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I don't always watch all of the NBA's festivities over All-Star Weekend. The celebrity and Rising Stars games aren't generally for me, and I almost always skip the actual game. That said, I'm actually a big fan of the Saturday night stuff, including the slam dunk contest.
In case you're not and you didn't catch it, the dunk contest got another makeover with it having more of a team format. After an opening-round freestyle event, there were a series of one-on-one matchups.
And that was it.
No scoring, no final round ... that was it.
Watching as a fan, I was kind of meh on the whole thing. I get that the NBA wants to make this more of a team-oriented thing, but really, if you think about it, the weekend is about recognizing individual achievements. Kind of the opposite of what the league was trying to promote.
The newer format didn't only turn off casual fans. A slew of NBA players took to Twitter to criticize the event - one was former Pitt player DeJuan Blair:
I kno it ain't over mane
— DeJuan Blair (@DeJuan45) February 16, 2014
Should of kept the Dunk Contest simple!!
— DeJuan Blair (@DeJuan45) February 16, 2014
My guess is that the NBA doesn't keep this format. It just seemed to end abruptly and with the league doing everything it can to try to involve its star players in it, it would be foolish to stick with something that so many players seem to hate.
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