NBA fans won't soon forget the 2016 NBA All-Star Game for the prodigious point totals and the many broken records in the Western Conference’s 196-173 victory. Or the exit of Kobe Bryant from his last All-Star Game.
At CanadianCrossing.com, we care about the impact of Toronto and Canada on the 2016 NBA All-Star Game.
On the court, the Raptors guards had solid performances. DeMar DeRozan had 18 points off the bench with 9-15 field goal shooting and 0-3 from 3-point territory. Kyle Lowry had 14 points from the starting lineup with 5-13 from the inside and 4-12 from 3-point land. Neither Raptors guard made a free throw with DeRozan having the lone attempt.
"Toronto did a helluva job putting on a show," LeBron James said. James thanked the people of Toronto, Canada, the people of the city, the people of the country separately, and talked about the way the players were treated.
The reasonable success of the Toronto Raptors in Canada has helped grow the game: Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, and Cory Joseph are just some of the name to make an impact from Canada.
A successful NBA All-Star Game can mean long-term growth of basketball in Canada. Imagine the impact of how many more Canadians to lace up sneakers rather than ice skates.
2016 NBA All-Star Game finally comes to Canada
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Canada won the celebrity game 74-64 over the U.S. team. Win Butler of Arcade Fire was the MVP of the game.
ESPN's Sage Steele interviewed Butler on being the MVP. Butler got right to the point.
"Thank you, I just want to say it's an election year in the U.S., and the U.S. has a lot they can learn from Canada, healthcare, taking care of people …"
Steele quickly stopped Butler, grabbing the microphone back and said, "We're talking about celebrity stuff, not politics. Congratulations."
Often, celebrities in these situations get to plug just about anything. Butler, who grew up in the U.S. but has lived in Canada for some time, had an intriguing perspective having lived in both countries. ESPN would have been better off showing the concept of freedom of speech, to take the high road.
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Unless a player is on the Toronto Raptors, NBA players spend very little time in Canada's largest city; Western Conference players spend even less time since the Raptors are in the Eastern Conference.
ESPN reporter Cary Chow had a bit of fun with some of the NBA All-Stars and asked them to name 5 famous Canadians. To see the video, click here.
A lot of ums and uhs. Drake, Justin Bieber, and Steve Nash got some mentions. Thought The Weeknd or Nelly Furtado would get a mention. Most of the Canadians named were current NBA players who are Canadian (e.g., Andrew Wiggins).
Could have gone with a pair of Ryans, Reynolds and Gosling. Maybe even Toronto native P.K. Subban. Clearly, they haven't been schooled on Canadian babes such as Jessica Paré, Elisha Cuthbert, Rachel McAdams, and Pamela Anderson. These women are ones that young NBA players might know. My list covers much of the spectrum of the rainbow, but those are women they might know.
They also could have gone with a long-time dead Canadian who should be very famous to them: Dr. James Naismith, the man credited with the invention of basketball.
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We would apologize for Nelly Furtado's rendition of O Canada. Furtado, who can sing and is Canadian, produced an offbeat, elaborate version that didn't remind Canadians of their national anthem. Unlike the NHL, where people hear O Canada fairly often, this was one of the few time NBA fans would hear O Canada. We wish there was a better version at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game.
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TNT didn't spend much time on Toronto during the telecast. You saw the CN Tower and the Air Canada Centre in the nighttime sky. The telecast had a nice look back at Vince Carter. Even with the ups and downs and how Carter left, he did help grow the NBA in Canada, especially Toronto, and at a time where the Vancouver Grizzlies were being shipped south of the 49th parallel.
The U.S. TV ratings were great with an average viewership of 7.6 million viewers, up 6% from last year. The peak viewership was 8.7 million during the 8:45 pm – 9 pm ET quarter-hour. The ratings are even more remarkable since the host city ratings don't count in those numbers.
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Charles Barkley was in Toronto for TNT's coverage of the game. Barkley says Toronto is one of his 2 favorite cities, though he complained that the city was too cold on this trip. He even stopped by the Rogers NHL pregame Saturday night for a nice segment. The CBC studios that Rogers rents is a very short distance from the Air Canada Centre. We'll have more on that segment in our NHL review/preview on Friday.
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People assume Toronto and Canada is cold. Most of the winter in Toronto hasn't been that bad. Unfortunately, a cold front came through Eastern Canada, including Southern Ontario, during All-Star Weekend. Yes, Toronto is great but it's cold. So is Chicago, Detroit, etc. But Canada is "supposed to be cold."
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