NBA All-Star Saturday features Slam Dunk Contest, 3-Point Contest

Hitting a single half-court shot, well, that’s just a regular afternoon for Stephen Curry. Hitting two shots back-to-back during All-Star practice? That’s just silly. Check out the reactions to Steph draining both of these. Everyone knows it’s time to stop the fight.

NEW YORK -- The Slam Dunk Contest is all about the reactions, and two stood out above the others.

There was Suns big man Miles Plumlee turning away from his brother and fellow participant Mason Plumlee to face his friend and mouth “wow” as his eyes bulged. A round later, there was Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks wunderkid and fellow contestant, holding both hands on his head with his mouth ajar, looking like he just learned Santa Claus doesn’t exist.

Watching the dunks is the best, but watching their reflections in the faces of awed spectators is a close second.

Dunk 1:

Oladipo was a worthy competitor, but failed to throw down a couple of his more ambitious second round attempts, leaving it wide open for LaVine to take the crown. LaVine did it with authority, ending the night by swooping in with this between-the-legs alley-oop finish.

Oladipo’s first dunk was the next most impressive of the night -- a spinning reverse somewhere between 360 and 540 degrees, depending how specific you’d like to be with the math -- but it was LaVine’s night and nothing anyone else could do would steal his thunder.

Zach LaVine’s winning this damn thing:

We can’t believe it either, child:

OH MY!!!

So much goodness.

Go ahead and quibble with the degrees of rotation here:

All I know is Victor Oladipo spun and slammed for a perfect 50 despite doing this nonsense first ...

Because the NBA can’t just do the easy, obvious thing and keep the cards, they’re out here making a 69-year-old man who barely uses computers count to 10 on an iPad. It didn’t go well:

This is even worse than 2000 when they inexplicably used LED screens. It’s 1-10, guys. Just go with the cards.

Curry caught fire at the top of the key in the second round. After missing the first shot at that rack, he hit the next 13 to finish with a score of 27 -- the best of any participant in either round. When you ignore the scoring and just look at the makes, that’s 20 in 25 attempts. Although his teammate Thompson followed him, he struggled in the final round and couldn’t match Curry going supernova.

Last year, the NBA added a “money rack” to the contest, meaning one spot has five moneyball shots instead of just one. The shooter can choose where the rack goes, adding an element of strategy to the competition and increasing the best possible score to 34.

The fall of Burnie: A play in five acts:

And his final resting place:

Beverley was bogged down again with the chest pass in the final round, but after Knight missed a couple shots, Beverley caught up and swished the first one he took to take the crown.

The lesson here for all the kids aspiring one day to participate in the Skills Challenge is this: it always comes down to the jumper. Every single time.

Anthony Davis isn’t even part of the Skills Challenge, and he’s already stolen the show:

The NBA wants to lighten the workload on its players. To understand why, look no further than the five injured All Stars and dozens of other high profile stars missing time with injuries that could potentially be avoided with more rest.

For the second straight year, NBA commissioner Adam Silver held a press conference in New York at NBA All Star weekend to address scheduling, player’s workloads and other major issues impacting the league.

For the third straight year, the NBA Shooting Stars Competition came down to Team Bosh. The trio of Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash made it three wins in a row. Wilkins gave Team Bosh the win by draining the halfcourt shot.

During the first round, it looked like Team Westbrook (featuring Russell Westbrook, Penny Hardaway and Tamika Catchings) would be a strong challenger. Hardaway nailed the halfcourt shot on his first attempt, giving Team Westbrook a strong debut and a ticket to the final. Team Bosh joined them in the finals when Bosh drained the halfcourt shot with ease.

Say, J.R. Smith, is there anything you are feeling right now that you’d like to share? (Actual question.)

Ohhhh, J.R.

#Selfie stuck in a elevator. Man I’m so nervous right now !!! I just hope it doesn’t drop. Diana smiling but she really scared! #StillYoungSwagChamp #HappyValentineDayAs a person who suffers from claustrophobia, I’m getting nervous just looking at the photo.

LeBron James has famously never been in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. While Michael Jordan’s dunk contest appearances helped forge his legend, James has time and again opted not to participate, and in 2012, he ruled out a potential future appearance.

So Saturday, at All-Star media availability, Dwyane Wade asked LeBron about the event -- and James said he rued earlier decisions to sit the contest out.

Julius Erving won the first ABA dunk contest back in 1976, famously dunking from the free throw line. After some highlights in the 80’s and 90’s, the general consensus is the event has lost some of its luster. Why? Erving thinks he knows:

I’m not really sure I agree with Erving -- it’s much cooler and better to watch humans dunking using their own legs than large furry faux-animals using trampolines -- but Erving has forgotten more about dunks than I’ve ever known.

All-Star Saturday night is just hours away, which means the 2015 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest is right around the corner. The event has fallen off a bit over the past few years, but this year’s contest does have promise, as it will feature four young and on-the-rise players who have never participated in the dunk contest before.

LaVine is followed by Antetokounmpo (+225), who would become the first Buck, and international player, to win the title, and then Oladipo (+300). Plumlee is a distant fourth (+700), despite being a member of the hometown Nets. No Nets player has ever won the dunk contest.

All-Star Saturday Night is usually an evening headlined by the Slam Dunk Contest. This year, though, the Three-Point Contest could be what draws the most attention and generates the most excitement among NBA fans.

SB Nation presents: Three ways to fix the Slam Dunk Contest

In order for Burke, who shared last year’s title with Damian Lillard, to repeat as the Skills Challenge champion, he will need to master the competition’s new format. This year, the eight players will be placed into two-person brackets, and instead of having the court to himself, each player will share the court with another competitor. The winner of each bracket will advance to the next round. The final two remaining players will battle in the championship round.

As for the what skills the players will showcasing, they will go through an obstacle course that consists of dribbling, passing, agility and shooting exercises. The player who completes it all in the least amount of time will earn the title in this competition. The final change to the format involves the players ending the course with a three-pointer instead of a layup or dunk.

On Friday afternoon, LeBron James taped a fashion competition called NBA All-Star All-Style. Sponsored by Samsung, the concept puts NBA stars in an elimination-style fashion show with three rounds, with judges awarding points deciding who moves on to the next.

The contestants: Jeff Teague, J.R. Smith, Chandler Parsons, DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, Zach LaVine and James Harden. The judges: Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, along with designer John Elliot, WNBA player Elene Delle Donne and GQ style editor Will Welch. Kevin Hart, John Wall and Damaris Lewis also make appearances.

As it has every since the competition began in 2004, each squad includes one NBA All-Star, a WNBA player and an NBA legend. The challenge pits the teams against each other to see who can make four shots in the fastest time from incrementally farther distances. Each player from all four teams will get a turn. The two teams with the best times will face off in the championship round, where the same format will determine the winner.

Though they didn’t win last year, Stephen Curry will once again be joined by his father, Dell Curry. Team Bosh, which features legend Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash, will try to repeat after winning the title in 2014.

All-Star Saturday in 2015 should be no different. With one of the best three-point shooting fields in contest history and a dunk contest with a guy nicknamed the Greek Freak, Saturday has the makings of can’t-miss TV.

Here’s how and when to watch everything that’s happening (all times ET):

It’s impossible to think of the NBA Dunk Contest without remembering Vince Carter’s legendary 2000 performance. He just about single-handedly brought the event back to the spotlight by doing things nobody had ever seen before, and it shows.

In this video, created by JRSportBrief, former Knick John Starks, rappers Jadakiss and Fat Joe and Giants running back Rashad Jennings, among others, all point to Carter as their favorite dunker, each with their own favorite moment or throw down.