The NBA will not hold a "H.O.R.S.E. competition" as part of this year's NBA All-Star Saturday festivities, and it was "no big loss to see the league's most recent incarnation of this event canceled altogether," according to Brett Pollakoff of FANHOUSE.com. There were "several problems with the way that H.O.R.S.E. was constructed from an entertainment perspective." The event took place "on a court in an outdoor parking lot in Phoenix in 2009, then over at center court of the Jam Session fan-fest in Dallas last year." From the "perspective of media or fans on site and in person, it was odd to hold the event right before All-Star Saturday night's events, and to do so at an alternate venue." There already are "four events on All-Star weekend's Saturday," and "cramming a fifth in there, and not even giving it the opportunity to finish to what would be its natural conclusion, made little to no sense." Pollakoff: "When you combine all of this with the fact that there was virtually nothing creative or memorable about the players' attempts over the last two events, it's not a surprise that the league bailed on something that, looking back, seemed a bit forced" (FANHOUSE.com, 2/9). SBNATION.com's Tom Ziller wrote, "Anyone can see that it never got much traction, and wasn't too entertaining." Last year's edition "turned into an actual three-point contest between" Thunder F Kevin Durant and Celtics G Rajon Rondo "because TNT was running out of time on the broadcast." There were "hardly any creative shots either year the NBA held the contest, just long threes and longer threes" (SBNATION.com, 2/9).
