- John DeShazier of The Times-Picayune: The image branded onto the 2008 All-Star Game won't be the league-approved logo, a New Orleans-themed creation with the omnipresent Jerry West silhouette at the top. It will be of Dwight Howard's 'Superman' slam, the freakishly athletic Orlando Magic star center fastballing a basketball through the rim at a height that only can be duplicated with the use of a trampoline, with a force that would've shaken the New Orleans Arena to its foundation if fans with I-didn't-see-what-I-just-saw looks on their faces hadn't appreciatively done the shaking with their screams of approval. But the snapshots we should remember should be of Kobe Bryant, the league's best player, helping a child hammer a nail while carefully keeping out of harm's way his splintered right hand, which has a torn tendon in the pinkie. And of NBA Commissioner David Stern, wearing jeans and not just holding a paintbrush, but using it. And of Hornets guard Chris Paul and forward David West, first-time All-Stars doing the things they've done when the national media hasn't been around, helping build and rebuild while providing smiles and observations that, still, there's much work to be done."
- Mike Wise of The Washington Post: "The Big Easy became the antidote to the bacchanalia, bawdiness and overall bad vibe felt in Las Vegas. The mean-mugging crowds, Adam 'Pacman' Jones charged in a strip-club melee, all the criminal accoutrements -- some of which had nothing to do with the NBA -- were gone. In its place emerged a civil, authentic gathering of the world's best athletes, their worshipping public and enough crawfish pie to feed everyone."
- Howard Beck of The New York Times: "Karl Malone, often regarded as one of the game's greatest power forwards, has been largely out of sight since retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004. But he quietly slipped back into the N.B.A.'s orbit this weekend, pulled by a powerful force. A native of Summerfield, La., who now resides in Ruston (about 300 miles northwest of here), Malone came to New Orleans to join the league's rebuilding efforts during All-Star weekend. Malone brought his own work crew, including friends and his 12-year-old son, Karl Jr., to participate in Friday's Day of Service. 'I think it's great, what the N.B.A. is doing,' Malone said. He added: 'I took my kids and we visited the Ninth Ward. We still have a lot of work to do.'"
- Michael Cunningham of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "The Heat guard's star power had media following him through New Orleans' Upper Ninth Ward on a cold and rainy Sunday morning. Funds from his Wade's World Foundation will cover the costs for three houses in the Musician's Village, a Habitat for Humanity project for artists displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Wade toured the area and met with the families of his sponsored homes. Workers from his foundation handed out disaster survival kits to 40 families. Then Wade headed back to his world in preparation for Sunday night's NBA All-Star game, where he started for the Eastern Conference. After a weekend of charity events in the community, Wade and the other All-Stars will leave. Those three houses, the number matching the one on Wade's uniform, will stay."
- Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News: "Nothing that happened at the NBA All-Star extended weekend in New Orleans, including the game itself, had much to do with basketball. It had to do with preening and posing and showing off, and not showing off for the fans or for the event, which would be somewhat forgivable, but for the most dreary of male motives, for each other. The affair encourages this kind of peacock flash and flaunt, or to use the official judging criteria, 'artistic ability, imagination, body flow and fan response,' reducing basketball to figure skating, or at least to one of Allen Iverson's drives to the basket. The next time, for example, anyone blows out a candle on a cupcake while dunking the basketball, as Minnesota's Gerald Green did, it had better be somebody's birthday and it better be James Naismith's."
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: "Magic General Manager Otis Smith, on hand for the dunk contest, was asked what his reaction was to the Howard dunk show. 'My reaction? My reaction was, 'Stay healthy,' Smith said. 'Dwight was in his element. It's good for him. He proved that a big could win it. He set out to prove a 6-11 guy could win it and he did.' Smith said the organization never suggested that Howard skip the contest to avoid injury. 'It's up to him,' he said. Smith said that Howard was covered by insurance if he were hurt, but added, 'It wouldn't do anything. I don't know how much it means if you lose your franchise player.'"
- Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times: "Having played the first 2 minutes 47 seconds of the All-Star game and escaped unscathed, Kobe Bryant now turns his focus back to the Lakers' season, where his appearance will be more than ceremonial. Once, opposing players would have actually attacked an injured player, and it remains to be seen how today's players will approach Bryant, who has a torn ligament in his right pinkie finger. 'Well, we had a little rule,' said Boston Celtics Coach Doc Rivers, 'if you put something on your hand or on your body, that was a bull's eye. ... I don't know if that goes on anymore. We actually talk about that. I don't think anyone wants to hurt anyone, but if you're going to go out and play injured, we're not going to let you beat us injured. That was the old-school thought. I think that's still prevalent today, but not as much.'"
- Scott-Howard Cooper of the Sacramento Bee: "All-Star players and coaches praised the Hawks for acquiring Mike Bibby from the Kings on Saturday, with several stating the obvious -- that Atlanta got better -- and one even calling the perpetual lottery team a lock for the postseason. 'Without him playing a game, you automatically say the Hawks are in the playoffs,' Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat said Sunday night. 'They already got some unbelievable athletes, and then they've got a franchise player in Joe Johnson. And then you add another All-Star in Mike Bibby. That's a phenomenal team.' He was that certain. 'They're in the playoffs,' Wade said of the Hawks."
- Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: "Now he replaces Devin Harris, a talented guard on the cusp as Parker was, and he isn't made for the slower Mavericks' offense. His shooting will allow the Spurs to sag, and the Mavericks will lose Gana Diop, a big man who leaned on Duncan. Kidd, ultimately, changes a
team that matched up well with the Spurs. But those in Phoenix repeat what they say in New Jersey. When this guy wants something badly, when he has something to prove and play for, he can overwhelm. Kidd sees the game, and he can play with an emotion and fire that changes everyone. He also gets along with big men, and he did in the second quarter Sunday night. Then Kidd was caught in a switch, and he ended up defending Dirk Nowitzki. They bumped and joked. 'I kind of wanted him to score,' Kidd said. 'Because you've got to be nice to your teammates.' Duncan should get ready, then. He will be pushing Kidd for real before the season is over." - David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: "If the Mavericks win a championship with Kidd, the trade was a good one. If they don't, it wasn't worth it. Rarely should trades be viewed in such stark terms. Too many variables exist to portray most deals as an either-or proposition. But there is no nuance here. The Mavericks lusted for Kidd because they were convinced the team had no shot at the title this season. The impending move is an admission that coach Avery Johnson didn't believe his team possessed the mental toughness to go all the way."
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