EXPOSING The Hidden CONTROVERSY Of The All Star Saturday

Download the Gametime app and redeem code HEATCHECK for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply): http://gametime.co/ Hidden behind all the glitz and glamor of the All Star Saturday night, there was some hidden controversy. Whether it was an honest mistake, or a case of favoritism, I need to expose it and find the real reason for some questionable decisions that happened during the 2 most high profile events- the three point shootout and the slam dunk contest. The first round of the three point shootout was clean tho. And it was electric. Right out of the gate we had 3 guys tied at 26 points as Trae Young, Tyrese Haliburton and Karl Towns set a high bar for the rest of the guys to avoid elimination. And it seemed that Jalen Brunson would do just that, as he was in a great position on the final rack, but then… Shooting last was the reigning champion Damian Lillard. He also needed to get to 26 to defend his title in the final round. And it looked scary for him at this point, but in the clutch you know it’s Dame Time. He hit 7 of his last 8 shots to tie it at 26 and since there can only be 3 in the finals, we were headed for an extra 30 second round to eliminate one of them. And this is where things started to get a bit dicey. As Towns starts off, watch the referee and the score. On this shot he first signals for a good shot but then changes it as he sees that KAT is on the line. Ball goes in and it’s counted. Next shot it’s the same and the ref hesitates to call it, and on the last one he signals for a good shot, so Towns has 5 points on that rack. But on the replay we see that 1 foot is way in front which makes all of these shots invalid. The ref actually tries to save him and tells him to move it back. And you can see right here that he’s still toeing the line on the moneyball and the ref clearly sees it but signals for a good shot, and KAT makes it. So realistically his score was 1 right here. Towns got 4 extra points which put him in the finals over the crowd favorite Tyrese Haliburton who was playing at home. The rules were bent for Lillard as well who secured his spot in the finals, but on the final shot you can clearly see that the ball is still in his hands, but this shot counted, which gave him 16 as well tying for first, and this gave him the advantage of going last in the final round. And when it mattered the most, Towns got 22 and Young finished with 24, so that was the score to beat for Dame. We all thought that there was going to be no drama as Dame ties it right here. However he still made it dramatic. Lillard defends his title, back to back champion albeit in a bit of a controversial contest. Things were sketchy in the dunk contest as well, but before going there, I gotta give a major shoutout to Sabrina and Steph for the show that they put on. The way Ionescu started off, I was absolutely shocked and thought that the goat might be defeated. She cooled off towards the end tho, leaving the door open for Steph. But 26 is a great score as this was the highest mark in the men's competition just moments before. Thing is, Curry showed once again why he’s the goat when it comes to shooting the ball. 29, so basically the dude won the regular 3 point contest as well. Amazing. Maybe I’m overanalyzing it, but this shot makes me think that Sabrina was fighting to not show her emotions, as it was clear to me how much she wanted to win. But absolutely no knock on her, Sabrina showed everybody that she is a straight up sniper. Once again shoutout to her, and to Steph for killing it. The dunk contest is supposed to be the cream of the crop in the event. But the judges somehow managed to steal the spotlight away from the dunkers. And not in a good way. The tone was set right off the bat as Jaime Jaques jumps and windmills over Shaq, but there were a bunch of 47s on the board. This is not a 50 dunk, but it’s not a 47 either. Then there is this dunk from Jacob Topin which is deceivingly hard in my opinion. Jumping over a guy, getting the ball and doing a 180, this is not easy to do. And he also got a 47 from 1 judge. It’s Jaylen Brown’s turn, and he does a tribute to Dominique Wilkins who was one of the judges, and tries to recreate one of his famous dunks. He did just okay in my opinion, but got a way higher score than the previous 2. This dunk was not better to me than Jaques and especially not compared to Topin. Now, here comes Mac Mcclung, the defending champion. And he does something that we’ve never seen before. This was amazing, a straight 50 right? Not only was there not a single 50 on the board, but he got a 46 from 1 judge. Dude was basically like- naah this is the worst dunk of the night so far. Maaan, are you kidding me? It was on the second attempt but we’ve seen a ton of 50s for second and even third attempt dunks. In the second round Jaques did ok, and to me Topin had another nice dunk that got rated lower. Albeit, this was on his second attempt.