NBA Sunday 60th Annual All-Star Game

                 East and West Collide in the 60^th Annual NBA Allstar Game. Although the start of the game hinted a blowout, the final minutes had the West in a panic.

                The West had a 21-10 lead over the East within the first couple minutes of the first Quarter.  Thought that lead Quickly Changed.

                Four Celtics players received an invite to the 2011 NBA Allstar game. Shooting Guard Ray Allen, Point Guard Rajon Rondo, Small Forward Paul Pierce, and Power Forward Kevin Garnett. None of them were elected starters, but predicted to get a lot of playing time.

                Within the first minutes of play Doc Rivers coach of the East made a anticipated decision to put a Celtic in, but the bench cleared more than we expected. All four Celtics came on the court at once; Of course, getting some boo’s from the crowd at Staples Center.

                The boo’s were expected, beings that most of the crowd in Staples Center live close to the Arena (Los Angeles, California) and of the majority, if they’re not Clippers fans—they’re Lakers.

                Doc Rivers no doubt knew what he was doing when he made the decision. It wasn’t contraversal at all, Dwight Howard stayed in at Center and played with the Celtics Fantastic Four and seemed rather honored.

                The Celtics weren’t the only ones who had a huge part of their roster appearing in the All-Star game, the Heat brought in some of its finest too. Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron James otherwise known as the Big 3, represented the East.

                Though there’s a huge East rivalry with Celtics and Heat, not quite like the Celtics vs Lakers(west) rivalry, but surely a ‘heated’ rivalry.

                Even with the East Roster stacked, the West had the lead for the majority of the first half. A 49-43 lead with 6:07 left, then a 60-51 lead with 3:00 left in the half. Ending the half with a 12 point lead, 64-76.

                The halftime show was opened up with a great orchestra remix to Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ and rather provocative styled dancing by Rihanna and her dancers, and finished with

                Everyone was shooting for MVP in the 2^nd half, it was a free for all but you got to see some extravagant plays from everyone on the court.

                Kobe in the West and Wade in the East were playing some great basketball in the start of the second half. Mid-Second Half Wade twisted his ankle on an outlet pass, didn’t look too serious, but he limped off the court and looked like he was in pain.

                Wade said he sprained that ankle last week against Boston and aggravated it again and said he wasn’t going to risk re-injury in an all-star game and was out for the night.

                Wade left the East down by 12 with a little over four minutes in the fourth quarter. The 12 point lead quickly changed to 17 points when the East caused 3 consecutive turnovers but that quickly changed back to 12 again with 2 great plays from the Celtics players on the East.

                The lead once again grew, this time to an 18pt lead and Lebron wasn’t having it. He told his team in a huddle they needed to use their athleticism to get back in it.

                The East created offense with their defense quickly, and began to get a rythem going and made for an exciting 4^th quarter, still were down 11-18.

                Though in the last 5 minutes, things kicked in, three consecutive ‘AND1’ plays from the East. They were within 2 points in the last 2 and half minutes when being down 18 with just over 5 left.

                Within 40 seconds the West brought that back to a 7pt lead and from then on continued to trade baskets with East, with a terrific 3 from Stoudemire 3, and a Lebron layup they were within 2 again then back within 4 and forced to start intentionally fouling with 20.8 seconds again.  Down by 6 Ray Allen made a terrific 3pter to make it a 3pt game but after an intentional foul the West made it a 5pt game, knocking down both free-throws.

                The battle ends 143 to 148 the West gets the trophy and clinches as they wait in anticipation for the MVP announcement.

                Kobe Bryant knocks down a huge 47 points, and 15 rebounds. Only comes up with 3 assist and 3 steals but a terrific player no doubt. He said he wanted to “put down a good show” so that explains him only getting a few assist; he wanted the trophy for himself.

NBA Saturday All-Star Night Wrap-Up

Saturday All-Star Night reminisces the old days with style, recreating the Vince Carter "Honey Dip" dunk, and out-showing Dr. J and Michael Jordan by jumping beyond the free throw line.

The Ambitious winners from Foot Locker 3-Pt Contest, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, and the Sprite Slam Dunk Contests hold their individual trophies up high on Feb 2^nd 2011 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The Taco Bell Skills Challenge was not played out nor thought out tonight, some players didn’t have their head in the game, or on the scholarships offered to the students that were rewarded with the opportunity.

Sure sitting side by side with professionals was a great reward for the community service, grade point average, and other student accomplishments. Though that wasn’t provided by the players; players whom showed a little selfish style tonight.

Stephen Curry was not one of those players; he topped Westbrook score in Skills tonight and brought home a $30,000 scholarship for a girl who currently goes to a local Boys & Girls club, what an assist by the Golden State Warriors point guard.

More impressively than the Golden State warriors are the 2 players, both from the Celtics, made their way to the Final Round in the Foot Locker 3-Pt Challenge, not easily though.

Following Ray Allens huge 20pt shootout, Kevin Durant put up 11, and stood in 3^rd place. Paul Pierce was the only player yet to perform.

Pierce didn’t start off too great, in-fact had commentators saying he wouldn’t win, but he made 4 of his 5 shots in the middle, and took off from there. Made his last 3 on the final shot, and had 10pts with only one shot left.

His last shot was the ‘Money Ball’ with the American Red, White, and Blue stripes, worth 2pts. Paul released his final shot right before the buzzer sounded and sinked it, getting a standing ovation from the crowd and applause from his team mate Kevin Garnett.

