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#CanBall Weekly: NBA All-Star game puts spotlight on Toronto

There are plenty of benefits that come with hosting the NBA All-Star game. The world's top basketball players and power-brokers descend on the city for a weekend of celebration. The parties are legendary. The pomp and pageantry unparalleled.

It's the first time the NBA has taken the All-Star game outside of the United States, and for Toronto another opportunity exists from being All-Star host: to finally earn the respect it deserves as a basketball city.

It's fairly common knowledge that James Naismith, the man who invented basketball, was raised in Canada. But how many people know the first game of the Basketball Association of America, the forefather to the NBA, was contested between the Toronto Huskies and New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens all the way back in 1946?

When the Toronto Raptors joined the NBA over 20 years ago, the city returned to the consciousness of the basketball world. It wasn't all positive. Don't they just play and care about hockey up there? Why can't we get ESPN on TV? What's up with those loonies and toonies? And seriously, why are taxes so high?

The current-day Raptors have helped dispel those myths to an extent, especially thanks to the raucous crowds that have gathered outside the Air Canada Centre for playoff games the past two years.

It's not just what the Raptors are doing, though. Anecdotes like the one about a young Stephen Curry dominating his Toronto school league while his dad, Dell, was closing out his NBA career in Toronto, are just a part of it.

There are stories to tell that are well known to those in Toronto basketball circles, but more than likely a mystery to others. There are neighborhoods in the city, Jane and Finch, Bathurst and Lawrence, and Regent Park come to mind, where basketball means a lot. Just as much as it means today to the wave of recent immigrants that have settled in Brampton, Mississauga, and Pickering. It is from these places that Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, and Cory Joseph grew up and began their journeys to the NBA.

The game is strong in Toronto. The world is about to find out just how strong.

Murray on a super scoring tear

Jamal Murray is putting up points at a pace unlike any other player in the John Calipari era at Kentucky. The 18-year-old guard from Kitchener, Ont., went off for 35 points in a win over Florida on Saturday and he followed that up with 24 points in Tuesday's win over Georgia.

The 35 points tied a Wildcats freshman record, set by Terrence Jones in 2011, and on a larger scale, Murray's scoring spree is unprecedented in the seven years Calipari has been Kentucky's head coach. Considering the number of first-round picks who have worn Wildcats' colours during that span, including 2016 NBA All-Stars John Wall, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins, that's a pretty impressive feat. It won't be long before Murray joins them as the next first-round talent to come from Kentucky.

Nurse, Saskatchewan refuse to lose

These Canadian women simply don't like to lose. Kia Nurse and the NCAA's No. 1 ranked Connecticut Huskies are chugging toward another national championship at 23-0. Nurse's field goal percentage is down to 43%, down from 49% in her freshman year, but is still averaging 9.6 points and 2.9 assists per game. Over in CIS, the Saskatchewan Huskies are 16-0 and are four games away from a perfect regular season, with two games against Alberta and two more against Regina remaining.

Postseason play fast approaching, though, and both undefeated squads aren't without challengers. South Carolina (22-1), Notre Dame (23-1), Baylor (23-1), and Texas (21-1) are all lurking trying to knock off the defending champions. It'll be tougher for the CIS Huskies to stay unbeaten. Alberta and Regina are 16-1 and 15-1, respectively.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr