CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 the fan) – The 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend tipped off with some ice Thursday night followed by a few inches of snow Friday morning.
A little February winter storm won’t slow down a festive weekend full of the NBA’s biggest stars.
“It's snowing outside but Cleveland’s still a beautiful city,” Cavaliers sophomore guard Isaac Okoro said Friday morning during his media availability for the Clorox Rising Stars at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University. “There’s still a lot of things to do. Go downtown, you got Playhouse square where you can walk around, a lot of nice scenery.
There’s a lot of things to do around here.”
The Wolstein Center will host the Celebrity game Friday evening as well as All-Star media day and practice followed by the NBA HBCU Classic between Morgan State and Howard Saturday.
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will host the main events – Rising Stars Friday night, the Skills Challenge, Dunk Contest and 3-point shootout on All-Star Saturday night and of course the game Sunday night.
“I’m just taking in the experience,” Okoro said. “I’m blessed to be here and I’m just soaking everything in.”
Okoro will play with teammate and Rookie of the Year favorite Evan Mobley in the three-game Clorox Rising Stars challenge Friday night. Four teams will play to 50 in the opening round with the winners advancing to play to 25 in the finale – an homage to the NBA celebrating 75 years.
Okoro, a defensive star, conceded that defense likely will be optional.
“If it comes down to the wire, we’re trying to win the game so of course we’re going to try and play some defense,” Okoro said. “It’s more of me just trying to put on a show for the crowd.”
There will also be a shot challenge as well where players will compete to hit from iconic spots throughout NBA history on the floor.
“I’m super excited to play in my first All-Star [event],” Mobley said. “It’s cool it’s also in the city I play in. it’s been pretty busy but I’m just trying to take it all in.”
Mobley plans to take in as may events as he can this weekend but is looking forward most to the grand finale.
“I’m excited to watch the All-Star game Sunday and see some of my teammates play in it,” Mobley said. “It’s going to be fun.”
Teammates Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen will play for Team LeBron Sunday night in the 71st NBA All-Star Game.
James, drafted by the Cavs No. 1 overall in 2003, who left then came back to lead them to the 2016 NBA championship, leads Team LeBron as a Laker, where he added a fourth championship ring to his collection.
Everywhere you look downtown, James is hanging on a banner as he remains among the league’s dominant players, but his shadow no longer hangs over the Cavs.
“We don’t think of it as trying to be a team that doesn’t have LeBron on it,” Okoro said. “We’re just thinking of it as our group right now and just trying to win games.”
Saturday night Garland and Allen will team up with Mobley in the Skills Challenge on Team Cavs.
“I’m looking forward to the skills challenge,” Okoro said. “I know my man DG, Evan and JA – they’re in it – so I’m looking forward to seeing them win that.”
Okoro and Mobley are a big reason why the Cavs enter the All-Star break as one of the league’s most surprising teams and feel-good stories at 35-23, fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Okoro and his teammates might be the only ones not surprised at their rise in the standings.
“We believed in ourselves from training camp,” Okoro said. “Throughout training camp, I always felt like we were going to be a successful team this year just by how hard we were going and the chemistry we had. We did a lot of off the court stuff, so just being around the team and feeling that chemistry I felt like we were going to do a lot of good stuff this year.”
They’ve risen to playoff contention faster than anticipated in another post-LeBron rebuild, which appears to be quickly drawing near to completion.
“We just got a whole group of new young guys and we’re just hungry,” Okoro said. “We have that grit, that toughness, and we’re just ready to show the league that we’re one of those teams [to contend with].”