When teams Chuck (Charles Barkley) and Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) drafted their players for the BBVA Rising stars challenge a week ago everyone was expecting Blazers rookie Damian Lillard or last year’s rookie of the year Kyrie Irving to win the award, well, that wasn’t the case.
Denver Nuggets second year player, Kenneth Faried, took home the award by scoring 40 points and 10 rebounds in team Chuck’s 163-135 victory over team Shaq. Faried will be looking forward to grab another award tonight as he is one of the six participants of the dunk contest. After the game Faried told TNT”s “Inside the NBA” crew that he had never scored more than 30 points in any game ever, including high school, college or the NBA.
Rising stars challenge 2012 MVP Kyrie Irving didn’t get the award this time, but he led team Shaq with 32 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, his Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Dion Waiters had 23 points with 10-11 shooting from the field.
