NBA All Star Preview

This is the night when all your fantasies come true-NBA fantasy teams, that is! This weekend is a throwback to the ages-old war between the East and West, settled on by a game of hoops.

Starting for the West will be Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Love; Kobe Bryant originally made the list but due to a knee injury he will be replaced by Anthony Davis. On the East side of the court, Lebron James leads the charge with Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and George Paul.

And of course, we have the highlight of the night and the reason we all love basketball — the Slam Dunk Contest. Each conference submits 3 participants and features a Freestyle Round and a Battle Round. During the Freestyle Round, contestants get 90 seconds to continuously dunk as many balls as they can, and the judges declare a conference winner. The Battle Round pits players against each other in an elimination matchup format. When a player loses, they are eliminated from the competition, meaning the first team to win 3 battles will be crowned the 2014 Sprite Slam Dunk champions. Fans will also be able to vote for a Dunker of the Night.

[caption id=”attachment_4420" align=”aligncenter” width=”300"]

Up and away! The Slam Dunk contest has some serious airtime.[/caption]

Lebron is definitely doing his part to create hype around the big game; recently he and teammate Dwayne Wade put on a dunk show for media, claiming it helped them blow off steam. When Wade was asked about James’ chances in a dunk content, Lebron cut in and lay it down. “I’d win” he stated, and Wade jumped in to say “It would be one of the most watched events of the year besides the Grammys”.