All-Star Sunday in review
As soon as I write about how the All-Star Game needs saving, wouldn't you know that the NBA delivered a pretty good game Sunday night. It didn't feel like it early in the fourth quarter, but the West made a nice run and the finish was wonderful.
Ray Allen pretty much summed up the All-Star experience for a player afterward in saying: "In the beginning, it's like a honeymoon. Everybody's trying to show off their shoes." In case you missed it Carlos Boozer was wearing gold Nikes in the game.
Allen mentioned Carmelo Anthony putting one pair of shoes on, taking them off and putting another on. "And then," Allen added, "you throw the alley-oops, everybody's getting back, everybody gets that second wind in them."
"And by the fourth quarter," he continued, "everybody's here for a reason. Everybody has that same competitive nature. It kicks in and you want to win the game."
Allen delivered with his three three-pointers in the final 3:14. Thought he deserved to be MVP, but James is always going to win a popularity contest. The NBA released voting and it was something like nine votes for James, two for Allen and one for Chris Paul.
Loved the defense LeBron James played at the end of the game when he had to guard Tim Duncan. James deflected a Dirk Nowitzki pass to Duncan before his monster dunk in the final minute. You don't have that play without the defense at the other end.
* * *
It was a great night for injury replacements, with Allen scoring a game-high 28 points. Of course, it would have been nice if Deron Williams had gotten to play considering the charade the NBA had Kobe Bryant go through.
I understand that Bryant needs to put in an appearance as a starter if it is at all humanly possible. But to play him 2:47 was a complete joke. You have the NBA's marquee player not even taking a shot and standing at halfcourt on some possessions.
The league should have expanded the West roster by a spot and added Williams, even if it would have meant having one team with 13 players and the other 12. The West already was at a disadvantage with one player not even going three minutes.
Thought the whole Bryant thing was embarrassing. The NBA has to question whether it was well served having him make such a meaningless appearance. I think the people in New Orleans would just as soon have had Paul start.
* * *
Carlos Boozer was able to spend some time with Jazz great Karl Malone this weekend.
"I saw Karl a lot [Saturday] and we talked for about 30 minutes during the day,'' Boozer said. "He looks like he's still in good shape and can go out there and play a little bit. I had a good time with him."
* * *
Not a good commentary on the NBA's future in New Orleans that scores of seats in the upper corners of New Orleans Arena were empty Sunday. By the fourth quarter, there were more seats in some of those sections that were empty than filled.
* * *
Dwight Howard was the MVP of three quarters of Sunday's game and destroyed Yao Ming at times. In the first three minutes, Howard had an alley-oop dunk in which he got behind Yao, blocked him on defense and took a rebound from him.
That offensive rebound led to a dunk for Chris Bosh. Howard had that great volleyball dunk in the second quarter in which Jason Kidd's lob was turned into another lob by James that Howard slammed.
In the third quarter, Yao was attempting ridiculous three-pointers (he is 1-for-9 career) in a close game while Howard was dunking over him. Howard finished with 16 points and went 7-for-7 while Yao had 6 points and 5 rebounds on 2-of-5 shooting.
* * *
We'll be back here Feb. 29 for an ESPN-televised Jazz/Hornets game. I've never been a fan of New Orleans as a city until I walked around the Garden District a little Sunday. Now I think it's pretty cool and that this was a better-than-expected All-Star weekend.
--Ross Siler
Ray Allen pretty much summed up the All-Star experience for a player afterward in saying: "In the beginning, it's like a honeymoon. Everybody's trying to show off their shoes." In case you missed it Carlos Boozer was wearing gold Nikes in the game.
Allen mentioned Carmelo Anthony putting one pair of shoes on, taking them off and putting another on. "And then," Allen added, "you throw the alley-oops, everybody's getting back, everybody gets that second wind in them."
"And by the fourth quarter," he continued, "everybody's here for a reason. Everybody has that same competitive nature. It kicks in and you want to win the game."
Allen delivered with his three three-pointers in the final 3:14. Thought he deserved to be MVP, but James is always going to win a popularity contest. The NBA released voting and it was something like nine votes for James, two for Allen and one for Chris Paul.
Loved the defense LeBron James played at the end of the game when he had to guard Tim Duncan. James deflected a Dirk Nowitzki pass to Duncan before his monster dunk in the final minute. You don't have that play without the defense at the other end.
* * *
It was a great night for injury replacements, with Allen scoring a game-high 28 points. Of course, it would have been nice if Deron Williams had gotten to play considering the charade the NBA had Kobe Bryant go through.
I understand that Bryant needs to put in an appearance as a starter if it is at all humanly possible. But to play him 2:47 was a complete joke. You have the NBA's marquee player not even taking a shot and standing at halfcourt on some possessions.
The league should have expanded the West roster by a spot and added Williams, even if it would have meant having one team with 13 players and the other 12. The West already was at a disadvantage with one player not even going three minutes.
Thought the whole Bryant thing was embarrassing. The NBA has to question whether it was well served having him make such a meaningless appearance. I think the people in New Orleans would just as soon have had Paul start.
* * *
Carlos Boozer was able to spend some time with Jazz great Karl Malone this weekend.
"I saw Karl a lot [Saturday] and we talked for about 30 minutes during the day,'' Boozer said. "He looks like he's still in good shape and can go out there and play a little bit. I had a good time with him."
* * *
Not a good commentary on the NBA's future in New Orleans that scores of seats in the upper corners of New Orleans Arena were empty Sunday. By the fourth quarter, there were more seats in some of those sections that were empty than filled.
* * *
Dwight Howard was the MVP of three quarters of Sunday's game and destroyed Yao Ming at times. In the first three minutes, Howard had an alley-oop dunk in which he got behind Yao, blocked him on defense and took a rebound from him.
That offensive rebound led to a dunk for Chris Bosh. Howard had that great volleyball dunk in the second quarter in which Jason Kidd's lob was turned into another lob by James that Howard slammed.
In the third quarter, Yao was attempting ridiculous three-pointers (he is 1-for-9 career) in a close game while Howard was dunking over him. Howard finished with 16 points and went 7-for-7 while Yao had 6 points and 5 rebounds on 2-of-5 shooting.
* * *
We'll be back here Feb. 29 for an ESPN-televised Jazz/Hornets game. I've never been a fan of New Orleans as a city until I walked around the Garden District a little Sunday. Now I think it's pretty cool and that this was a better-than-expected All-Star weekend.
--Ross Siler
9:29 AM
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1 Comments:
I really hope the Jazz win on Feb 29, I'm heading to New Orleans on Mar 2 and I want to wear my DWill jersey.
No mention of Dwill's record Skills performance? I don't recall seeing it in another post either...
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