Indiana Pacers: Everything you need to know about All-Star weekend
The Indiana Pacers will be well represented at All-Star weekend. They now have four players competing in three different events, which is the most I can remember for some time.
The Indiana Pacers will be well represented at All-Star weekend. They now have four players competing in three different events, which is the most I can remember for some time. Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Bennedict Mathurin, and Andrew Nembhard are those participants.
All-Star Game
Wally Sczerbiak’s comments mean even less now as Tyrese Haliburton is now an All-Star for the first time. No longer is he a wannabe! The worst part of Wally’s comments is that I now know how to spell his name, but hopefully, I won’t have to write it again. Maybe each year Haliburton makes the All-Star game I’ll include it.
After not being named a starter last week, the NBA coaches announced the reserves for each conference today. Here are the selected players: Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo, Julius Randle, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, and Tyrese Haliburton.
Well-deserved honors for the 23-year-old, who has not been in Indiana for a full calendar year. Haliburton is averaging 20.3 points per game and is leading the league with 10.3 assists per game. After missing 10 straight games to injury, Haliburton returned against the Lakers to score 26 points and 12 assists. Like he never missed a beat.
Here is a breakdown of how the All-Star game will work with the help of NBA.com:
“For the first time, the NBA All-Star Draft will take place right before the game. The two team captains, LeBron and Giannis, will draft the team rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference. The Draft will start at 7:30 p.m. ET (TNT/TBS) on Sunday, Feb. 19.
The leader for each conference, LeBron James (West) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (East) gets to select their squad and have the team named after them. Team LeBron will have the first pick since James was the overall leading vote-getter in the All-Star balloting process. The captains take turns drafting from the pool of 22 players voted into the All-Star field — first, they select from the eight All-Star starters, then from the 14 All-Star reserves”.
When is the All-Star Game?
The 72nd All-Star Game will be right after the All-Star Draft at 8 p.m. ET (TNT/TBS) on Feb. 19th at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. It will be interesting to see where Haliburton is selected in the process. The NBA is weirdly considering drafting reserves first to avoid someone being the last person selected. Yes, someone will still be the last one selected either way.
Three Point Contest
Buddy Hield will participate in the three-point contest. Hield previously won the contest back in 2020 with the Sacramento Kings. Fieldhouse Files reported this. Buddy Hield has been elite in shooting behind the arc this season at 42.8% on 8.8 attempts. This is just shy of his career high of 43..1%.
He is the first player of the 2022-23 season to make over 200 threes and is the fifth player to make that many in five consecutive seasons. He’s now returning to the three-point contest and should be the favorite.
Tyrese Haliburton will also be competing in the contest to Pacers fans’ pleasure. How awesome would it be to see them battle for the championship? We will soon find out, as it is the second event at All-Star weekend on Saturday.
Haliburton is shooting 39.9% from behind the arc this season on 7.2 attempts per game. His career average is 40%. This will be an exciting evening for Indiana basketball fans.
Rising Stars Game
Last season, the Indiana Pacers had two participants in the Rising Stars game. Those were Chris Duarte and Tyrese Haliburton. The trend will continue for Indiana with Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard now representing them.
The game will take place tonight at 9:00 PM EST.
The matches won’t be timed, but the teams have a target score to reach. Whoever gets that score first by a free throw or a made basket will win the game.
Games 1 and 2 have a target score of 40. The winners of those matches will move on to the finals, where the target score will be 25.
Next Up Game
The G-League announced its own All-Star game: the Next Up Game. There will be 24 NBA G League players, including 10 selected by a fan vote, who will compete. Watch live on Feb. 19 at 3 PM ET on NBA TV. @TheMadAnts will have candidates participating in both Trevelin Quenn and Gabe York:
