FARIED, BOLT STAND TALL ON ALL STAR FRIDAY

By Mark Woods
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Updated: February 15, 2013

Team Chuck trumped Team Shaq in the Rising Star Challenge while Usain Bolt’s dunk lit up the Celebrity Game on All Star Friday night in Houston.

Kenneth Faried had 40 points and 10 rebounds and entertained the crowd at the end with a series of dunks to lead his team to a 163-136 victory.

Faried, in his second season with the Denver Nuggets, made 18-of-22 shots and was selected the game’s Most Valuable Player as he pulled out some rehearsal slams for Saturdayâ€™s dunk contest.

Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving, last year’s MVP, scored 32 points and rookie Dion Waiters, Irving’s Cavs’ teammate, added 23 for Shaq’s team.

Here’s the top five plays of the evening.

The Sprint NBA Celebrity All-Star Game proved a one-sided affair with the James Harden-coached West squad running all over Russell Westbrook’s East squad.

The 58-38 game was good fun, filled with laughter, a few antics and even a bit of decent, even intense at times, basketball action. But frankly it wasn’t nearly as fascinating as the wardrobe choices of the two brave, young coaches that were once teammates with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets before the season and now the two will reunite Sunday night as first-time All-Star teammates.

But the real star was Bolt whose two-handed dunk in the first quarter showed he’s got hops.

“I wanted to do more but these guys were guarding me,” he told MVP. “They didnâ€™t give the chance to do anything. In the final quarter, they were up by 20 and they were full court pressing me. I was thinking: â€˜this isnâ€™t a celebrity game, this is serious.”