The friendly challenge amptosphere wasn’t enough for the Celtics 3-Pt stars, James Jones came home with the trophy out-shooting Pierce and Allen in the final round.

Jones actually matched Allens first score and put up 20 out of a 30 possible combination but Allens 2^nd performance just wasn’t up to par with his first.

The Sprite Slam Dunk Contest was by far the most anticipated contest tonight. With former slam dunk star Dwight Howard commentating, Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, JaVale McGee, and DeMar DeRozan.

Serge Ibaka was one of the first to perform in the Sprite Slam Dunk contest and showed off with a marvelous dunk. You can say it’s been done before, but not to this element. Dr. J and Michael Jordan have dunked from leaping on the free throw line, but Ibaka started his leap beyond the free throw line, something that has never been done—publicly that is.

That wasn’t the only dunk that was brought back by the outstanding 2011 NBA Roster. The old Vince Carter ‘Honey Dip’ was recreated tonight. Though Blake Griffin managed to bounce the ball off the backboard before hanging his elbow on the rim in the Final Round.

JaVale McGee matched that, though he dodged excoriating pain, rather than suffering it. The seven footer got up under the rim like a 6-8 player would. He had his head ducked as far as he possibly could under the backboard while simultaneously dunking the basketball.

Griffin wouldn’t let it end there though, in-fact, he went original yet extreme with his dunk. Something so simple, but nobody in staples center expected. He brought in a car, and you guessed it, he leaped it.

Of course, he was assisted with a brilliant creative pass through the sunroof, and scored 10’s to take home the Sprite Slam Dunk Trophy.

25 Free Agents from Kansas City Chiefs

The official list sits at 25. It’s a number that represents approximately 47% of Kansas City’s 53-man roster. Some of the 25 are starters and one received a Pro Bowl invite.

It'd be in Kansas Citys best interest to resign atleast 4players. Chiefs had a terrific season with their young players, bouncing back from 4-12 to 10-6 and getting their first playoff game since 2007. 

Chiefs need to keep their team young, and work for the future. They've got a great staff on their hands key coaches being Todd Haley(Head Coach), and Romeo Crenell (Defensive Coordinator).

Charlie Weis, former offensive coordinator sign with Gators was confirmed January 3rd, 2011. Bill Muir is rumored to be his replacememt.

Bill Muir is currently the offenvise line for the Chiefs and their is no current canidates for his replacement according to the franchize. 

He's got the offensive line in-tact this season. Jamaal Charles rushed for over 6.4 per carry, he attempted 230 times and was just 23 yards away from 1,500. 

Sure he's a great running back, he's phenomenal and just what this team needs.Though you'd need to have a leaping racing horse for a running back if you can do that without an offensive line.

You can have the best running back, and Jamaal Charles is [dang] good but the job can't get done without a [heck] of an offensive line, which the Chiefs have"- Said Mike Bell in a previous phone interview we had.

So that might be the best adjustment for them, he's got the O-Line getting it done for Charles but then again it could be the worst thing.

Chiefs have established a running game, Jamaal Charles averages 6.4 per carry, which means it's more than likely that on first down Chiefs can hand it off to Charles and have 4 or less yards to go for the first on second down. 

When you have that kind of a down it opens up the play action. The run is successful which forces the defense to call a run blitz. The play-action is a great way to do a pass and trick the defense.

If you're lined up in a shotgun defense will audible into pass coverage, but on 2nd and short if you're in I-Formation they're expecting another run, then Matt Cassel fakes the handoff to Charles, Charles blocks for him and get a short pass over the middle to Tight End Tony Moeiki.

The last thing you need is a conceded run game. Jamaal Charles nearing 1500 yards in 230 attempts if phenomenal. With a offensive line primarily trained for runs, will Muir be more tempted to run.

When defensive watches tapes, they see they need to account for one of two threats; passing and running. Chiefs have established both, making them nearly unstoppable to defensives that aren't overall.

However with new offensive coordinating will those attempts increase 30% to nearly 300 attempts. Theoretically it wouldn't make a difference, he'd average 6.4 a carry right? Well if you run the ball 18.75 times per game, the defense might guess right a little more.

What if we let them have 2 chances to get Heads/Tails on the opening coin toss? Would that benefit Chiefs?  That's a confident move just like the worry for Muir.

 Of the free agents from the chiefs are offensive linemen, 2 of which being starters. Probowler Brian Waters contract doesn't end for a while.

The odds are high that chiefs will re-sign most of their players, but if one of those 2 starting lineman go to another team, will that change everything?

It'd be perfect if Weis stayed to prepare for these changes but who knows what’s going to happen next season. Confusion waste timeouts, and causes turnovers. Then again; change can be good, as long as it’s not a presidential slogan. 

Mike Vrabel, and Tamba Hali are 2 amazing defensive players that I'd bet any amount of money chiefs reassign atleast one, if not both. Though if they don't do things change on defense too? Will the Chiefs run blitz fall apart?

If the run blitz falls apart, turnovers will be less likely. Brandon Flowers had an AMAZING season, a star Cornerback, who kept up with great wide receivers.

Brandon Carr, the other starting Corner Back for the chiefs is also going to waivers if he isn't reassigned. Such a bad time for contracts to end--after making a playoff appearance.

 Last year Chiefs were in a similar roster scare, and only lost 5 players though none of them were key players or ideal threats for them: G Andy Alleman, S Mike Brown, TE Sean Ryan, OL Wade Smith and WR Bobby Wade.

Sources: KCchiefs.com, Mike Bell phone call, NFL.com