All-Star Game Breakdown

It's finally here, All-Star Weekend 2010. Following my previous article about the various other events headlining this year's all-star weekend, I wanted to breakdown the game and give my predictions.

Here are the matchups for the East and West. The matchups are organized by how good they'll be

Starters: West 3, East 2

Lebron vs. Carmelo: Melo has his coach with him, but he can't beat the King. This is going to be a storied matchup throughout both of their careers, but Lebron will always win it, but not by much

Kobe vs. D-Wade: Kobe gets the edge here. Kobe is the best player in the league, injured or not. Even with his multitude of injuries, his height gives him a slight edge, which would have been bigger if he was healthy, over the dynamic Wade. However, this is still going to be a great matchup

Amar'e Stoudemire vs. Dwight Howard: Another great matchup, but Howard is the better center. Stoudemire will make it interesting, but Howard is undoubtedly the best center in the game

KG vs. Tim Duncan: Like Kobe vs. Wade, this matchup is affected by injuries. However, in this one the injuries make more of a difference. Duncan has been outstanding this year, while KG has been hobbled by injuries. Healthy, I'll take KG over Duncan, but that is not the case, so Duncan gets the edge here.

Steve Nash vs. AI: Nash no question is the better player. A few years ago it would have been the other way around, but Nash is putting up great numbers & AI is only playing because of his fanbase

I'm breaking down the reserves by position, since I might have to end up matching up Paul Pierce on Pau Gasol, which would obviously not happen. Regardless, the reserves match up very well and it will make the game even more interesting

Reserves: West 2, East 1

Kevin Durant vs. Gerald Wallace and Paul Pierce: This is such a difficult match to decide, but Durant gets a slight edge in the closest matchup this year. Durant is having a great all-around season, and Wallace is 6-7 and one of the league's leading rebounders. Injuries aside, Pierce is having a solid season as well. If Pierce was not coming off injuries, this would result in a tie.

Deron Williams and Chauncey Billups vs. Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, and Joe Johnson: This will be a solid matchup, but the East wins it. Numbers aside, Rose and Rondo are blossoming into the 2 top point guards, if Wade is a shooting guard and noting Devin Harris' inconsistency, and Joe Johnson deserves to start over AI. Billups is old and losing his skill, but Williams is a strong player. East wins this because of the great balance they have. Rose and Johnson provide most of the offense, and Rondo provides most of the defense and assists

Dirk Nowitzki, Zach Randolph, Chris Kaman and Pau Gasol vs. Chris Bosh and Al Horford: There are guys in the east who had better stats than Horford, i.e Brook Lopez, but the same goes with Pau Gasol with Al Jefferson having superior numbers. Horford and Pau are still solid big men, but regardless, the West would still win this category, with Nowitzki continuing his brilliance, and Kaman and Randolph having career years. Individually Chris Bosh is the best of all of these, but the east is just overmatched by sheer numbers.

Overall Predition: This going to be a great game, and another high-scoring game, but the West will win by 4, and despite Kobe's 35-point performance, Steve Nash will win MVP with 25 points and 12 assists