WashingtonWizards.com editor Andrew Rosen will be blogging tonight’s NBA All-Star Game live from New Orleans at 8:00 p.m. ET. Andrew will be able to answer all your questions about the weekend as well as give you his thoughts on tonight’s game.

7:54 EST
Hey everyone, Andrew Rosen here at NEW ORLEANS ARENA! I will do my best to live up to the blogging that Dave and Glen give you on a nightly basis. I hope you have all been enjoying the blog and all the All-Star coverage on washingtonwizards.com. We are about 25 minutes away from the start of the All-Star game. Hopefully the game can live up to what we got last night. Anyway, please join me in the blog and I would love to hear your thoughts on last night and answer any questions you might have, whether it’s Wizards, All-Star or even New Orleans related.

* For more exclusive coverage check out the 2008 NBA All-Star Index on WashingtonWizards.com!

What a Saturday night! I think most of us can agree we haven’t seen a dunk contest like that in a long time and we can all thank Dwight Howard for that. The talk all week was that Howard had something up his sleeve and after he pulled out the first two dunks the contest was all but over.

While Howard stole the show, I got about 10 texts from friends/co-workers after “The Superman” dunk, I also have to give a lot of credit for originality to Gerald Green. Green’s “Blow Out the Candle” dunk was very similar to Howard’s “Sticker” dunk from last year. At first everyone was like “what did he do?” And after watching the replay you saw exactly what Green did, and the dunk looked about 10 times better. I really wish the judges would have held off their scoring on that dunk until after the replay. Not that it would have mattered.

While the last couple days have had few breathers in the schedule, game day is one of the quieter days of the weekend. Therefore I am heading off to the NBA Store to pick up some souvenirs for friends and family. Please join me at 8:00pm tonight at washingtonwizardsblog.com, for a live blog of tonight’s game.

* For more exclusive coverage check out the 2008 NBA All-Star Index on WashingtonWizards.com!

Just returned from the East practice, and while it was hardly a competitive practice, it is always special to see so many great athletes all in one place. As far as the Wizards go, Caron Butler did not practice, but he did do some basic shooting before the drills started.

Here are some quick highlights of the 45 minute session:

I arrived in New Orleans around 4:00pm local time, and let me say it is amazing how the NBA comes in and just takes over the city. Driving into downtown from the Airport all you see are huge banners everywhere promoting the All-Star Game. It’s not just the banners though, it is EVERYWHERE! My keycard at the hotel has the All-Star logo, the front door to the hotel has a picture of Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, and the rooms even have NBATV! Needless to say this is an NBA fans dream experience.

After getting to the hotel I had a little time to kill, so I picked up my credential for the weekend, and grabbed some great local food at Mother’s Restaurant. Following dinner it was actually time to cover an event, and what better way to start than with the EA Sports NBA Live 08 Video Game Tournament and Party.

Caron Butler, along with seven other All-Star Weekend participants, played in a single elimination tournament. Butler was put on the spot early, playing in the first game of the tournament against the Portland Trail Blazers Brandon Roy. Having never played this version before, Caron turned to coach/cousin, Jarvis McMillan, to give him a couple quick pointers before the game.

“He’s going to do pretty good,” said McMillian about Caron’s chances before the tournament. “He’s just learning the buttons right now. But he picks up video games pretty fast.”

Unfortunately for Caron, he didn’t pick it up as fast as Roy, losing by over 20 points.

Following the loss, Butler interviewed with a couple of TV stations that attended the event, and watched the end of the tournament, which was eventually won by Tony Parker.

* For more exclusive coverage check out the 2008 NBA All-Star Index on WashingtonWizards.com!

Hello everybody, I am Andrew Rosen, and this will be the first of many blogs that I will be posting over the weekend. First off, it is great to start off All-Star Weekend on a positive note after last night’s great win. There is no question that the Wiz needed a win last night, and you could see how much the win meant to the team by watching their reaction after Antawn’s game-winner.

Moving onto All-Star, I am currently writing this blog from 35,000 feet in the air on an airplane down to the Big Easy. And while, I am a little crammed in my seat, attempting to type on my laptop, I really can’t complain considering Gheorghe Muresan is on the plane as well. This small 70 seater has no First Class seating, but luckily for Gheorghe, he ran into our CCTV reporter Jumoke Davis, who gave up his first row seat and extra leg room, to the tallest player in NBA history.

Before boarding the plane, I was able to talk to Gheorghe for a minute and I asked him what he looks most forward to over the weekend. The answer definitely caught me by surprise, as the 7’7 center told me that he enjoys watching the “little guys” in the skill challenge the most.

While “Big Gheorghe” is the easiest celebrity to spot on the flight, at least 10 people asked me who he was; I also had the chance to talk to NBA Historian, Todd Caso. Caso, who started covering basketball in the 50’s and still works for NBA Entertainment on their historical side, had glowing things to say about the Wizards’ Caron Butler, and even mentioned another Bullet who had a very similar style game.

“The player that most resembles Caron Butler to me is Bobby Dandridge. Like Butler, Dandridge was very strong along the baseline, good rebounder, good passer, and had a good all-around game. He was a guy that got everything done, and done well.”

* For more exclusive coverage check out the 2008 NBA All-Star Index on WashingtonWizards.com!