Coverage guide to NBA’s 2013 All-Star Weekend
If you weren’t too sure, it’s the NBA All-Star Weekend coming up and here we have the full run down of what to expect and how best to view it.
The 62nd NBA All-Star Game as ever, is the culmination of the weekend’s festivities and will be played out at the Toyota Center in Houston on Sunday, televised live at 1am GMT, on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2 HD and ESPN UK in the UK and Ireland
NBA All-Star Weekend activities begin on Friday night with the “Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity game” as NBA All-Stars James Harden of the Houston Rockets and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder take charge as coaches of the West and East team respectively. This year’s rosters include celebrities from film, TV and music; Kevin Hart, Ne-Yo, Trey Songz, Josh Hutcherson as well as the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN UK (12am GMT).
Later on in the evening, the top rookies and sophomores battle it out in the “BBVA Rising Stars Challenge”, which will follow on on ESPN UK. The two teams will be captained by NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley. Players include rookie sensation Damien Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers; Anthony Davis, Olympic gold medalist and the 1st pick in the 2012 NBA Draft and Spanish star point-guard Ricky Rubio.
Saturday night is “State Farm All-Star Saturday Night”, and will feature a number of exciting skills and shooting games including the “Sears Shooting Stars”, “Taco Bell Skills Challenge” and the “Foot Locker Three-Point Contest.”
The evening culminates in the 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk where the league’s top dunkers take to the court where previous winners include Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant.
This year’s contests will feature six dunkers competing in a two-round competition and will include defending Champion Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz. All-Star Saturday Night will feature performances by British songstress Ellie Goulding, American Idol Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips, and recently reunited pop punk band Fall Out Boy. It all gets underway at 1am GMT and again the evening is set to be broadcast live on ESPN UK.
To round everything off in Houston is Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, as East meets West, as Kobe will battle LeBron, and where GB star Luol Deng takes part in his second All Star Game. Fourteen-time Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys will perform her chart-topping hits as part of a special halftime show on Sunday. Coverage starts at 1am (GMT), and will be televised live on Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 2 HD and ESPN UK.
NBA League Pass International will also provide access to live streams of the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, and the 62nd NBA All-Star Game on computers, tablets and mobile devices. A special All-Star package is available from www.nba.tv.
A new free All-Star app, The Ultimate Guide to All-Star, will provide fans with live scores, video, news, event information, predictive gaming, and the fan voting for the Kia NBA All-Star MVP award on computers, tablets and mobile devices.
