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Toronto • Exhibitions like Friday's are wild affairs.
So there was Jazz point guard Raul Neto, whose pesky defense has earned him the starting job in Utah as rookie, backing off a ball handler.
"It's hard," Neto said with a smile after his World Team had suffered a narrow 157-154 defeat in the all-star weekend's Rising Stars Challenge. "My game is playing defense, playing hard. But I don't want to look like the crazy guy, the only guy who's going to play defense. So I've got to back up. It's hard. I want to win the game and it's tough when somebody scores on you can't do anything. You don't want to look crazy."
To make matters worse for Neto, one of the drivers he had to back off of was a streaking Rodney Hood — but not before at least feigning a swipe at the ball.
"I was just trying to fake a little bit," Neto said.
Hood finished the play with a two-handed slam for two of his 11 points.
"I would have done the same thing," he said, assessing Neto's effort.
Hood, by the way, also had an uncharacteristic night. The Jazz's sharpshooter hit on five of his six field goals, which won't surprise many. But the 3-point threat had four dunks before he ever offered up a shot from distance.
"It took me a while," he said. "I didn't want my first shot to be a jumper. I wanted to get something easy, get the nerves out a little bit."
After the game, Hood was mostly pleased that his teammate, Jazz rookie Trey Lyles, didn't knock down a turnaround jumper over him.
"He went for one of my little fakes and I missed the shot," Lyles said. "He got lucky."
One thing that did feel right in Friday's game: Neto finished the night with nine assists, including a big lob to Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis.
"I think [in] that game it's not hard to get assists," Neto said. "Nobody played defense."
Free agent frenzy
Whenever he decides to hang up his sneakers for good, Thunder superstar Kevin Durant imagines himself moving into a front-office job.
"Of course it's a lot more work than what I'm thinking about right now, but from the outside looking in, it looks like a fun job," Durant said at Friday's all-star media day. "Managing money and putting together a great team chemistry-wise and basketball-wise."
In the meantime, Durant will make one general manager very happy this summer. But the 6-foot-10 former MVP is keeping quiet on his free agency plans for now, even if he knows the conversation won't go away.
"I've never been through this before, obviously, so it's hard to know what's going to happen," he said. "I just want to focus on this weekend and enjoy this weekend, but everybody's going to ask me, so of course I'm going to have to think about it now. You guys are going to ask me from today all the way up until we're done here."
The rumor mill has linked Durant to Washington, Los Angeles and Golden State if he were to leave Oklahoma City.
"It's great to feel wanted, I guess," Durant said. " I've heard so many rumors or whatever. It's good for people to say this team needs me or that team needs me. That's what you want as a player, for everybody to respect you and admire your basketball."
Teague talks
The trade deadline is less than a week away and the Jazz —along with a handful of other teams — have been linked to Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeff Teague as a possible target.
Teague's teammate, former Jazzman, Paul Millsap said the 27-year-old point guard hasn't been fazed by the rumors.
"From my perspective, I think he's handled it pretty well," Millsap said. "Being young, guys hearing your name in a trade rumor is tough, but he's handled it pretty good."
Curry the best ever?
Steph Curry is the reigning MVP and the hands-down favorite to win Saturday night's 3-point contest.
But is he the best shooter in the league's history?
"I feel like I can go toe-to-toe with pretty much anybody," Curry said. "But I think, over the course of I'm talking careers, the longevity of Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, 16-17 years of shooting at a very high level, that's what I'm striving for. I'm on a pretty good pace, but that's what I want to continue to do."
Bosh to miss game
Chris Bosh's All-Star participation for this year is over, before he ever took the floor in the city where his career began.
The Miami Heat forward has withdrawn from Saturday's 3-point contest and Sunday's All-Star Game, citing a strained right calf. Bosh — who will remain in Toronto for the weekend — was replaced on the Eastern Conference roster for Sunday's game by Atlanta's Al Horford.
Portland's C.J. McCollum will fill Bosh's spot in the 3-point event.
The Associated Press contributed to this report