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NEW ORLEANS — Saturday night, the lights will come on and two of the Toronto Raptors' lesser lights will have their time to shine in front of the entire NBA.
Jason Kapono will have the first chance to make a little room for himself in the limelight during all-star weekend as he defends his three-point shooting title earned last season, when he was with the Miami Heat.
Then it will be Jamario Moon's turn as one of four contestants in the slam-dunk competition (and the only one whose last slam-dunk competition was in the Continental Basketball Association).
Both have been putting in some extra time to improve their odds.
Raptors rookie Jamario Moon dunks the ball in the first half of the rookie challenge game Friday in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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"You're always a little nervous because you don't know what to expect and you want to do well, but after your first couple of shots, you're pretty focused in on the rim and the competition and you don't really concern yourself with all the hoopla going on in the arena," Kapono said.
For the past two weeks, Kapono has been training for the event, which involves shooting five three-point shots from five different spots within a minute. The last ball of five — the so-called money ball — is worth two points and the four others each worth one, for a maximum of 30.
He'll be trying to beat out Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, Peja Stojakovic of the New Orleans Hornets and Richard Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons.
Kapono's winning score last year was 24, tying the event record.
"This is the only chance I have to show my kids I was the best at something," Kapono said jokingly. "So when I'm 35, 40, 45 and they're saying I was a scrub, I can at least say I was the best, for one year. In 2007, I was the three-point champ."
Moon will be attempting to put an exclamation point on his journey from basketball obscurity to a minor version of celebrity as a 27-year-old NBA rookie.
He'll be enlisting Kapono's help for one of his dunks, but otherwise the details of his plans for the contest have been closely held secrets. His competition includes defending champion Gerald Green of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.
But if Moon wins the event, it would be his first dunk-contest victory in three tries. Charlotte Bobcats high flier Gerald Wallace topped him in high school, and Moon finished third and second in two CBA dunk contests.
But he's ready to put all that behind him and use his large hands and long leap to create a signature for himself at the NBA's premier showcase.
"This would be my first win, but it would blow all the other ones away though," Moon said. "If I win this, I'll forget all about the other dunk contests."
