Sport Basketball Country Greece TV partner(s) Nova Sports | Founded 1991 Continent Europe Official website Esake.gr/AllStar | |
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The Greek HEBA All-Star Game, also known as the Greek ΕΣΑΚΕ All Star Game, is the All Star Game of the HEBA Greek basketball association for men. It was founded and organized by Gus Sarianides. The game is played in a format that is the Greek all stars versus the rest of the world all stars.
Contents
The all star weekend also features an ages 20 and under all star game, called the Hopes or Youth All Star Game. There is also a slam dunk competition and a 3-point shootout competition. Finally, there are also 3-point shootout and slam dunk competitions for the ages 20 and under players.
Players from the top-tier level Greek Basket League, the 2nd-tier level Greek A2 Basket League, and Greek the lower level divisions are eligible to compete at the All Star Game's weekend festivities. Normally, only players from the top-tier level Greek Basket League are eligible to compete in the senior men's all star game. However, sometimes players from lower divisions can also play in the senior men's all star game, if they are selected on all star day, during the all star weekend festivities, as special participants by the coaches of the game, to play in the all star game. Such players however, are not considered to be all-star selections, because they are not officially chosen to be all stars, and because they do not actually play in the top-tier level Greek Basket League, from which the actual all star selections are chosen. However, players from the lower-tier level Greek divisions can participate in the slam dunk and 3 point shootout contests.
History
The Greek All Star Game was held for the first time on December 31, 1991, and in that first game, "The Rest of the World All Stars" defeated "The Greek All Stars", by a score of 133-122. Over the next seven all star games, the format was "The European All Stars" versus "The American All Stars". From 2001 until now, the format has been the same as the original all star game was, The Greek All Stars versus The Rest of the World All Stars. Also, since 2001, the Greek All-Star Game is held annually in various cities in Greece, which is in contrast to the early years of the all star game, when most of the games were held at either the Peace and Friendship Stadium or Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall arenas in Athens.
HEBA Greek Youth All Star Game
The HEBA Greek Hopes, or Youth All-Star Game of basketball, is the all star game that is played by players from the Greek basketball leagues that are ages 20 and under. The first Hopes game was played on March 29, 2003. The Youth All Star Game is played over the same all-star weekend as the regular Greek All Star Game, and is played at the same arena as well.
The game can be considered as analogous to the NBA's All-Star Weekend Rising Stars Challenge. There are also the Greek Youth 3 Point Shootout Competition and the Greek Youth Slam Dunk Contest, for Greek players that are ages 20 and under.