I'm hoping that many of our readers caught last night's NBA All-Star game on replay as they were glued into the Olympics and in particular, Canada's Gold Medal mogul run.
However if you were like me, and did the reciprocal, you actually saw a surprisingly entertaining affair that pitted a stacked East squad, against an undermanned one from the West.
The game believe it or not, came down to the final seconds and after the Raptors' own Chris Bosh hit two free-throws to put the East ahead, Carmello Anthony failed to draw iron off an inbounds play, and the East walked away with a 141-139 victory.
Bosh on the night was virtually unstoppable.
He finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds and along with Dwyane Wade and Lebron James, was one of the favourites for game MVP as the fourth quarter started to wind down. However a couple missed jumpers and a missed alley-oop off a Lebron James pass may have sealed his fate and Wade walked away with the trophy. It was a well-deserved honour for Wade, who finished with 28 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds.
Oh...and Mr. James was no slouch himself. He had 25 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
James as usual, did a bit too much ball-hogging down the stretch though and it was nice to see an MVP outside of him or Kobe; those two have won every All-Star game MVP award in the past 5 years outside of this year.
Speaking of Lebron, one final point on the game itself. Considering that Carmelo Anthony was probably the West's MVP leader, this match really showed how unique that 2003 draft class was. Lebron, Melo, Bosh and Wade...just four incredibly unique and ridiculous talents, and all very different players in many ways. Throw in Kaman who was playing in the game for the West, and some previous All-Stars like David West from that class, and it really makes you think. The 1996 class might have been the most deep talent-wise of all time, but this, and the Jordan-Hakeem draft, were like catching lightening in a bottle if you were "unlucky" enough to be a lottery club that year.
For Raptors' fans, you have to come away feeling pretty satisfied with the weekend.
DeRozan wasn't ridiculous, but for his first attempt he was pretty solid overall, and hopefully this springboards his confidence for the rest of the season and beyond. His performance didn't result in some of the outcomes I discussed last Friday, but this was no "Birdman" number either.
And of course with Bosh last night, it was simply further proof that the Raptors, and MLSE for that matter, need to do whatever it takes to lock this guy up long-term.