EAST TURN THINGS ROUND TO WIN SECOND STRAIGHT ALLSTAR GAME

 

(Image taken from NBA.com)

 

OK...Allstar weekend has been and gone and NBA players all over the world have had a blast at some point or another watching events in Houston's Toyota centre.

First event up was the NBA rookie game. One team of Sophomores vs a team of Rookies. The Sophomore side may have included Luol Deng but he wound up relativly quiet despite the Sophs running the show in the first half. And in the second half it was Sixers man Andre Igadala who came up big, dunking his way to 28 points with another Chicago Bull with UK connections Ben Gordon running as backup. Igadala picked up the MVP, Sophs won the game 106-96.

The Saturday program started with the "Shooting Stars" competition. Bottom line, each team looks to get shots in from various points on the court. Four teams involved, from San Antonio, Houston, Phoenix and LA, each made up of a current NBA player(Tracy McGrady for Houston, Kobe Bryant for LA, Tony Parker for San Antonio and Shawn Marion for Phoenix), a player from the women's WNBA and an ex-NBA player(Magic Johnson's appearing for LA). Believe it or not, Magic had an off night and so LA didn't come up with the goods. The side who did was San Antonio, made up of Parker, 90s 3-point hotshot Steve Kerr and San Antonio Shooting Stars player Kendra Wecker. Parker securing the trophy with a first time shot in from half court.

Next was the Skills Challenge, a demonstration of shooting passing and dribbling against the clock. Up for the challenge were Le Bron James, defending champion Steve Nash, Dwayne Wade and Hornets rookie Chris Paul. Nash found himself coming up ice cold shooting wise in the first roundwhile Paul had his passing skills desert him. So it was Wade vs James in the final matchup and it was there when James fell aparts, messing up his passing though he tried to make up for things later on. Wade didn't slip up though, invincible in every area to take the title.

The 3 point shootout was between Ray Allen, Gibert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, Dirk Nowitski, Knicks player Quentin Richardson(defending champion) and Jason Terry, currently playing for the Mavs alonside Nowitski. Nowitski and Allen were the form guys early on, with Richardson in particular hitting too many bricks. Nowitski vs Allen in the final and the Sonics man was red-hot early on only to run out of fuel at the end. "Danke schon" replied his German opponent, "I'll take the title then".

Finally on Saturday was the Slam Dunk contest where legends have been made. Think Kobe '97. Vince Carter '00. No big names on this occassion but Iguodala was in the mixer as was 5ft 9 Knicks rookie Nate Robinson along with defending championg Hawks Soph Josh Smith and the Grizzlies Hakin Warrick. Iguodala got a pass from Allen Iversen to allow him to come in off the backboard only for Robinson to slam it in between the legs. Robinson vs Iguodala in the final dunk off. Iguodala went behind his back only for Robinson to rope in the 5ft 6 1986 Dunk champion Spud Webb to jump over. The Sixers man still ran the Knicks man close but Robinson took the trophy.

OK...OK, we've filled up on the starters. All Star Sunday. LET'S GET READYYY TO RUMBLE! You know the score. Best in the East vs the best in the West. Only thing to tidy up was Vince Carter replacing the injured Jermaine O'Neal in the East starting line up. An orchestral attempt at "Lose Yourself" greeted the East, some R+B stuff greeted the West. Showtime!

Well LeBron James opened the scoring for the East with two points, Ming dunked to reply for the West and from there on in it's let the classy stuff begin. Neither side ever really got an edge in the first quarter so Nash showed how classy a jump shooter he was, Shaq and Wade made their presence felt. Duncan joined the party and Kobe lobbed the ball to McGrady as part of a West team effort to get the Rockets man the MVP. Shaq threw the ball of the rim during a free throw for a dunk then East coach Flip Saunders decided to overhaul his side and throw on the guys he knew best, the four Pistons players. West coach Avery Johnson had already started to shift thing around his end. The Pistons were their solid but unspectacular selves so it was the West that were the only side worth watching, only for a Paul Pierce dunk to level the match going into the end of the first quarter at 28-28.

In the second quarter, the East's dam burst, the West going on a 5-0 run before the East could do anything about it. Nash combining with ex-Mavs teammate Nowitski only for first McGrady to really take over while the East were mainly limited to free throws, T-Mac having all the space in the world to show off his skills in front of his home crowd as the West came into half time 70-53 up.

To start with in the third quarter it looked like more of the same only for the West to suddenly come up empty as the East went into smother mode. Allen Iversen finally got his shot into gear and James and Carter turned up the heat, the Cavs hotshot in particular scoring from wherever he felt like, particularly downtown and throwing assists to his teamates as well. Iversen now fully in business, the West came into half time with their lead cut to three points at 97-94.

The fourth quarter of an Allstar game is always where both sides turn up the heat looking to win and it was at this point that the Pistons had their uses. They may not be classy but credit where credit's due they know how to take care of business and they soon swung the East into the lead for the first time since the first quarter. Shaq then went on a run and Iversen set up James with a tasty assist and the game looked likefading away from the West though the Avery Johnson coached crew weren't going down without a fight, McGrady getting a second wind with Nowitski also nibbling into the West's lead before Kobe profitted from a training play to draw the West level with a fadeaway. 120-all. 32 seconds on the clock. Wade then makes it 122-120 East with 16 seconds on the clock. Carter then spectacularly misses a dunk, the ball flies off the other end but Duncan couldn't get the three pointer off in time. Game over, East win.

As for the MVP, well, McGrady may still have finished top scorer but the moral of this story is that it's all well and good trying to help a teammate to an MVP, but a class performance on a losing side hasn't counted for anything since 1990. LeBron got the MVP with a solid performance from start to finish.

Thank you Allstars. Now, back to the regular season.

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