles Celebrity All-Star game kicked off the weekend on Friday, February 18th. This game usually isn’t the best watch because of the lack of basketball talent amongst the celebrities. Surprisingly, there were around 5-6 dunks this year because Cleveland Browns defensive end, Myles Garett, participated in this game. He is crazy athletic and it was quite fun to watch him attempt to rip the rim off whenever he would try to dunk. Team Walton beat Team Dominique and Alex Toussaint, one of the most popular Pelaton instructors, won the games MVP.

The second event that took place on Friday was the Rising Stars Challenge where fans were able to see young rookies and sophomores in the league who have a bright future ahead of them. This year, the NBA decided on a different format for the game as a whole. They made four different teams and had a tournament to determine the winner. This game was great to see all of the new young talent in this league and it was a chance for people to make a name for themselves in the NBA.

Kicking off a loaded Saturday evening, the first event was the Taco Bell’s Skills Challenge. The format for the skills challenge was changed entirely. This year, they had four different categories that three teams of three players would compete in and earn points for and the top two teams competed in the last challenge. The categories were shooting, passing, relay, and a half court shot. Team Cavaliers won this challenge on a half court shot made by rookie Evan Mobley. This new format of the skills challenge was something I would love to see in the future because it kept the fans engaged and it was a great new change.

The second event of the day, the Mtn Dew 3pt Contest, is always a classic and is leaning to be a fan favorite. The three point contest format this year was the same as it was in previous years. Five different ball racks, and two Mtn Dew deep three balls that count as three points rather than one or two. The winner of this was Karl Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves and became the first center in history to win the contest.

The third event of the day, the AT&T Dunk Contest, was awful compared to years prior. There were countless missed dunks, lack of energy, and no big names in the contest which made viewers stop watching. There were many complaints all over social media because of how the dunk contest was one of the worst events of the weekend and it should be replaced or modifications should be made.

The final day on Sunday, the 70th Annual All-Star game kicked off with Team Lebron vs. Team Durant. Warriors superstar Steph Curry put on an absolute show and scored 50 points with 16 made threes in a win for Team Lebron. This game was entertaining because we got to see the best players in the world show off their skills for the fans and show some competitive nature towards the end.

Overall, this All-Star Weekend was quite entertaining, but there were some things that could easily be improved that we will probably see improved in the next coming years.