Charles Henderlite

In a weekend packed full of stars, none shined brighter than Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant . Bryant won the All-Star game’s MVP honors after putting up 31 points in a 153-132 victory by the Western conference.

The main event was never quite the contest it was hyped up to be. The West led by as many as 33 points before the East put up any serious competition, but by then it was too late. Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire had 29 points for the West and the high scorer for the East was the Cavalier’s LeBron James with 28 points.

In other weekend events, Boston’s Gerald Green won the slam dunk competition and Miami’s Jason Kapono took the 3-point crown with a record-tying final round of 24. Miami’s Dwayne Wade won the skills challenge after posting a time of 26.4 seconds which easily beat Kobe Bryant’s time of 45.8 seconds. The sophomore’s won the Rookie challenge 155-114 with New York Knicks forward David Lee being named the game’s MVP with 30 points. And in the match-up of the weekend Charles Barkley beat Dick Bavetta to win the Race for Charity competition. This was a classic race between Barkley, 44, and Bavetta, 67. Barkley ended up running the final half-length of the court backwards to show up the NBA referee.

The (1) Florida Gators entered last night’s game against the unranked Vanderbilt Commodores with a 17-game winning streak and an undefeated mark in the SEC standings. After stumbling to an 83-70 loss to the Commodores, it seems as though Florida (24-3, 11-1) will never break the school record 17-game win streak they have matched three times in the past two years.

The Gators picked the wrong team to take lightly in the Commodores. The Commodores took the lead in the first half and led by as many as 16 points late in the game. Vanderbilt (18-8, 8-4) is 6-6 all-time against no. 1 ranked teams with their last victory coming against then top-ranked Kentucky in 1993.

With four games remaining in the regular season for the Gators, they have plenty of time to fix the problems they had against the Commodores and finish the season strong heading into the conference tournament and a probable no. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. As for Vanderbilt, this should be a game that builds their confidence and hopefully leads to a higher seed in the NCAA tourney.

The Boston Celtics finally snapped their franchise-record 18-game losing streak on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks . The previous franchise mark for futility was 13 games. The 117-97 win is the Celtics first victory since Jan. 5.

With the victory the Celtics avoided inching closer to the record the Cleveland Cavaliers would love to shed. The Cavs losing streak spanned two seasons (1981-82 and start of the 1982-83 season) and reached a pitiful 24 games.

Paul Pierce scored 32 points in only his third game back from an injury while Gerald Green chipped in 21.

It happens every year. Players chosen for the All-Star game mysteriously manage to get injured and alternate players are chosen to replace them. This year has turned out to be no different than the others. Seattle’s Ray Allen and Utah’s Mehmet Okur were chosen as injury replacements on Tuesday and Atlanta guard Joe Johnson was added today by NBA commissioner David Stern.

The selections come after Phoenix guard Steve Nash , Denver guard Allen Iverson and New Jersey guard Jason Kidd pulled out of the game due to injuries. While the injuries are legitimate, it will be a big disappointment for NBA fans hoping to see these three superstars participate in the event. Hopefully these players heal up and start the second half of the NBA season healthy and well rested.

The (17) Oklahoma State Cowboys (19-6, 5-5) were unsuccessful on the road again, this time against the Texas Longhorns (18-7, 8-3). Unlike the triple overtime thriller back in January, this game was never even close with the Longhorns pulling away for an 83-54 win over the Cowboys. The Cowboys continue their Big 12 streak of not being able to win on the road this year and with their next game on the road coming against a very tough Texas Tech team, the Cowboys may be in for another long night. Hopefully the Cowboys will figure out the secret to winning outside of Gallagher-Iba Arena, otherwise a possible trip to the NCAA tournament will end up being a very short one.

The NBA announced the addition of Dallas Mavericks guard Josh Howard and Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony to the Western Conference’s All-Star roster. It’s the first All-Star game for both players.

