News from February 17. Team LeBron named Andre Drummond (Det) as the starter to replace the injured DeMarcus Cousins (NO). Channing Frye (LAL) underwent an appendectomy. Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 2018 finalists from the North America and Women's committees: Players: Coaches: Ray Allen Lefty Driesell Maurice Cheeks Kim Mulkey Grant Hill Rudy Tomjanovich Jason Kidd Steve Nash Katie Smith Tina Thompson Chris Webber Ref Team Hugh Evans Wayland Baptist University A nominee needs at least 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee to be inducted. The announcement for the new inductees will take place April 3. In addition, direct-inductees will be announced during the NCAA Final Four. The enshirement ceremonies will take placed September 7-9. All-Star Saturday night results - at Los Angeles Skills Competition (obstacle course dribbling, passing, shooting) 1st round (head-to-head winner advances) Joel Embiid (Phi) defeated Al Horford (Bos) Lauri Markkanen (Chi) defeated Andre Drummond (Det) Spencer Dinwiddie (Bro) defeated Buddy Hield (Sac) Jamal Murray (Den) defeated Lou Williams (LAC) 2nd round Markkanen defeated Embiid Dinwiddie defeated Murray Finals Dinwiddie defeated Markkanen 3-point Shootout (4 racks of 5 balls - 4 worth 1 point, 1 worth 2 points; 5th rack of 5 2 point balls, 60 seconds) 1st Round (top 3 advance) 19 Devin Booker (Pho) 19 Klay Thompson (GS) 18 Tobias Harris (LAC) 17 Wayne Ellington (Mia) 15 Bradley Beal (Was) 12 Eric Gordon (Hou) 11 Kyle Lowry (Tor) 9 Paul George (OKC) Finals 28 Booker [highest score with latest format (5th rack of 2pt balls)] 25 Thompson 17 Harris Slam Dunk Contest [2 dunks each round, maximum 3 attempts, 5 former players judge dunks] 1st Round (top 2 advance) Donovan Mitchell (Uta) 48a 50b = 98 pts Larry Nance (Cle) 44c 49d = 93 Dennis Smith (Dal) 39 50e = 89 Victor Oladipo (Ind) 31 40 = 71 (did not complete 1st dunk) a = over-the-head, double-clutch b = friend tossed off side of backboard, jumped over 3 crunched down people, spread legs dunk c = imitation of father's craddle dunk d = from baseline, full windmill dunk e = 360, ball through the leg, switch hand dunk Finals Mitchell 50a 48b = 98 Nance 46c 50d = 96 a = lob off backboard, from the waist full length dunk b = straight up windmill c = imitation 360 Vince Carter dunk d = lob off backboard, tap ball on backboard, dunk Schedule for Sunday, February 18 (All times Central) All-Star Weekend All-Star Game 7:00 pm TNT Schedule for Monday, February 19 (All times Central) No games scheduled Schedule for Tuesday, February 20 (All times Central) No games scheduled Schedule for Wednesday, February 21 (All times Central) No games scheduled Schedule for Thursday, February 22 (All times Central) Brooklyn at Charlotte 6:00 pm New York at Orlando 6:00 pm Washington at Cleveland 7:00 pm TNT Philadelphia at Chicago 7:00 pm Oklahoma City at Sacramento 9:00 pm LA Clippers at Golden State 9:30 pm TNT ---- Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com For Trianglons puzzles: http://www.trianglons.com For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html