Rookie Challenge The
T-Mobile Rookie Challenge featured a team of standout first-year players ('
Rookies') against a team of standout second-year players ('Sophomores'). The game was divided into two twenty-minute halves, similar to
college basketball. The participating players were chosen by voting among the league's assistant coaches. The Rookie team included five of the top ten picks from the
2009 NBA draft:
Stephen Curry,
Tyreke Evans,
Jonny Flynn,
James Harden and
Brandon Jennings. The Sophomores team featured seven players from
the previous Rookie Challenge game:
Michael Beasley,
Marc Gasol,
Eric Gordon,
Brook Lopez,
O. J. Mayo,
Derrick Rose and
Russell Westbrook. However, Rose was later replaced by
Anthony Morrow due to Rose's selection to the
Skills Challenge and the
All-Star Game. The head coaches for the Rookies and Sophomores teams were the lead assistants from the All-Star Game coaching staffs,
Adrian Dantley from the
Denver Nuggets and
Patrick Ewing from the
Orlando Magic. They were assisted by two All-Stars who served as assistant coach,
Kevin Durant and
Chris Bosh. Durant participated in his third successive Rookie Challenge game, after playing as a rookie and sophomore in the last two years. Bosh, a Dallas native, returned to his hometown where he grew up and starred in high school basketball. Dantley and Durant coached the Rookie team while Ewing and Bosh coached the Sophomore team. At halftime, sophomore Eric Gordon and rookie
DeMar DeRozan competed in the inaugural NBA All-Star Slam Dunk-In, a single-round slam dunk competition to determine the fourth participant of the
Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday. Derrick Rose was excused from the Rookie Challenge in consideration of being named to the All-Star Game and his participation in the Skills Challenge.
Slam Dunk Contest won the 2010 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, becoming the first three-time champion. The
Sprite Slam Dunk Contest was contested by defending champion
Nate Robinson, All-Star
Gerald Wallace,
Shannon Brown and
DeMar DeRozan. The fourth contestant was determined through the first ever NBA All-Star Dunk-In, a single-round slam dunk competition that was held at halftime of the
Rookie Challenge game. The opening matchup between DeRozan and
Eric Gordon ended with DeRozan winning 61% of the online fan vote and the final spot in the Saturday competition. then scored the dunks to determine the final round pairing.
Three-Point Shootout won the 2010 Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout. The
Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout featured six players: defending champion
Daequan Cook returned to defend his title, competing against
Chauncey Billups,
Paul Pierce,
Channing Frye,
Danilo Gallinari and rookie
Stephen Curry. Frye was the first center to participate in the three-point shootout since
Sam Perkins in 1997. In this contest, contestants attempt to make as many
three-point field goals as possible from five shooting stations behind the
three-point arc in one minute. Players begin shooting from one corner of the court, and move from station to station along the three-point arc until they reach the other corner. Each station has four standard balls, worth one point each, plus one specially colored "money ball", worth two points. Curry led the first round with 18 points as he advanced to the final round along with Billups and Pierce, who both scored 17 points. Defending champion Cook failed to advance, finishing with 15 points along with Frye and Gallinari. In the second round, Pierce set the tone early by scoring 20 points, and both Billups and Curry were unable to match his score. Pierce, who could only manage to score 8 points in his first participation in
2002, became the first Celtic to win the contest since
Larry Bird won it three straight in
1986,
1987 and
1988.
Skills Challenge won the 2010 Taco Bell Skills Challenge, becoming the second two-time winner. The
Taco Bell Skills Challenge was contested by four players.
Derrick Rose, the defending champion, was supposed to participate in the contest but he suffered an injury before the All-Star Break. He was replaced by
Russell Westbrook of the
Oklahoma City Thunder. 2008 champion
Deron Williams, 2005 champion
Steve Nash and rookie
Brandon Jennings also competed. In this contest, the contestants have to complete an "obstacle course" consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations. The contestant who finishes the course with the fastest time wins the contest. All contestants must comply with basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course. The two former champions, Nash and Williams advanced to the second round with the 35.0 and 34.1 seconds respectively. Jennings missed the cut for the final round with just 35.7 seconds, 0.7 second slower than Nash. In the final round, Nash went quicker than his first round attempt to record 29.9 seconds, while Williams could only record 37.9 seconds. Nash became the second two-time winner of the event, joining
Dwyane Wade who won it back-to-back in
2006 and
2007. In the first round, Team Texas and Los Angeles both had the two best times and advanced to the final round. In the final round, Team Texas finished the course in just 34.3 seconds, defeating team Los Angeles who recorded 55.2 seconds. Team Texas only missed two shots in their first five shooting locations before hometown player
Dirk Nowitzki scored the half-court shot in the team's sixth attempt. WNBA player
Becky Hammon, who won the competition as part of Team San Antonio in
2008, became the second two-time winner, after
Bill Laimbeer. Becky Hammon is a U.S. citizen by birth. She became a naturalized citizen of Russia in 2007 and has represented
Russia in international competitions.
H–O–R–S–E Competition repeated as champion in the 2010 H–O–R–S–E Competition. A H–O–R–S–E Competition, which was contested for the first time last year as an exhibition event before the All-Star Saturday Night, is now part of the All-Star Saturday Night events. The objective of this competition is to accrue as few of the five letters as possible. Players are given a "letter" every time they fail to duplicate a shot of another player. Each player is given 24 seconds to make or duplicate a shot—dunking is prohibited. Each player who fails to duplicate five shots is eliminated from the competition. An NBA referee is assigned to rule whether the shot is performed properly. Defending champion
Kevin Durant returned to defend his title, competing against
Rajon Rondo and rookie
Omri Casspi. All players started slow in the contest early on after failing to make most shots. Casspi was soon eliminated when he accumulated the five letters. Due to time constraint, the competition turned into a three-point contest. Durant made most of his shots, eliminating Rondo who missed two three-pointers. The West team won 41–37 over the East.
"Special K" Daley, one of the four
Harlem Globetrotters player that participated in the game, scored game-high 18 points for the West. Actor
Michael Rapaport, who scored 4 points, was named as the Celebrity Game MVP for his defense on
football player
Terrell Owens, the MVP of the last two Celebrity Games. Owens, who played both college basketball and football in
Chattanooga, led the East with 10 points. ==D-League All-Star==