NBA All-Star Weekend 2012: All-Star Game, Three-Point and Slam Dunk Contests - Long Island Press

For those of you not interested in watching the Academy Awards Sunday night, there's another option: the 2012 NBA All-Star Game.

The game pits the best players from the Eastern and Western Conferences against one another and concludes an All-Star Weekend that included Three-Point and Slam Dunk Contests Saturday night.

The winner of the Three-Point Contest was Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love. Love beat out Oklahoma City Thunder forward and contest favorite Kevin Durant in a tense tiebreaker, with his 17 points finally edging out Durant's 14. Defending Three-Point Contest champion James Jones of the Miami Heat finished third with 12 points.

Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans took the Slam Dunk Contest,which debuted a new format. The competitors each had just one round with three dunks and the winner was chosen solely by the fans.

Evans, who replaced injured New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert, received 29 percent of the fans' votes to win the contest. He competed against Houston Rockets forward Chase Budinger, Indiana Pacers guard Paul George and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams.

Here's all the lineup for the main event on Sunday night:

Eastern Conference All Stars: Starters – Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard. Reserves – Chris Bosh, Luol Deng, Roy Hibbert, Andre Iguodala, Joe Johnson (injured), Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo (replaces Johnson) and Deron Williams. The head coach is Tom Thibodeau.

Western Conference All Stars: Starters – Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Andrew Bynum. Reserves – LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook. The head coach is Scott Brooks.

The 61st NBA All-Star game will start at 7:30 p.m. EST at the Amway Center in Orlando, and will be televised nationally on TNT.

27 Feb, 2012