2008 NBA All-Star Game

The Boston Celtics, the team with the league's best record, came into New Orleans with three players. Kevin Garnett, top vote-getter in the league with 2,399,148 votes, was selected as a starter, while Paul Pierce and Ray Allen (replacing injured Washington Wizards forward Caron Butler)[6] were selected as reserves by the coaches of the Eastern Conference[7] Garnett did not play due to injury and Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh replaced him as starting power forward.[8] Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace replaced Chris Bosh as the backup power forward. The Pistons, who at the time had the second-best record in the league, also had guards Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton participating.

Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James and Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade started for the fourth straight year and fourth overall for the East with two million votes each.[7] Center Dwight Howard was voted to be a starting All-Star for the first time in his career after averaging 22 points and 15 rebounds for the first half of the season.[7] Shaquille O'Neal was not voted in as a center for the first time in 15 years.[9] Jason Kidd was voted in as the starting point guard for the East amid speculation that he would be traded to the Western conference (Dallas Mavericks).

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, 2007 All-Star MVP, was the top vote-getter in the West with nearly 2,000,500. However days before the game, he was examined by Lakers' doctors and revealed a torn ligament in his right pinky finger.[10] Deciding to put off required surgery until after the season, the Lakers appealed to the league to replace Bryant but league policy stated Bryant must play after playing in the last game before the break.[10]

Denver Nuggets guard Allen Iverson was voted an All-Star for the second time since moving to Denver.[11] Along with him, teammate Carmelo Anthony earned a starting nod at forward.[11] Power forward Tim Duncan made his tenth straight appearance and center Yao Ming his sixth (Yao Ming was voted to All-Star Game 2007 but did not play).[7] Three teams, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, and New Orleans Hornets, had two representations at the All-Star Game with Iverson/Anthony, Nash/Stoudemire, and Paul/West.

Doc Rivers (left) and Byron Scott (right) were selected as the East and West head coaches, respectively.

The Eastern Conference team was coached by Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics. He clinched it nearly a month before the game on January 21, against the New York Knicks.[13] The Celtics entered All-Star Weekend with a 41–9 record, the best record and win percentage in the league.

The Western Conference team was coached by Byron Scott of the New Orleans Hornets. Scott clinched the coaching spot on January 31, when the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Boston Celtics in Boston.[14] The Hornets entered All-Star Weekend with a 36–15 record, and the best winning percentage in the Conference at .706.

NBA All-Star East

NBA All-Star West

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The Sophomores defeated the Rookies 136–109. During the first half of the game Daniel Gibson tied the record of Kyle Korver by hitting seven three-pointers (Korver's record was for the entire game). He later set the whole-game record in the second half with eleven total three-pointers, finishing the game shooting 11–20 from three-point range. Gibson was named MVP of the game, finishing with 33 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

Gerald Green returned to defend his crown won in last year's All-Star game. Young NBA stars Rudy Gay, Dwight Howard and Jamario Moon were also invited. What made the Slam Dunk contest unique in 2008 was the introduction of the fan vote. While judges (in this particular contest, Karl Malone, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, Darryl Dawkins and Dominique Wilkins) still scored dunks on a scale from one to fifty and selected those who would move on to the next round, fans had the last word. NBA viewers for the first time could decide the winner of the Sprite Slam Dunk contest, under the tag line "They Dunk. You Decide." For five minutes after the final round, polls were open on NBA.com and through SMS TXT and the dunker with the most votes at the end of the time limit was the winner. Dwight Howard won the contest, grabbing 78% of fan votes.

Jason Kapono became the first back-to-back winner of the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout since Peja Stojaković won in 2002 and 2003. Kapono also tied the all-time record set in 1986 by Craig Hodges by scoring 25 points in the final round.

Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams won the Skills Challenge, with a first round time of 31.2 seconds and a record finish in 25.5 in his second run. For the first time since 2005, Dwyane Wade did not win the contest. He finished with a low 53.9 seconds, ending his streak at two. Jason Kidd, winner of the event in 2003, finished at 40 seconds. Chris Paul advanced to the finals with 29.9 seconds in the first go-around, but failed to match Williams in the end. [18]

After an impressive run in the first round, Team San Antonio took care of business in the finals of the 2008 Haier Shooting Stars challenge against Team Chicago, as Duncan drained a half-court shot to give the Texas threesome a time of 35.8 seconds.

