5 talking points from the NBA Rising Stars Challenge

The final score was Team Chuck 163, Team Shaq 135 in the Rising Stars Challenge. Here are five talking points from this contest.

Manimal shines

This was Kenneth Faried‘s night. Coming from a Denver team which has no player in the all star game, Faried came out with a statement. Those Nuggets in Denver are golden. The Manimal had 40 points and 10 rebounds to lead Team Chuck to a 163-135 win over Team Shaq.

“I came out with the intent to put on a performance,” said Faried. ”But I wasn’t thinking MVP type of performance. I was just thinking about winning the game and enjoying myself. And pretty much enjoying the game. I love to play.” Faried scored the second-most points in Rising Stars Challenge history with his 40.

He just played like he usually plays,” said Isaiah Thomas. “One-hundred ten percent, 100 miles per hour, rebound, getting put-backs. That’s what he’s good at.”

Irving outduels Knight

“Just happened, honestly, a couple of plays down, going down the court with him,” said Irving of unleashing the crossovers on Knight.

“Guess he wanted to be interested today,” Knight said of Irving. After a loss as a Cavalier, Irving had remarked that he felt disinterested in the game. Not today though. The most memorable moment of this game has to be the Irving crossover on Knight. Kyrie plain dropped Knight with a move so vicious, it seemed like a sniper bullet hit Knight. Although Knight did get his own, he got completely owned by Irving.

“(We’ve had) that kind of rivalry with me and B. Knight has been happening since high school since we started playing against each other. We were battling for the one and two spot in high school. He’s a good friend of mine; it’s great competition.”- said Kyrie Irving.

Kyrie Irving finished with 32 points. His Cleveland teammate Dion Waiters had 23 for team Shaq.

Hot three point shooting

Team Chuck shot 17 of 32 from the three point range which helped them score the highest total ever reached in the Rising Stars Challenge. Isiah Thomas of the Kings hit three consecutive threes in one stretch and he tied Ricky Rubio for assists with 10. The efficient ball movement of Team Chuck enabled them to get good looks from the perimeter.

Zero defense

“It was a lot of fun,” said Nikola Vucevic of the Orlando Magic. “Just going out there, not really thinking about anything and showing off your skills. It was the first time I’ve played in a basketball game without playing defense. That wasn’t bad at all.” He had an alley oop and hit a couple of threes in this one. The game barely featured any defense at all. Towards the end it just devolved into a impromptu dunk contest with players going coast to coast while others coasted.

Some disappointments

While the game was enticing, not everyone showed up with their best. Bradley Beal may be ranked second in the rookie of the year race, but he just had 12 points in this game and didn’t show much flash. Anthony Davis, ranked third in rookie of the year race, actually invited boos for finishing a open play with a gimpy layup instead of a dunk.

All in all it was a fun event, full of high scoring highlights. Check back tomorrow for more from the all star weekend.