2015 NBA All-Star Game

2015 NBA All-Star Game

1 2 3 4 Total West 47 36 39 41 163 East 36 46 40 36 158
Date	February 15, 2015
Arena	Madison Square Garden (All-Star Game) Barclays Center (All-Star Saturday Night)
City	New York City, New York
MVP	Russell Westbrook (West)
National anthem	Queen Latifah (American)[1] Tamia (Canadian)[2]
Referees	#9 Derrick Stafford #26 Pat Fraher #65 Sean Wright
Halftime show	Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj
Attendance	17,198
Network	TNT, TBS (United States) TSN (Canada)
Announcers	Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Chris Webber Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Kenny Smith (All-Star Saturday Night) Matt Winer, Grant Hill and Chris Webber (Rising Stars Challenge)
NBA All-Star Game
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The 2015 NBA All-Star Game was the 64th edition of the NBA All-Star Game, an exhibition basketball game played on February 15, 2015 in New York City and hosted by both of the city's teams, the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets. The NBA awarded the game to New York City in 2013,^[3] and the logo for the 2015 All-Star Game was unveiled on July 10, 2014.^[4]

The All-Star Game itself was played at the Knicks' home arena, Madison Square Garden. The current Garden last hosted the game in 1998, and the Knicks' previous home, the third Madison Square Garden, hosted three earlier All-Star Games. The Saturday activities conducted as part of NBA All-Star Weekend were held at the Nets' home arena, the Barclays Center. The Nets previously hosted the 1982 All-Star Game at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.^[3] The game was televised nationally by TNT and TBS in the United States, The game was televised nationally by TSN in Canada.

All-Star Game

Coaches

Mike Budenholzer (left) and Steve Kerr (right) were selected as the East and West head coach, respectively.

Mike Budenholzer, coach of the Atlanta Hawks, and Steve Kerr, coach of the Golden State Warriors, were selected as the East and West head coach, respectively.^[5]

Roster

Russell Westbrook was named MVP of the All-Star game

The rosters for the All-Star Game were chosen in two ways. The starters were chosen via a fan ballot. Two guards and three frontcourt players who received the highest vote were named the All-Star starters. NBA head coaches voted for the reserves for their respective conferences, none of which could be players on their own team. Each coach selected two guards, three frontcourt players and two wild cards, with each selected player ranked in order of preference within each category. If a multi-position player was to be selected, coaches were encouraged to vote for the player at the position that was "most advantageous for the All-Star team", regardless of where the player was listed on the All-Star ballot or the position he was listed in box scores.^[6] If a player is unable to participate due to injury, the commissioner will select a replacement.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors topped the ballots with 1,513,324 votes, which earned him a starting position as a guard in the Western Conference team. Kobe Bryant earned a record 17th consecutive All-Star selection, and Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, and Blake Griffin completed the Western Conference starting positions. The first-time All-Stars in the West were the Warriors’ Klay Thompson and the Sacramento Kings' DeMarcus Cousins, who was selected as a replacement for the injured Bryant.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were represented by two players: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, both of whom were reserves. Also sending a pair of players to the All-Star Game as reserves were the Portland Trail Blazers, represented by LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard. The remaining Western Conference reserves were Thompson, Cousins, Tim Duncan, James Harden, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook. Golden State had two All-Star representatives for the first time since 1993, when Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin were both All-Stars. It was also the first time the Warriors had a pair of starters since 1967, when Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond were both starters.^[7]

The Eastern Conference's leading vote-getter was Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, who finished with 1,470,483 votes. John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Pau Gasol, and Carmelo Anthony completed the Eastern Conference starting positions. The Eastern Conference team featured four first-time selections: Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague, and Kyle Korver. The Atlanta Hawks were represented by four players: Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Teague and Korver, all of whom were reserves. Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Kyrie Irving completed the remaining Eestern Conference reserves.

The Gasol brothers Marc and Pau were selected to start in the West and the East respectively, marking the first time in NBA history two brothers were picked to start in an All-Star Game. The Gasols were also the first brothers to appear in the same All-Star Game since Tom and Dick Van Arsdale played in the 1970 and 1971 games.^[5]

Game

Russell Westbrook scored 41 points and was named the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player. He scored 27 points in 11 minutes in the first half, setting an All-Star record for points in a half. He finished one point shy of the All-Star game record set by Wilt Chamberlain (42) in 1962.^[15]

All-Star Weekend

Celebrity Game

The 2015 Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game was played on Friday, February 13, 2015. It was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, home of the New York Knicks. This was the first celebrity game played at an NBA arena in the event's history. The game was televised nationally by ESPN.^[16]