Anthony was snubbed for selection to the roster a couple of weeks ago even though he is the NBA’s leading scorer. For those that remember, Anthony was involved in a brawl with the New York Knicks back in December. The NBA responded by suspending Anthony for 15 games.

But should someone that missed such a large chunk of the first half of the season be allowed to play in the All-Star game? I guess you wouldn’t have to look any further than Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal . O’Neal missed all but 10 games of the first half and fans still voted him into the starting lineup for the Eastern Conference. Apparently a hurt Shaq is still better than the second best center in the East. But unless a rule is implemented that states a minimum game requirement in order to be eligible for the All-Star game, situations like this will continue to happen.

The All-Star game is scheduled for Feb. 18 in Las Vegas. It should be a great showcase of the NBA’s best talent.

Last night’s slate of NCAA basketball games featured three key match-ups: (5) North Carolina at (16) Duke , (19) USC at (2) UCLA and (17) Oklahoma State at Oklahoma .

With both teams entering the game following losses, North Carolina (21-3, 7-2) and Duke (18-6, 5-5) were looking to get their seasons back on track. Duke led by as many as 10 points late in the second half before letting the Tar Heels take the lead for good in the closing minutes to steal a 79-73 victory over the Blue Devils. The loss left Duke with an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak with tough upcoming match-ups against Maryland and Boston College. North Carolina will face Wake Forest on Saturday.

UCLA (21-2, 10-2) entered the game as the Pac-10 leader, but a loss to USC (18-7, 8-4) would drop them into a tie with the Trojans. The Bruins made sure USC didn’t get the opportunity to become co-leaders following a 70-65 victory over the Trojans. The lead changed hands several times throughout the game with the Trojans leading by as many as seven points early in the second half, but a technical foul by USC’s co-captain Lodrick Stewart in the closing minutes sealed the Trojans fate.

And in the bedlam rivalry game Oklahoma State (18-5, 4-4) traveled to Norman to take on a Sooner team they beat in the first game of the series last month. The Cowboys were looking to get their first Big 12 road win of the season, but ran into an Oklahoma (14-8, 5-4) team determined to even up the bedlam season series. Oklahoma had few problems in their 67-60 win over Oklahoma State even though they had to stave off a late Cowboys run. The loss leaves the Cowboys searching for a solution to their road woes and with their next road game coming up against Texas, look for the streak to continue.

University of Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun picked up his 500th win at the school following a 67-60 victory over rival Syracuse Monday night.  The Hall of Fame coach is 748-322 in his 35-year coaching career.  Calhoun began his collegiate coaching career in 1972 at Northeastern University in Boston and was named the UConn head coach in 1986.  He has won two NCAA titles at UConn in the 1999 and 2004 seasons.

The return of Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t have come at a better time. The defending NBA champions have spent almost the entire season below the .500 mark following a 3-3 start. Now with O’Neal back in the lineup after recovering from knee surgery, the Heat are going for a season-high 5-game winning streak Wednesday night against a Boston Celtics team that is currently riding a 14-game losing streak.

The Heat currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. At 23-25 the Heat are only 6 games behind the Detroit Pistons for the East’s no. 1 seed, and 5 1/2 games behind Southeast division leader Washington. Not a bad situation for a team dealing with as many injuries as the Heat have had.

Last night’s match-up between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns saw the Suns entering the game riding a franchise record 17-game win streak, the longest such streak in the NBA in over a decade. The result of the game saw both streaks come to an end.

Up to this point Phoenix was the only team that had yet to suffer a loss in the New Year, but the ‘Wolves Kevin Garnett took it upon himself to remedy that situation. The Suns were unable to find an answer for Garnett down on the block, leading to Garnett finishing with a game high 44 points and 11 rebounds.

The loss was the only defeat the Suns suffered in the month of January. The 17-game win streak set a new franchise record for the Suns, easily breaking the previous mark of 15 the team set earlier this season. Phoenix has won 33 of their last 36 games after starting the season a dismal 0-4.