What to watch for at the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend
By Nate Friesen
The 69th NBA All-Star Game
Team LeBron is clearly the more talented roster but talent really doesn’t matter in this type of game, it’s more about effort, or the lack thereof. However, there are a couple of interesting sub-story lines going on within Team LeBron.
First of all, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, and James Harden all on the same team could be interesting. Drama anyone? I mean Harden did basically just get Chris Paul traded so he could play with his friend Russ… I’m sensing some tension.
Speaking of James Harden… could he go 50? 60? Dare I say, 70??? Harden hasn’t performed well in past all-star games but maybe he wants an all-star game MVP. If he wants it and the ball is falling for him it could happen.
Look out for a Devin Booker revenge game. Booker was pretty salty about not being originally selected for the all-star team and could easily come out wanting to prove that he deserves to be out there.
Team Giannis, while less talented, has a lot of grinders and hustlers. Pascal Siakam, Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Rudy Gobert, Kyle Lowry and Giannis himself all know how to muck it up to get a win. I could see these guys genuinely grinding out a win thanks to this new format.
One guy to watch is obviously Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis has the potential to put up some crazy stat line like 30 points and 30 rebounds and win MVP of the game if he wants to… but does he want to? I guess we’ll find out!
Another interesting thing to watch for on team Giannis is both the Raptors guys (Pascal and Kyle) and both Heat guys (Bam and Jimmy) beginning their recruitment of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Both these teams are rumored to be potential landing spots for Giannis in 2021 so let the recruiting begin.
One final thing to watch for in the all-star game is the teammate matchups. We’ve got two Celtics in Jayson Tatum vs. Kemba Walker and even more interestingly two Sixers in Joel Embiid vs Ben Simmons. It would be pretty cool to see Kemba cross Tatum into next week or Ben Simmons poster Embiid.
Next. Houston Rockets: It’s time to talk about Russell Westbrook. dark
Prediction: Giannis wills his team to victory
More specifically: Team Giannis wins quarter 1, Team LeBron wins quarter 2, Team LeBron wins quarter 3, Team Giannis wins quarter 4 and is the first team to x + 24