at ORACLE Arena on January 14, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.
The Cheat SheetBy Matt Clapp on

The NBA announced the All-Star Game starters, Lleyton Hewitt played his final professional tennis match, Roger Federer reached another milestone in his incredible career, and a high school student section pulled off an awesome free throw distraction. Pass the time until your weekend starts, here at the Friday Cheat Sheet…

NBA All-Star Game starters announced, and Kobe is the top vote-getter in his final season

The NBA announced the starters for this year’s All-Star Game, decided by fan voting of course. Here are the lineups:

Eastern Conference

Guard: Kyle Lowry
Guard: Dwyane Wade
Frontcourt: LeBron James
Frontcourt: Paul George
Frontcourt: Carmelo Anthony

Western Conference

Guard: Stephen Curry
Guard: Russell Westbrook
Frontcourt: Kobe Bryant
Froncourt: Kevin Durant
Frontcourt: Kawhi Leonard

It’s an exhibition game, for the fans, and that’s why Kobe is in the starting lineup (as a frontcourt player, oddly) for his 18th and final All-Star Game. Kobe was the top vote-getter with 1.9 million votes, and Steph Curry finished second with 1.6 million votes.

And then there’s this: the Mavericks’ ZAZA PACHULIA came just 14,000 votes shy of making the West lineup (read more on that here).

In the East, Carmelo Anthony barely got in over Pau Gasol.

In terms of snubs, you could make arguments for several, but three that really stand out: the Warriors’ Draymond Green, the Bulls’ Jimmy Butler, and the Pistons’ Andre Drummond. They will get in as reserves though and I doubt they have any complaints about that.

At his “second home”, Lleyton Hewitt plays final professional tennis match

XXX of ZZZ plays a forehand in his/her second round match against XXXX of ZZZZ during day four of the 2016 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.
Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.

Due to the Australian Open’s weird hours (weird as in compared to America, of course), it’s been hard to align well with the Cheat Sheet. But on Wednesday night/Thursday morning (America time) at the Australian Open, Australian tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt played his final professional tennis match, losing to the eighth-seeded David Ferrer.

As Yesh Ginsburg writes (in a better, more in-depth recap of the events), Ferrer was a very fitting opponent for Hewitt to play against in his final match:

In a way, that made David Ferrer absolutely the best opponent to meet for his final match. Ferrer made his career doing the exact same thing: grinding through points, forcing extra shots, and fighting to the end–always finding an extra gear when one was necessary. Ferrer is the No. 8 player in the world; there is no shame in Hewitt losing his final match to him.

It was a very emotional post-match scene at Rod Laver Arena, as the two-time grand slam champion (and former No. 1 player in the world) said goodbye to the great fans at his “second home”.

They also played this very cool video for Hewitt at Rod Laver Arena of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Nick Kyrgios, and Novak Djokovic paying tribute to him.

Roger Federer wins 300th career grand slam match, also reacts awesomely to a Sharapova-Davis rally

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: (EDITORS NOTE: Multiple exposures were combined in camera to produce this image.) Roger Federer of Switzerland serves in his third round match against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during day five of the 2016 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 22:  Roger Federer serves against Grigor Dimitrov during day five of the 2016 Australian Open (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Last night at the Australian Open, Federer added yet another achievement to his legendary career, becoming the first man to win 300 grand slam matches. Prettyyyyy, prettyyyyyyyy, pretty good.

While that was obviously awesome, what was perhaps even better was his reaction to a 27-shot rally between Maria Sharapova and Lauren Davis before his match.

Quick Hits

Space-Jam-620x350

– The Toronto International Film Festival will host a Space Jam live read during NBA All-Star Weekend. This is a beautiful thing.

– On Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets intentionally fouled the Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummong (a 35% free throw shooter) 12 straight times to begin the second half. Drummond would go on to set an NBA record with 23 missed free throws.

– Cam Newton: the no-brainer NFL MVP. Can’t argue with that.

– Remember longtime NBA’er Clifford Robinson? Former All-Star, Sixth Man of the Year, was on those Trail Blazers teams with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter? He is now “Uncle Spliffy” and entering the marijuana business.

– Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon made a backwards half-court shot at the Nuggets’ game Thursday night.

– Chris Paul sent Matthew Dellavedova to the floor in hilarious fashion.

– The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic had a nasty behind-the-back pass.

– This is an up-for-grabs, wide-open college basketball season… for most teams involved. Rutgers is not one of those teams. In fact, Rutgers may be the worst team in America, and the worst team in Big Ten history.

– The NFL may split Thursday Night Football between CBS and NBC.

– Jon Gruden is a smart man with usually good opinions. This is not one of those good opinions: He wants to get rid of NFL instant replay.

– Report: Knicks, Nets will be all over Mike Conley in free agency. That’s great and all, but he’ll have to want to there too. We hear about this annually with the Knicks and _ player, for example.

– Jordy Nelson’s wife dumped him in seventh grade.

– Manny Pacquiao is going to retire after his rematch with Timothy Bradley.

– Bay Area rap legend E-40 making it big with release of his own beer.

– Man braids are the latest hipster vomit stain on humanity. Really, these need to stop.

– They only sold 99 XBOX One’s in Japan last week. Yes, 99. Yikes.

One last breath of gratuitous procrastination

This is quite a brutal own goal. I’d have to dip my face in alcohol for about a week straight if I did this.

Screw it, it’s Friday: one more breath of gratuitous procrastination

The Sheridan High School (Ohio) Student Section pulled off the greatest free throw distraction ever.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

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