The NBA All-Star Weekend takes place over the next few days. My question: who will be watching? The NBA All-Star title seems to have very little meaning or value. If you ask me, the NBA All-Star game is about as entertaining as watching me playing on my 7-foot hoop in the driveway against my brother. To give you a hint of my visual, there’s absolutely no defense and every possession leads to a dunk.
However, I think the NBA will have a wake-up call this weekend when it will have to compete against the Atlanta Legends and San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football. Both games are scheduled for the same time on Sunday at 6 p.m. MST.
A few months ago I told everyone to watch out for the newly formed professional football league which kicked off it’s opening games last weekend. To everyone’s surprise, the opening game between the Orlando Apollos and Atlanta Legends netted a larger viewership (2.9) than the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder (2.5).
I’m not saying that the AAF will dominate the television sets of the NBA All-Star game, but I do believe that the AAF will drop the already declining viewership of the All-Star game.
Last week the AAF proved that it could produce quality football. There’s no reason to believe that it won’t yield a similar product this weekend. Football is and always will be king. I know what I’ll be watching. What about you?
By the Numbers
James Harden of the Houston Rockets has proven to be quite consistent on the offensive side of the basketball throughout his career.
Just a few days ago, Harden tied Wilt Chamberlain for second-most consecutive games with 30 points. The 31-game streak as of writing this column does indeed stand as a great accomplishment. But does this achievement truly carry value to it?
In order to understand the answer to this question, we first need to look at the Rockets’ record during the streak. Currently Houston is 21-10 since Harden’s streak began against the Los Angeles Lakers. In 22 of those games, Harden has also finished with the most assists on the team.
While I am not much of a believer in individual stats in basketball, I do believe that this does prove that Harden and the Rockets are more effective when he leads the team in scoring. Not only does it draw the attention of NBA defenses, but oddly enough it opens up the floor for other players on the Rockets which we interpret from his assists total.
On the outside it does appear to the casual fan that Harden portrays himself as a selfish player. Then again, Chamberlain holds the all-time record that stems from another streak that lasted 65 games long.
The numbers don’t lie. Houston has climbed back up to fifth in the Western Conference and head into All-Star weekend with one of the most reliable scorers in the league. That’s invaluable.
WWCC Wrestling
The Western Wyoming Community College wrestling team nears the end of it’s season as the squad will head to Colorado for the Rocky Mountain District Championships.
Western goes into the district championships ranked sixth in the NJCAA. Samuel Freeman, Jared Bird, Connor Kirkland and Landon Brown all rank within the top eight wrestlers in their respective weight classes. The Mustangs will hit the mats on Saturday. The tournament serves as a springboard to the national tournament which will be held in Iowa during the first weekend in March.
Western will wrestle the likes of Northeastern Junior College, Northwest College and Otero Junior College.
Best of luck to Western this weekend!
Brayden is a sports and community reporter for SweetwaterNOW. His column, Flack Friday, will be posted every Friday. You can submit comments, questions or ideas regarding the column to brayden@sweetwaternow.com.
