The 2001 All-Star game in Washington, DC provided NBA fans with heartwarming tributes, interesting stories, and, most importantly, some exciting basketball competition from the league's best. This weekend also marked a fulfilling homecoming trip for Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers who played his college ball at Georgetown University and grew up in the DC area.
All-Star weekend kicked off on Saturday with the annual NBA Team up! celebration. The event honors fans who have engaged in notable acts of community service by offering them a show featuring appearances from NBA all-stars, popular music stars, and other celebrities. Saturday night also featured the first basketball competitions of the All-Star weekend. The first matter of business was the Shick rookie game, which pits the best of the NBA draft classes of the past two seasons against one other. The sophomores slid by the rookies 121-113 with future all-star forward Wally Szezerbiak leading all scorers with 27 points.
His teammates on the all-second-year team included high-flying Steve Francis of the Houston Rockets who added 20 points, LA Clipper forward Lamar Odom, and Jason Terry of the Atlanta Hawks. The rookie squad included players with great potential such as Clipper 19-year-old guard Darius Miles, Chicago Bull Khalid El-Amin, Charlotte Hornet Baron-Davis, and Shawn Marion of the Phoenix Suns.
This year, the America Online 2-ball competition ended with royalty ascending the throne of victory as Sacramento Kings sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic and his WNBA teammate Bolton-Holifield combined for 128 points in the two-round competition, edging out the Cleveland duo of former Duke standout and present Cleveland Cavalier Trajan Langdon and Cleveland Rocker Eva Nemcova in the finals.
Unfortunately, the much-anticipated three-point shoot out and slam-dunk competitions could not live up to the Larry Bird and Spud Webb performances of the past. The three-point shootout, despite featuring some of the NBA's best shooters in Alan Houston of the New York Knicks, Steve Nash of the Dallas Mavericks, and Bryon Russell of the UtahJazz, disappointed, as none of the competitors put up more than 14 points. However, there was some quality shooting from 2-ball co-champion Stojakovic and Bucks All-Star Ray Allen. Allen put up impressive 20 and 19-point performances to win the competition while Stojakovic came in a close second, putting up 17 points in the second round.
The slam dunk contest was clearly the black hole in this year's all star festivities. With no All-Stars or big names, the event was destined to be a failure. The dunk competition used to feature the best dunkers in the league (legends like Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins), but now tries to help young players make a name for themselves. Although not explosive, Desmond Mason of the Seattle Supersonics provided some entertainment with his high-flying dunk over teammate Richard Lewis, and won the title by edging out Deshawn Stevenson of the Utah Jazz 89-85 in the final round.
The low point of the dunk contest had to be Davis's attempt at what he dubbed, "The Blind Man's Bluff." Trying to recapture the magic of Cedric Ceballos's successful blindfold dunk in 1993, Davis missed badly in his attempt - a fitting end to a less than intriguing slam-dunk contest.
The All-Star game itself provided some of the best drama we have ever seen in the post-Jordan era. After cruising through three quarters of play, the West had a commanding 19-point advantage over the struggling East stars. It appeared that the injury depleted and severely undersized East was living up to its reputation as the weaker conference, trailing 94-75 with less than 11 minutes left in the game.
Then the East, trying to neutralize the size advantage of the West, put in Dikembe Mutumbo. Mutumbo, a late addition to the All-Star team by NBA Commissioner David Stern, provided the East with great interior defense and rebounding power. By clogging the middle, he prevented big men Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and David Robinson from going down the middle and forced the West to rely entirely on its outside shooting.
The East got a boost from Allen Iverson, who put up an amazing 15 points in the 4th quarter on his way to 25 for the game. Iverson's squad had cut the 21-point margin to four points with four minutes left to play.
Then, thanks to a gigantic three by the New Jersey Nets' Stephon Marbury, the East pulled ahead. The last two minutes featured a fierce battle of pride between the L.A. Lakers' Kobe Bryant and Marbury. Bryant, who finished with 19 points for the West, kept the West afloat by hitting two clutch jumpers to put his team up by three with under one minute to play.
But Marbury, who was obviously excited to be in his first All-Star game, stepped up and hit three three-point baskets in the game's final 90 seconds. None was bigger than his final three that gave the East a 111-110 lead with under 30 seconds to play. Marbury's final three was all the East needed as a baby hook from Duncan missed badly at the buzzer.
Iverson was awarded the MVP trophy for his 25-point performance. The East showed that, despite a poor first half, it might have a veritable title contender among its ranks and will give every fan a reason to be tuned in for the 2nd half of the season.
