Live Thread: 2018 All Star Game (#Remix)

For the first time ever, instead of just being a battle of East vs. West, the NBA All Star Game is a mix of players from each conference chosen to be either on Team LeBron or Team Stephen. When the teams were selected initially (something that most agree should have been televised), it certainly seemed like LeBron chose wisely… opting for a solid mix of big men and scorers to give him the edge over Steph and his squad. Then, unfortunately, the injury bug hit Team LeBron hard. Gone are DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, Kristaps Porzingis and Kevin Love (poor Kev has to miss his second straight All Star Game due to injury). They’ve been replaced by Paul George, Andre Drummond, Goran Dragic and Kemba Walker… all good players, but (aside from PG-13) at least a half step down from the guys they’re replacing.

Even with the mix and match format, former Cav Kyrie Irving still wound up on Team LeBron. And, it seems like by all reports that the two have at least temporarily buried the hatchet to share the court on All Star Sunday. As usual, both teams are stacked with shooters and dunkers, so even despite the mixture of conferences, scoring should still be at a premium while defense should remain a rumor until crunch time.

You can find the full rosters here for further reference…

Prediction: Team LeBron, despite its injury issues, blows by Team Steph 163-149. I’ll go off the board and pick Paul George as the dark horse All Star MVP.

Catch all the stars starting at 8pm EST on TNT… and of course, mix it up here at C:tB…

GO TEAM LEBRON!