2.18.07 -- 1:52 p.m., ET -- The 56th Annual NBA All-Star Game is in the books and although LeBron James had yet another spectacular game, the East was thoroughly drubbed by a Western Conference team that broke a record for points in regulation.
James led the East with 28 points, going 11-for-20 from the floor and 4-for-8 from three-point range. He led the starters with six assists and grabbed six boards. His stellar performance wasn’t enough to bring his club back, as was the case last year in Houston when the East erased a 21-point deficit and the young King was named the game’s MVP.
“This time (the West) didn’t miss shots when they got behind,” said LeBron. “Last year, we got behind but they started missing shots and we were able to get back into it. They definitely played well and they have the All-Star title back.”
Kobe Bryant won this year’s MVP and he looked like a guy who really wanted to win it. Kobe finished with 31 points – the only starter in double-figures for the West – going 13-for-24 from the floor.
He and James did battle in the fourth quarter and have now met every four days for the past week-and-a-half. This is the first of the three meetings, though, that Kobe’s club has come out on top. I can assume that LeBron is content with the first two.
“Kobe Bryant is a guy I love competing against and I’m sure he feels the same way about me,” said James after the game. “I just wanted to compete until the last second. You don’t want to go out there and start messing around – that’s how injuries happen.”
The game itself was somewhat of a yawner. Aside from Wayne Newton’s open and Shaquille O'Neals sweet juke against Mehmet Okur at the top of the key, the crowd at Thomas & Mack were less than riveted.
Despite the Western Conference blowout, James and Co. still had a blast over the weekend.
“We always have fun All-Star Weekend,” smiled LeBron. “It’s an opportunity to come together for the fans. And their dream is to get every one of their favorite players in the same building and we were able to accomplish that. It’s been everything and more.”
James returns to his red-hot Cavaliers club – which is a missed rebound from a five-game win streak – on Monday night and the Wine and Gold will hit the road for the first half of a back-to-back in Toronto. On Thursday, The Q should be jumping as the Bulls roll into town for their third meeting of the year.
Damon Jones didn’t win the FootLocker Long-Distance Shootout – “Even the Greatest Shooter in the World has a bad night every now and again,” said Jones – but his 15-point total was a respectable number. Jeff Hornacek won it in 2000 with 13; Craig Hodges won it with 17, and in 1988 – the year Larry Bird famously walked away while his final money-ball was in the air – 17 points was all it took in the final round.
The all-time record for points in the final round of the Shootout, formerly held by Cavalier great, Mark Price, who put up 24 in 1994, is now held by former Cav Jason Kapono, who shattered the record with 25 points. Price still holds the All-Star Game record for three-pointers made with six, when he led the East to an overtime win in 1993. In that game, played at the Delta Center, Price finished with 19 points and the trio of Cavaliers – Price, Brad Daugherty and Larry Nance – shot a combined 12-for-19 from the floor. On the All-Time list of three-pointers made, Price is behind Magic Johnson with nine.
The DJ may not have accomplished his goal on Saturday night, but he still did well for himself on Sunday. The effervescent Jones was enlisted by NBATV to do red carpet interviews and he was able to speak with Mya, Eva Longoria and Gabrielle Union. Jones also interviewed, among other celebs, Deion Sanders, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mark Cuban, Ludacris, the Maloofs and, of course, Carrot Top.
Carrot Top, whose career was thought to be over to the outside world, is still flourishing in Vegas, according to the billboards of him everywhere. Apparently, Louie Anderson, David Hasselhoff and Don Rickles are still relevant in Sin City as well.
Allen Iverson can certainly afford it, but the Answer’s wallet will be a little lighter upon this reading. He still hadn’t shown up to the Thomas & Mack Center when team photos were being taken at 3 p.m. PT on Sunday before the All-Star Game.
Overheard on an elevator in Vegas: Knicks forward David Lee – the MVP of this year’s T-Mobile Rookie Challenge – was sporting a black eye coming into the weekend. Noticing the shiner, someone asked him what the other guy looked like and Lee responded: “He looked just like Tim Thomas.”