Twenty of the NBA Development League's top players were selected to the D-League All-Star Game rosters by a combination of fan balloting on the official D-League website and voting by the 14 head coaches of D-League teams. The selections were divided up into two teams, the Red Team and the Blue Team, by members of the NBA and NBA D-League's Basketball Operations staff. Players who have been selected by coaches and fans must be on an active roster of a D-League team. Los Angeles D-Fenders head coach Dan Panaggio and Idaho Stampede head coach Bryan Gates were selected as the coach for the Blue Team and the Red Team respectively. Both coaches earned the honor by securing the best records in the D-League through January 31.[19]

Two preliminary rounds of two games each were played with the winners of the first two rounds competing in a final round for the title of H.O.R.S.E. Champion. Each round was capped at five minutes, and utilized a 24-second shot clock. Contestants were outfitted with a wireless microphone in order for fans to hear the player call his shot.

Lance Allred faced Fort Wayne's Jeremy Richardson. Both players were tied at the time limit, but Allred managed to advance in sudden death when Richardson could not convert on his attempt. In the other first-round matchup, Utah Jazz assignee Morris Almond advanced over Sioux Fall's Kasib Powell, as he held an H-O advantage at the time limit. In the final, Allred earned the victory over Almond when he sank a bank shot from just outside the elbow, leaving Almond facing an H-O deficit as time expired.

Hot-Shot contestants took to the floor to compete in a race against the clock to score the most points with the help of a D-League fan. Each team had one minute to tally the highest score from four designated shooting spots on the court, including a one-point layup, a two-point foul shot, a three-pointer from behind the arc, and a five-point half-court shot, with the fan only eligible to shoot from the lay-up position. Two teams competed simultaneously, one on each end of the court, during the first round with the winners advancing to a final round of head-to-head competition where the stakes were high – the fan from the winning squad had an opportunity to be a judge in the Slam Dunk Contest.

In the first round, Bakersfield's Andre Barrett came out on top with a total of 24 while Dakota's Carlos Powell checked in second with 23 points. Billy Thomas (20 points) and Randy Livingston (5 points) were eliminated after the first round.

In the second and final round, Powell and his teammate Will, a New Orleans resident, won the title with a total of 24, edging Barrett and company's total of 21.

Each contestant had 60 seconds to sink up to 21 three-pointers from seven shooting stations assembled around the three-point line. Each station had two orange balls (worth one point each) and one "money" ball (worth two points) which may only be attempted after both orange balls have been shot. Fans enjoyed one preliminary round and a championship round featuring the contestants with the top two scores from the first round.

Adam Harrington dominated the contest, posting the highest score of all four competitors in the first round, and then edging Kaniel Dickens in the final round to earn the victory. Dickens advanced to the final via a 30-second shootout with Josh Gross after two players tied for the second best total in the opening round.

The Slam Dunk Contest, which consisted of two rounds of two dunks each, began with each dunker submitting his top two dunks and selecting a fan from the crowd who chose the first dunk to be performed in the first round of competition. A composite total of the scores from the first round of dunks of competition was tallied for each dunker and the dunkers with the two highest scores competed in a championship round consisting of two dunk attempts. Contestants were allowed one replacement dunk per attempt.

The Idaho Stampede pair of Brent Petway and Mike Taylor emerged from the first round and headed to the finals. Petway emerged as the victor after he completed a spectacular through-the-legs dunk that brought down the house at Jam Session and earned a perfect 50 score. Taylor attempted to counter with a show-stopping dunk of his own, but failed to convert on his two allotted attempts. Fort Wayne's Eric Smith and Iowa's Doug Thomas also performed some impressive dunks, but did not record high enough scores from the judges to advance to the final round.

The Turner Broadcasting Network televised the game for the fifth straight year in the United States. The game was called by NBA on TNT commentators Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Doug Collins. TNT also televised the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, PlayStation Skills Challenge, Footlocker Three-Point Shootout and the Haier Shooting Stars Competition.

ESPN televised the McDonald's All-Star Celebrity Game on February 15. The event was simulcast on ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile and ESPN Radio.[22] Although the All-Star game was not broadcast on ESPN, the game was on ESPN Radio.

Beginning the week of the All-Star game, February 11, NBA TV aired tributes to moments in All-Star game history, including a top-10 list, highlights and greatest moments. NBA TV aired the Basketball Hall of Fame Finalist Friday, February 15. The network also provided the behind-the-scenes practices of the East and West rosters, the NBA D-League All-Star game, and pregame and postgame coverage of the All-Star Game.[23]

The NBA vastly increased the global appeal of the All-Star Game, allowing 123 broadcasters to air the games in 215 countries in more than 40 languages. NBA TV covered All-Star weekend to another record 80 countries. Most foreign major sports networks aired the All-Star game live.[24][25]