If not for Wall, who was voted best dunker, we all would have been forced to focus on a flawed system that failed to captivate the audience and featured little competition.



While the dunk contest format pitted the East against the West in direct competition, it stunted individuality and ended dueling between players like Wall and Paul George.

To start, players participated in a freestyle round, in which three players hit the court together and came up with dunks on the fly. It came off as cluttered and hard to track.

Things picked up a bit as players added antics around their dunks, with Terrence Ross bringing Drake out and Ben McLemore welcoming Shaq.

Wall, George and Lillard all finished with pretty impressive dunks, but each had limited attempts. And then the dunk contest was over. East won.


3-POINT CONTEST


When names were announced for the 3-point contest, many weren't sure how Marco Belinelli ended up on the list. He vindicated himself with a surprise win of the event.

Not even the first round could line up with expectations, as Stephen Curry was knocked out and Belinelli, a surprise entry, led the Western Conference. Bradley Beal represented the East in the final round following a high score of 21 points, a performance that resulted in some love from Nelly afterward. 

Belinelli finished with 19 points in the final round, and it was on Beal to top him. He succeeded in tying Belinelli at 19, which led to a final round in which both players were given 60 seconds and one final round.

Belinelli took full advantage of the extra time in the final round, using every second to pick up 24 points. Beal only came up with 18 in the final round, making Belinelli the winner.


SKILLS CHALLENGE


Damian Lillard, the reigning Skill Challenge winner, competed in the first of his five events when he took part in the Skills Challenge.

With the recent rule change, which made the event into a two-man relay, the Skills Challenge was up in the air.

Lillard teamed with Trey Burke to represent the Western Conference in a head-to-head battle for the title against rookies Victor Oladipo and Michael Carter-Williams.

Because the rookies had some trouble with the passing portion of the Skills Challenge, the door was open for Lillard. His team picked up the win with a time of 45.2 seconds, which was good for a lead of only one-tenth of a second.


SHOOTING STARS


The Curry family was the dominant name coming in to All-Star Saturday's Shooting Stars event, as Stephen and Dell Curry, teamed with Becky Hammond, were expected to power through the contest.

That was not the case as they were knocked out of the head-to-head format and did not get to represent the Western Conference. In the end, Kevin Durant led a team that included Skylar Diggins and Karl Malone against last year's winning team of Chris Bosh, Swin Cash and Dominique Wilkins.

Bosh's team hit a midrange jumper, 3-pointer and halfcourt shot in the quickest time, with Bosh knocking down two halfcourt shots to give his team a second straight win in the event.

Contributor: DeAntae Prince