The Cavaliers Vegas odds for winning the NBA Championship are listed at 25-1 – despite opening the season at 12-1. The Indians are listed at 30-1 to win the World Series; 15-1 to take the American League pennant. Ohio State is 4-1 to win the NCAA Championship and the Browns are 100-1 to win next year’s Super Bowl.
Las Vegas icons Siegfried and Roy delivered a message to NBA fans before Sunday’s All-Star Game and Roy Horn – who was critically injured in 2003 when he was bitten by a seven-year-old tiger – is still in quite bad shape. He moves very slowly and needs assistance and was having a very rough time reading the teleprompter in pre-game rehearsal.
It was rumored that tickets for Sunday’s All-Star Game – a 153-132 blowout – were fetching up to $8000 apiece.
If you asked a Cavaliers fan who was the only rookie to play on an All-Star team, the answer you’d invariably get would be LeBron James or perhaps Ron Harper. But the correct answer is John Johnson, who played in the 1971 mid-season classic in the Cavaliers’ first year of existence.
Seen in a bar in Las Vegas: At a party for his sister, Silka, Dirk Nowitzki on stage with a German band – lederhosen and all – playing a ukulele. (The band was wearing lederhosen; not Dirk.)
Years ago, if two players had the same number, one player would defer to the other with more experience. This is no longer the case as both Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett donned No. 21 for the West.
Shaquille O’Neal missed his first two alley-oop dunks of the All-Star Game. When he finally threw the third one down, he kissed Tracy McGrady on the head on his way back down the court for letting him do it. For comedic quality, that ranks just behind Dick Bavetta slapping TNT’s Ernie Johnson on the behind after being introduced and a spectator during Sunday night’s game repeatedly yelling “Dee-fense!”
Dick Bavetta is introduced before his eagerly-awaited foot-race against Charles Barkely.
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2.17.07 -- 11:13 p.m., ET -- The NBA All-Star Game has become the biggest mid-season spectacle in sports and part of the reason is All-Star Saturday Night. As many – (or more) – memories have been made on All-Star Saturday Night as in the All-Star Game itself.
There was Larry Bird’s sharp-shooting performance in 1988 in Chicago, when he walked into the locker room before the competition and asked who was going to finish second. The Slam Dunk Contest has provided Cedric Ceballos blindfolded, Vince Carter between the legs, Michael Jordan from the foul line and of course, simply Spud.
This year, the Cavaliers sent two participants to Saturday night’s festivities, but both LeBron James and Damon Jones were knocked out in the first round of their respective events. LeBron James, who finished second to Dwyane Wade in last year’s PlayStation Skills Challenge, put up a final time of 35.4 seconds in his first run-through and was knocked out by Wade on his first run.
Damon Jones fared a little better, pouring in 15 points his first foray into the Three-Point Shootout. But Gilbert Arenas followed up by dropping 23 points on the competition. Jones was knocked out, and it was former Cavalier Jason Kapono who got the win, blowing by Arenas and last year’s winner, Dirk Nowitzki, for the title.
In the Slam Dunk Contest, last year’s winner – New York’s Nate Robinson – threw down a pair of impressive dunks, including a 360 off the backboard that charged up the Vegas faithful. But it was Boston’s Gerald Green who took top honors by dunking over a table after taking off from just inside the foul line.
On Green’s first dunk, he went old school and donned a Dee Brown jersey before pumping up his shoes and going no-look over the top of Robinson’s head.
Michael Jordan was stingy with the scoring before acquiescing and giving it up for Green.
But the most entertaining event – by far – of the night, was the charity foot-race between TNT analyst and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley and 67-year-old referee, Dick Bavetta.
The Thomas and Mack Center was electric as the two lined up for the race, three and half times up and down the court, with $50,000 – or as Sir Charles said “two blackjack hands” – going to the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas.
Barkley got off to two false starts and, in an ominous sign, Bavetta couldn’t seem to get out of his warm-up pants.
Once the race was on, it was close with Sir Cumference pulling ahead on the second time up the court. He back-peddled to the finish line, flopping backwards for the win. Bavetta made a last-gasp dive – and bloodied his knee in the process – but finished just short.
Ernie Johnson tried to interview the winner, but a winded Barkley asked him to go to Bavetta first.
“I honestly thought I could win the race,” said Bavetta, who called for a rematch immediately following the race. “I had no doubt in my mind that I could do the prescribed distance. It was just questionable what Charles could do.”
