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East team has the star power to win All-Star game
By Ian Smith
With the NBA All-Star game looming over the weekend, there has been plenty of speculation about who will take home the victory this year, and to be honest, I don’t think it’s going to be as big of a blowout as everyone seems to think.
When you look at the records, the Western Conference clearly has more teams with more victories and is the stronger conference of the two. But luckily for the East team, the All-Star game doesn’t include teams, just players. There are plenty of fresh players on both sides that should make for an interesting game.
With LeBron James, the best player in the league leading the way, I think the East will overrun the West. James plus Carmelo Anthony and John Wall will bring the veteran side to the starting five. Then you have Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh coming off the bench, which will add even more of a veteran aspect to the secondary lineup.
Atlanta’s Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap and Al Horford will also come off the bench. The Hawks just had their 19-game win streak snapped, but still, 19 games? That’s very impressive. Teague, Millsap and Horford all played a massive role in that run, and will bring the team chemistry to the East side, having played together all season long.
Cleveland’s duo of James and Kyrie Irving should light up the stat sheet. Irving is having one of his best seasons ever and James is the best player in the world and can turn it on whenever he feels it’s necessary.
Don’t forget about the Bulls’ Pau Gasol either. The Spaniard is having a tremendous season for Chicago and though he’ll be going against his younger brother Marc, I think the advantage goes to the older brother in this one.
Jimmy Butler, the other Chicago player, burst onto the scene this season and took control of the team while we wait for Derrick Rose to return to his normal form. He’s averaging a career high of 20.6 points per game, which is a huge leap from the 13.1 he averaged last season. Look for the first-time All-Star selection, along with the other first time in Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, to use their youthfulness and tenacity to make enough plays to get the victory.
Not only does the East have a great roster, but the West has lost a few stars since the starters were announced. Both Kobe Bryant and Blake Griffin, original starters, are out with major injuries and will not play in the All-Star game. Now, rising star Anthony Davis has injured his shoulder and his status for the game is up in the air after sitting out Monday night’s game against the Jazz.
In my opinion, the West needs Davis to win. The other big men they have — DeMarcus Cousins and LaMarcus Aldridge — are known primarily for their offense. Only Davis is known for really working on the defensive end and the West can’t rely on Marc Gasol either, as he won’t be playing the entire game.
The game won’t have too much defense, however as the teams usually score 120 points or more. I think with all these newer faces for the East, the energy will be so high that they might play like it’s an actual game.
Players who don’t usually get the call want to show why they were selected. The fact that the East doesn’t have as many stars as its counterpart, in my opinion, bodes well for them.
At the end of the day, fresh faces and team chemistry will prevail at the All-Star game and the East has both of those things.
@ISmithAtTheU[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
West players will work together to get the win
By Kim Brenneisen
The West Coast is the best coast. That will be the case when the West team wins this year’s NBA All-Star game simply because the West is stacked with better talent than the East squad.
Every team has had a hard time dealing with the Golden State Warriors this season, and the East is going to have an even harder time when they face off against the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson this coming Sunday. Throw in the “supporting cast” of superstars they will have backing them up, and this contest could get ugly.
Steph Curry recently dropped 51 points against the Dallas Mavericks and Klay Thompson scored 37 points in one single quarter about a month ago. With their high-scoring offense, the Splash Bros. are hard to stop on a regular basis and Thompson will be hyped to play in his first All-Star game. Additionally, the duo will want to showcase their skills as a dominant backcourt.
Someone who loves the spotlight more than anyone else is Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook. He just went off against the New Orleans Hornets, scoring 48 points and also racked up 11 rebounds and nine assists. He will want to earn that MVP award to show the fans he is the go-to guy on the Thunder.
Damian Lillard also has a bone to pick with basically anyone and everyone who pays attention to basketball. The Blazer guard was just admitted to the All-Star roster because Blake Griffin is out due to the staph infection in his elbow. While he may be happy to be on the roster now, Lillard was ticked off when he originally was not. He was mad at everyone, he was disappointed with the voters, he was beside himself. But now that he is going to play, he’ll feel the need to play the best he can and he will make sure the voters regret not originally putting him on the roster.
Beyond all the individual talent on the West, they will work well together under the direction of Steve Kerr. He has a brilliant mind when it comes to anything basketball related. In his first year of being a head coach, Kerr has led the Warriors to the best record in the West. While Golden State was already a decent team last season, Kerr has made them into an even better team. Kerr will do the same with this West lineup.
The East may have LeBron James, but James is not going to show up. He may be excited to play again with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, but they aren’t. They can publicly say as much as they want that they are cool with each other and there are no bad feelings, but I think there is going to be an inner competition within the East that will deter the entire team.
Additionally, Wade shouldn’t even be an All-Star this year with the poor numbers he’s been putting up. And while Carmelo Anthony is hardly relevant any more, he is still the ball hog he’s always been and is not going to give up the ball to an open shooter on the three-point line.
Instead of competing against each other and trying to put on their own show, the West will work together to defeat the East.
Everyone knows, come playoffs, all the matchups will be tough in the West and it will be hard for any team to come out of any series a winner. The West will want to display their dominance and reassure fans the eventual NBA champion will feature some of the players on this team.
@kbrenneisen
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