Final thoughts
Well I’m not sure that was great basketball, but that was a great amount of basketball. Take a look at this:
Final box score from the All-Star Game. 369 total points. 139 three-point attempts. pic.twitter.com/aLvi9kJGfT
— Matt Dollinger (@matt_dollinger) February 15, 2016
Something of an anticlimactic ending, but that shouldn’t take away from what was a surprisingly entertaining All-Star Weekend. This will just about wrap things up from our end, thanks to all of you who followed the Guardian live coverage, especially those of you who contributed. Ciao!
With 41 points, Paul George was a point away from Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time All-Star record of 42 points. Lots of numbers in this game. On paper, this was an amazing game.
MVP Ceremony
Adam Silver announces that Russell Westbrook, for the second years in a row, is the All-Star MVP. First time there’s been a back-to-back winner since 1958.
The Western Conference wins the 2016 NBA All-Star Game
West 196-173 East, FINAL
Westbrook makes a three. Lowry makes a three. Curry... makes a three. And that’s an appropriate way to end this, an onslaught of points that feels more exhausting than exciting.
West 190-170 East, 1:16, 4th quarter
We’re in highlights only mode now. When Kevin Durant dunks to take the lead to 20, the West takes a timeout, mostly to pull Bryant out to a chorus of “Kobe” chants.
West 181-166 East, 2:05, 4th quarter
Okay the West has pretty much got this one.
Paul George adds another three-pointer, but it’s all padding stats at this point for the East.
West 176-155 East, 4:20, 4th quarter
Paul George makes a turnaround jumpshot. Kobe misses a three. Durant steals a bad Lowry pass and gets it Leonard, who misses a three. The East gets the rebound, oh now they slow the game down.
Westbrook hits another three. George makes a basket. Drummond steals a Kawhi pass but... double-dribbles. Time is starting to slip away.
West 173-151 East, 5:39, 4th quarter
Isaiah Thomas, who I forgot was in this game, makes a layup. Harden makes a three-pointer and the East takes a timeout. Oh and the West has scored the most points in All-Star Game history and we still have some time to go.
West 168-147 East, 6:58, 4th quarter
@HunterFelt 4th QT, when things start happening? I feel that w/the historic scoring I should have things to say. But it hasn't been exciting
— Elena V (@amariselv) February 15, 2016
It’s been very methodical, offensively. Which is impressive on paper, but not a whole lot of fun.
Curry makes a three pointer, Green makes a layup and this definitely feels like a Warriors game here.
West 163-145 East, 8:12, 4th quarter
Oh lord, Harden with back-to-back triples! This might be getting out of hand. There’s actually a stretch where players don’t hit their shots, but it’s more because they’re getting tired of scoring than defense.
Pau Gasol scores a basket for the East but... Thompson hits a three immediately afterwards. We have a TV timeout and the West might have this one easily.
Updated
West 154-143 East, 10:02, 4th quarter
Chris Paul adds five points to the West’s total. Horford hits a jumper, DeRozan dunks and the East sticks around.
West 145-136 East, 11:49, 4th quarter
Email from Jack Frost:
Last all star game I watch.... Everyone just stands around on defense.... Obviously everyone will score
It’s been a dismal start, won’t even pretend. All it takes is one well-played quarter to make a classic. (I am not holding my breathe).
Klay Thompson starts the fourth with a three-pointer to extend the West’ lead.
Updated
West 145-136 East, end of the 3rd quarter
BUT HORFORD HITS A THREE AT THE BUZZER!
West 145-133 East, 0:01, 3rd quarter
As everyone could probably guess, this is when the West respond. Aldridge makes a jumper, Davis hits two shots.
Atlanta’s Al Horford cuts the bleeding with a jumper, but a Harden three and a Paul basket extend the West’s lead.
West 132-128 East, 2:24, 3rd quarter
Paul George hits another three pointer! Man he’s on fire.
Anthony Davis makes a jumper to cut into the East’s momentum, but DeRozan hits two straight buckets in response.
Updated
West 128-121 East, 3:53, 3rd quarter
The West mostly takes out the starters, but it’s hard to call Aldridge/Harden/Thompson/Paul/Davis a “bench” per se. DeRozan is replacing LeBron for the East.
Wall grabs a Davis miss and converts it on his end. Harden responds with a 3. Anthony makes a shot... Nobody is missing anything here.
Wall makes a layup. The East are cutting that lead down.
West 123-115 East, 5:35, 3rd quarter
Leonard makes a basket for the West before the East goes on its inevitable run. John Wall makes two straight shots and assists on a LeBron score.
Kobe dishes to Westbrook for a dunk, but George makes a layup that forces the West to take a break.
West 119-104 East, 7:35, 3rd quarter
And they add a point to the West’s total, counting one of Westbrook’s shots as a three-pointer.
Carmelo Anthony does cut into the West’s lead briefly out of the break though.
West 118-102 East, 7:50, 3rd quarter
The West’s lead is down to two...
Very, very briefly. Durant hits a three, Westbrook makes a jumper, LeBron and Wade miss on the other end... and oh boy
Curry drunks. Durant passes to Westbrook for a three, and then again for a long jumper and oh man does the East need to take this timeout.
West 102-100 East, 9:34, 3rd quarter
Curry hits a three, George answers with yet another one. Durant dunks. It’s a very modern basketball approach here until Wade makes an old-fashioned jumper.
West 97-95 East, 10:29, 3rd quarter
Durant makes it a 7 point lead, before Paul George adds two more points to his game-leading total.
Oh and then he adds an additional 3.
We're back!
West 95-90 East, 11:37, 3rd quarter
Steph Curry starts things up with a three-pointer, of course, and the West extend their lead to 5.