“But like I said at the beginning, you never underestimate the heart of a champion.”
On Sunday night, it’s for real as the league’s best go at it in the 56th annual NBA All-Star Game.
This Canadian reporter used his head; extending his microphone reach with a hockey stick.
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2.17.07 -- 5:07 p.m., ET -- On Friday afternoon, LeBron James went through his (now annual) All-Star media session and showed why the 22-year-old is already a savvy veteran with pundits and paparazzi – some normal and some not.
Media day – like much of All-Star Weekend – is nothing short of a zoo. It’s a feeding frenzy for the international media, which doesn’t get the opportunity that Cleveland scribes get to interact with the Chosen One on a daily basis.
I could write about what went on in the session – like Boris Becker interviewing Dirk Nowitzki or the crazy Canadian reporter asking each All-Star to be his best man – but LeBron got a chance to answer some questions he’s not normally asked. Here’s a few of his responses …
On why there aren’t more posters of him around Vegas, considering he was last year’s All-Star MVP …
“I really don’t understand it. I don’t have an answer -- maybe we can go to Kinko’s and get some posters printed up and put them up on the walls around here.”
On when the playing around stops and the players start focusing on winning …
“Second half. First half you get a lot of turnovers with guys throwing alley-oops and everyone taking long jumpers, but in the second half, it can get pretty serious. The Eastern Conference – we want to win the game; we want those bragging rights of winning it again.”
On the Cavaliers heading into the All-Star break …
“It ended great. For us, it could have ended a lot worse because we weren’t playing inspired basketball at one point. But we got to a point where we said: ‘Hey, guys. It’s time to play Cavs basketball. And the way we ended going into the All-Star break was perfect, especially getting a big win (Thursday) night at the Staples Center.”
On one thing that’s strange about Vegas …
“You never know what time it is until you walk outside.”
On his family after winning the All-Star MVP trophy last year …
“They were a little more excited than me. For me to hold up that trophy in front of all the fans and all my family is something special to my mom and my whole family. And when the MVP Trophy finally came home in the mail, it made it reality that I was the All-Star MVP at 21 years old. It was awesome.”
On the difficulties of shooting commercials in the off-season …
“It’s easy. You find a day when you’re not doing much of anything and you coordinate it and get it done. They fly you out there and you make the magic.”
On choosing which commercials to do …
“I don’t shoot any commercial that’s not me. If it doesn’t fit my personality; if it doesn’t fit who LeBron is – I don’t shoot them. You see all TheBrons and it’s funny and that’s the type of character I am. I’m not going to go out there and not reflect who I am.”
Who he likes in the Dick Bavetta-Charles Barkley foot-race …
“I like Bavetta. Because I’ve seen Bavetta run down the court alongside me for four years and I haven’t seen Charles run up and down the court in a long, long time. We’re with Bavetta all the way – 110 percent. All things being even, there’s no way (Charles) can win.”
On which celebrity he’d like to meet that he hasn’t …
“Bill Clinton. Because he’s the president that I grew up with. And I loved his style and the way he did things. He was out in the open – he came to football and basketball events. So Bill Clinton is definitely a guy I want to meet.”
On his fame being too much sometimes …
“At times it can be. But it never stops me from going out and being part of public life. I go out – I go to the movies or the mall. I go out to eat. So I think my home city of Akron, they respect my private life and when I’m out they respect what I’m doing.”
Whether he’s ever made a bad investment …
“I bought a Lamborghini Gallardo in Cleveland, Ohio. I sold it. I lost a couple dollars. I traded it in for a Mercedes Benz.”
On Gilbert Arenas’ recent comments that LeBron doesn’t like to take the last shot …
“I didn’t go crazy when I heard it. Gil’s a good guy; I know Gil personally. I joked with him about it. I hit two game-winners that put him out of the playoffs. I didn’t overreact and say, ‘Why’d he say that?’ Gil’s a good friend of mine.”
On Damon Jones in the FootLocker Long-Distance Shootout …
“He’s definitely an underdog right now – behind Dirk and Gilbert Arenas. But I will be there cheering and I’m hoping he doesn’t let us down.”
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