Whew. So, to keep with our format of breaking down the games as we do each week in the Association in our Weekly Tip-Off, our Viewer's Guide will break down the events. Enjoy.

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Vince Carter Raptors There's that dunk contest thing -- maybe you've heard of it?	Steve Francis Rockets Will be busy dunking, 2balling and chasing Jason Williams in the rookie game	Kevin Garnett Wolves The rising king of the league will infect everyone with that smile	Gary Payton Sonics Comin' home to Oakland and he always has something to say	Allen Iverson Sixers NBA's leading scorer is always a guy to watch; also in shootout

The rookie team of 1998-99 has more depth, and not surprisingly is more developed. Williams and Paul Pierce could be the guards, with Arizona and Vancouver twins Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson in reserve, while the frontcourt is Dirk Nowitzki, Raef LaFrentz and former top pick Michael Olowokandi. Cuttino Mobley replaces Antawn Jamison.

For the record, this game will be played in a pair of 15-minute halves. As you can see, these teams don't go 12 deep, and the Grizzlies wouldn't appreciate their starting frontcourt returning home real tired. Each team may call one full timeout per half and one of the 20-second variety. Fouls will be charged, but nobody can foul out. (That's good for Olowokandi. If only Shawn Kemp could have this rule all the time.) There is a 2-minute overtime if needed, but after that you have to kiss your sister as it's a tie. Thirty two minutes is the max here.

And one more thing: As Derek Fisher pointed out as the best reason why he's excited to go after Kobe Bryant bowed out, there's money on the line. The winners get to split $25,000, second place is worth $10,000 and the other teams get $2,500.

So what are we looking for? Well, in the previous 2ball contest, Utah's Tammi Reiss and Karl Malone had a strategy, which worked in the first round at least. The Mailman tried three-pointers, worth eight points, while Reiss rebounded the ball and fired up closer shots. But Cooper and Drexler won with a more harmonic effort.

There's money on the line here to make it worth everyone's time. Winner gets $25,000, runner-up earns $15,000, third place gets $10,000 and the others get $3,000. To refresh your memory, there are three rounds. Each player has one minute to shoot from five different spots around the three-point line. You shoot five balls at each spot, with the first four worth one point and the final ball, the one with lots of pretty colors, worth two. That's it.

Carter is clearly the favorite. After watching him in games the last two seasons, one can only imagine what he can do when it's not in the flow of a game. For this event, Carter will try some things never seen in games, maybe even, rumor has it, dunking a basketball twice without hitting the ground. Francis is only 6-3, but he is an exciting dunker. McGrady and Hughes are only 20 and have shown creativity in games before.

"Mike and I just went at it that year, playing to the crowd," Wilkins said. "It was the way we did it, back and forth. People came to see it. It mattered more than the game itself."