This game featured 20 players including Arcade Fire frontman, Win Butler, Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan, 2014 Little League World Series female pitcher Mo'ne Davis, WNBA player Skylar Diggins, Paralympic athlete Blake Leeper, NBA hall of famer Chris Mullin, and Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera. This game also featured two All-Star Celebrity Game MVPs; 2010 winner Michael Rapaport and 2012, 2013, and 2014 winner Kevin Hart.^[17]

ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike" hosts Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg coached the West and East teams respectively. The West team assistant coaches were film director Spike Lee and tennis legend John McEnroe. New York Knicks' small forward Carmelo Anthony and former Baylor Bears center Isaiah Austin was the assistant coaches for the East team.^[18] Actress and singer Keke Palmer sang the national anthem, and Canadian reggae fusion band Magic! performed at halftime.^[19]

Although the West led by Atlanta Dream point guard Shoni Schimmel with 17 points beat the East 57-51, Kevin Hart of the East who scored 15 points and won the MVP award. This was Hart's fourth MVP award in a row, a record for the Celebrity Game. Hart would then announce his retirement from the annual celebrity game.^[20]

Rising Stars Challenge

Team World[21] Pos. Nat. Player Team R/S C  New Zealand Steven AdamsINJ1 Oklahoma City Thunder Sophomore G/F  Greece Giannis Antetokounmpo Milwaukee Bucks Sophomore F  Croatia Bojan Bogdanović Brooklyn Nets Rookie C  Senegal Gorgui Dieng Minnesota Timberwolves Sophomore G  Australia Danté Exum Utah Jazz Rookie C  France Rudy Gobert Utah Jazz Sophomore F  Montenegro Nikola Mirotić Chicago Bulls Rookie C/F  Canada Kelly OlynykINJ3 Boston Celtics Sophomore G  Germany Dennis Schröder Atlanta Hawks Sophomore F/G  Canada Andrew Wiggins Minnesota Timberwolves Rookie C  Bosnia Jusuf NurkićREP1/OUT Denver Nuggets Rookie G  Australia Matthew DellavedovaREP3 Cleveland Cavaliers Sophomore F  Greece Kostas PapanikolaouREP4 Houston Rockets Rookie Head Coach: Kenny Atkinson (Atlanta Hawks)

Team USA[21] Pos. Player Team R/S G Trey Burke Utah Jazz Sophomore G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Detroit Pistons Sophomore G Michael Carter-WilliamsINJ2 Philadelphia 76ers Sophomore G Zach LaVine Minnesota Timberwolves Rookie G/F Shabazz Muhammad Minnesota Timberwolves Sophomore C Nerlens Noel Philadelphia 76ers Rookie G Victor Oladipo Orlando Magic Sophomore G Elfrid Payton Orlando Magic Rookie C/F Mason Plumlee Brooklyn Nets Sophomore C/F Cody Zeller Charlotte Hornets Sophomore F Robert CovingtonREP2 Philadelphia 76ers Sophomore Head Coach: Alvin Gentry (Golden State Warriors)

The World team won against the U.S. 121-112 at the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star weekend. Canada's Andrew Wiggins scored 22 points, and Rudy Gobert added 18 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Brooklyn's Bojan Bogdanovic of Croatia, and Chicago's Nikola Mirotić of Montenegro added 16 points each for the World team. Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic and Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves led the U.S. team with 22 points each. Andrew Wiggins, the 2014 NBA Draft 1st overall pick, won the game's MVP award.^[23]

Shooting Stars Competition

a.^{1 2} Anthony Davis was replaced by Paul Millsap.^[25]

b. NBA Legends wore a current era jersey of the team best associated with the player, except for Dell Curry, a special exception because the old Charlotte Hornets relocated to New Orleans in 2002 and became the Pelicans in 2013. Curry's official statistics belong to the Pelicans, but represented the new Charlotte Hornets, formerly known as the Charlotte Bobcats from 2004–2014, and wore their 2014 jersey in the contest.

Skills Challenge

b.^{1 2} John Wall was replaced by Patrick Beverley.^[27]

c.^{1 2} Michael Carter-Williams was replaced by Elfrid Payton.^[25]

d.^{1 2} Jimmy Butler was replaced by Dennis Schröder.^[25]

Three-Point Contest

Slam Dunk Contest

Rookie Zach LaVine won the Slam Dunk Contest to become the youngest champion (19) since an 18-year-old Kobe Bryant in 1997.^[29] He became a crowd favorite after his first dunk, which he performed while wearing Michael Jordan's No. 23 jersey from the movie Space Jam, which inspired him as a youngster to become a basketball player.^[30] With a perfect 50 on each of his first two dunks, Lavine was the first player since Dwight Howard in 2009 with a perfect score on multiple dunks.^[31] Yahoo! Sports hailed him as "the most electrifying performer of All-Star Saturday Night ... and, if we're being honest, in quite a number of years."^[29]

References

External links

• 2015 All–Star Game at NBA.com