Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh Photo by Brian Babineau - Getty	Baron Davis - hard luck Photo-Rocky Widner-Getty

Time for the very best All-Star game of them all, NBA style.  A game played for fun with the biggest stars, featuring just five fan selections for each league and just a roster of 14 players overall in each Conference.  Think this team is hard to make?  You bet.  But it's not only a team the game's greatest players want to make, but a game the players really want to play in.  Because it is played for fun. 

You really can't compare it to anything else.  The NFL Pro-Bowl is a joke, a game the stars opt out of and a game played with unfathomable special rules.  And the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, while admittedly a good game and attended by most players selected, is too serious; in fact, the winner now gets the home team advantage in the World Series.  How crazy is that?  And how much fun?

Kevin Garnett, arguably the best overall basketball player of them all, said recently that each game for which he was selected was like being selected and playing in the first one.  I think that says it all.  An incredibly elite group, each year's game seems more noteworthy for the great players left out than for the players making the team. 

That the game itself is preceded by other festivities doesn't hurt either, the best of which is the Slam Dunk Contest.  Who can ever forget the heroic slams of the Doctor, Julius Erving, or Dominique Wilkins?  Michael Jordan, of course, may have been best of all.  The slam-dunk contest is judged on "artistic ability, imagination, body flow and fan response".  It's hard to beat for sheer fun.

I would highly recommend visiting the NBA website to view the best plays, dunks and even bloopers from past All-Star games.  You can see all the past game greats making magic (yes, even that Magic).  Kobe Bryant lobs, Jordan falling-away jumpers, Iverson behind-the-backboard running one-handers, an incredible Julius slam, a Kobe behind-the-back drive, even a beautiful Jerry West fadeaway at the buzzer.

 

For New York fans, still basking in the glow of a Super Bowl Championship, you get to see Vince Carter at least 3 times, making impossible moves and very unlikely slams.  You’ll even get to see Isiah Thomas in happier days putting on a ball-handling clinic while being guarded by Magic Johnson. 

 

What a weekend it should be, from freshmen and sophomore games to 3-point shooting contests to slam-dunk contest to the game itself, which should once again be incredibly entertaining, and not just because of all the artistic and athletic plays.  Down the stretch of each game, there is almost always a furious attempt at winning the game. 

This year's East team features Jason Kidd, still a NJ Nets version, and Dwayne Wade at the guards, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James at forward and Dwight Howard at center.  The West has Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson at guard, Carmelo Anthony and Tim Duncan at forward and Yao Ming at the center spot.  As usual, the fans seem to gravitate towards the stars who have done it year after year than for the premium players of that particular year.  And really, that's not such a bad thing.

For example, Baron Davis has had a remarkable year for Golden State, but I'd rather watch Kidd thread the needle in traffic or loft a pass to Garnett for the slam.  Jose Calderon has been magnificent for the Raptors this year, but can he compare with Dwayne Wade ?  And Orlando's Dwight Howard was somewhat of a surprise fan selection at center, but he's probably at least as deserving as Toronto's Chris Bosh or Detroit's Rasheed Wallace at center. 

Both of those players had better stats than Howard but at least they made the team.  Probably the biggest losers this year were Shawn Marion, who isn't universally liked, and Baron Davis, who plays for lowly Golden State.  But there were certainly other unfortunates, not only Toronto's Calderon but also the Argentine, Manu Ginoboli and the other big-time European, Hedo Turkoglu. Al Jefferson of the Timberwolves has had a terrific year as has Atlanta's Josh Smith and Memphis's forward Rudy Gay.  Andre Igoudala, Jason Richardson, sorry fellas.  I am sorry, though, that Utah's Deron Williams was another numbers casualty.

The lucky ones though are well-deserving too and will be fun to watch.  Paul Pierce is a good example, a great shooter and colorful character who's blended well this year with Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to push the Celtics to the top again.  And the Pistons seem to have benefitted from their lofty position, as Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton join Rasheed Wallace in the lineup.  Washington seems to have been rewarded for their fine play as both Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison made the East team for a second time.  Joe Johnson, the Atlanta guard, rounds out the East squad coaches selections.

The West this year has three first-time selections, two from the surprising New Orleans contingent in guard Chris Paul and forward David West.  As the game is hosted by New Orleans, those should be very popular selections indeed.  Brandon Roy of Portland makes the team also in only his second year in the league.  Utah's Carlos Boozer, the Suns Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire and big Dirk Nowitzki from Dallas round out the West squad coaches selections.

 

The televised action begins tonight (Friday) with a celebrity game at 7PM, then the rookie challenge at 9PM.  Saturday night features the slam-dunk and 3-point shootout while on Sunday, the game starts at 8PM, all times given are Eastern time.  Once again, New Orleans hosts the game this year.  We can only hope the game and all the festivities can restore some magic to a city that desperately needs some.

 

So take your mind off steroids and big-headed pitchers, Congressional hearings, political manipulations, the secondary credit markets, Barack and Hillary..make some popcorn, pop open a beer and just enjoy the greatest spectacle of them all.