By Nathan Reck

If you didn’t notice the all star festivities this weekend were lacking on a number of fronts. I will give Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones a disclaimer in that the Jam Session was hit hard by the unnexpected Texas blizard.

The players on the other hand don’t have any excuses as they dissapointed with the weekend festivites. The dunk contest was easily the least entertaining in years (if it even counts as a contest). The celebrity game is always trash and somehow Paul Pierce won the three point shootout. So all in all the only high point prior to the actual game was the rookies’ upset of the sophomores.

The actual game on the other hand was a pleasant surprise that might have just saved the weekend. With Kobe Bryant, Brandon Roy and Chris Paul all sitting out for the West I figured the game would be a blowout. Thanks to the lack of defense that is always present though the game stayed close unlike last year and remained at least mildly entertaining to the finish.

While a winning three from Dirk would have definetly saved the weekend Cuban and Jones were able to put on an entertaining show and Dirk and Carmello kept the game unexpectedly close.

So now back to games that matter and business as usuall for the NBA, as the trade deadline approaches.