CAUGHT LOOKING: Los Angeles: Home of the Blakers*

After last year's All Star game in Dallas, I was pretty confident that I could accurately predict the script for the 2011 game in L.A. The event would be a huge Hollywood-themed spectacle, complete with a red carpet entrance; I was right, although it was a magenta carpet, sponsored by T-Mobile, that covered the area surrounding the Staples Center. Like the last two dunk contests, the 2011 edition would be an overly-theatrical, completely scripted performance; again I was correct, as the only thing needed to transform Saturday night into a WWE event was having Dr. J hit Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins over the head with a folding chair. And I also knew the whole thing would be dominated by a hometown, L.A.-based hero; again, I couldn't have been more spot on.

Now, I admit that a year ago I would have guessed that the hometown favorite would have been Kobe Bryant. But while Kobe did win All Star Game MVP honors (deservedly so, too - I hadn't seen Kobe look that energetic in a long time), the star of the weekend was Clippers rookie Blake Griffin. Not only did Griffin participate in all three nights - he played limited minutes for the Rookies in the Rookie Challenge game on Friday night, won the dunk contest on Saturday and came off the bench for the West in Sunday's game - but he was the player most people game out to see. While I commented in my previous post that Lakers gear outnumbered Clippers gear at Jam Session by a ten-to-one margin, the ratio probably would have been fifty-to-one if not for the number 32 Griffin jerseys sprouting up all over downtown.

The Staples Center errupted when Griffin was announced on Saturday night.

It's obviously not unusual for a hometown guy to be the main attraction at an NBA All Star Game. Two years ago in Phoenix, Shaquille O'Neal (or the Big Shaqtus as he was then known) and Amar'e Stoudemire were the toasts of the town. Last year in Dallas Dirk Nowitzki was a big draw. But nothing compares to the energy and wonder surrounding Blake Griffin this weekend. I mean, everyone was talking about him, and it wasn't just "Will Blake do something awesome this weekend?" Instead, people where asking "How many awesome things will Blake do this weekend?" In the end, the answer was "a lot," as the rookie won the dunk contest with an impressive array of highly-orchestrated theatrics and acrobatics (though credit should go to DeMar DeRozan, Serge Ibaka and JaVale McGee for making it as interesting as a staged, fan-vote-determined popularity contest with a clear front-runner can be . . .), performed well in the All Star Game and showed a level of maturity and magnetism that transforms a star athlete into a star personality.

In the end, it was a good All Star weekend that wasn't substantially different (better or worse) than the others I've been too. What was different, though, was the way the hype surrounding Blake Griffin took over the event. Of course people were talking about LeBron and Wade, about the four Boston All Stars, about Carmelo's then-uncertain situation and, yes, about Kobe. But Griffin gave the entire weekend a new slant that no one - not even yours truly - could have predicted a year ago.