Paul George is leading all players in points, with 16, and first names, with 2.
Updated
Can’t get enough Sting? Here are 47 minutes of NBA highlights set to one of his albums https://t.co/AKiBLS8i8A pic.twitter.com/WW4Z1NOtmH
— SI NBA (@si_nba) February 15, 2016
HARD PASS
Kobe Bryant watch: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.
Email from Nicholas Bonnell:
182 points...something Warriors might do if they were hot and didn’t take 4th quarter off....
He’s not wrong.
#AndreDrummond Position. #AndreDrummond Rebound. #AndreDrummond Finish. 💪 #NBAVine https://t.co/GxLoCXOVVu
— NBA (@NBA) February 15, 2016
Standing Around And Watching is a very big defensive move tonight.
If you’re going to have Sting sing halftime at the highest scoring All-Star Game ever, why not have him play “Murder By Numbers?”
Hey look it’s Sting! He’s singing “Every Breath You Take.” This is a song about stalking someone! Why is this happening? I’d rather have the pretentious clowns.
Wait, how are the West leading again?
The East had the advantage for most of the game but they let it slip late in the second quarter. Looking back at my notes (a.k.a. the play-by-play), it was mostly Kawhi Leonard’s doing. Down 79-82, Leonard made a basket to cut it to a single point deficit. Westbrook put the West ahead by a point, and then Leonard scored five straight. They held on to the halftime buzzer.
I remember none of this, I feel like I was hit by a bus.
@HunterFelt So far, the best part of this All-Star game is what happened the previous two days.
— Elena V (@amariselv) February 15, 2016
Again, never judge an All-Star Game until the fourth quarter, if this is still a close game by then we’ll suddenly see a real game emerge.
Right now the NBA has apparently set this on Practice Mode.
Halftime!
We’re well on our way to the highest scoring All-Star Game in history! That’s exciting, unless you’re trying to keep track of it in real time.
West 92-90 East, end of the first half
The West take a time out probably to figure out whether they have the lead or not (they do! two points). Kobe ads to that with a layup. Paul George hits a basket to cut the West’s lead. Anthony hits the final shot... and at halftime buzzer, after all that furious scoring, it’s still a two-point game.
182 points people. 182 points.
West 88-86 East, 1:15, 2nd quarter
There is no freaking way that I can even recap a general sense of what’s going on here. 88-86 is a final during some regular season games. This is the all-time record for first half scoring in an All-Star Game, 174 points combined.
West 77-80 East, 3:43, 2nd quarter
And LOTS OF SCORING HAPPENS!
Players keep trading baskets here faster than the human eye can record, or at least this human eye.
When the dust clears, after LeBron has set up New York’s Carmelo Anthony for a layup, it’s a 3 point game.
West 67-71 East, 5:13, 2nd quarter
After a timeout from the East, Kobe misses a shot (that’s better), that’s rebounded by Lowry, who gets it to LeBron James who finds Drummond for two points.
Steph Curry misses a three, but Leonard recovers it and gets it to Cousins for a definitive dunk. Some good ball movement here from both teams. (Squads?)
West 65-69 East, 5:54, 2nd quarter
Kobe makes a three pointer, dashing my dreams of him tossing airball after airball. LeBron responds with a three of his own, because everything in this game is going the opposite of the regular season.
Nevermind, Steph hits a three. We’ve seen that quite a bit in the regular season, it cuts the East lead down to one point.... for a few seconds until Kyle Lowry hits a trey of his own.
West 59-63 East, 7:28, 2nd quarter
Pau Gasol is on the line after a Chris Paul foul. He makes one of two shots. Golden State’s Draymond Green makes the rebound. LeBron James comes back in the game for Gasol after he commits a foul.
DeMarcus Cousins hits a three, assisted by Curry.
West 56-62 East, 7:35, 2nd quarter
Pau Gasol, who replaced teammate Jimmy Butler on the roster, then makes a non-free throw shot (although in the All-Star Game, it kinda feels like most shots are pretty free).
Chris Paul his a three. Detroit’s Andre Drummond dunks in response. Paul finds Harden undereneath the basket. Lowry finds Gasol for a basket. Paul finds Harden for a three.
It’s a great back-and-forth rhythm that is broken up by the fact that TNT has bills to pay and commercials to show us.
West 48-56 East, 9:17, 2nd quarter
The East’s three-point shooting percentage gets better as Chris Paul makes one. Then Wall, yes Wall again, makes a layup.
Then, oh wow, someone actually got fouled. Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins fouls Chicago’s Pau Gasol, who makes both free throws to add to the East’s lead.
West 45-52 East, 9:57, 2nd quarter
The East keeps pushing it. DeRozan scores, Wall hits a 22 foot shot and then Wall hits a three-pointer. What a start for Wall!
West 43-45 East, 11:10, 2nd quarter
The West are just 1-for-14 from the 3-point range, but they’re only 3 points behind. That might actually be bad for the East, because no way that stays true.
Wall dunks to open the 2nd.
And, hey there, 3 Point Champion Klay Thompson makes a three for the West, so make that 2-for-15.
Updated
West 40-43 East, end of the 1st quarter
And there’s a (guess what) scoring frenzy to end the first quarter. DeRozan dunks, Atlanta’s Paul Millsap hits a three and the East take a five point lead.
Make that a seven point lead, John Wall lays one down.
But Chris Paul finds Anthony Davis not once, but twice, for a basket, to cut into the East’s lead.
West 36-36 East, 1:36, 1st quarter
Kobe Bryant is sitting, he has three assists in the game, just what we all expected. Out of the timeout, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge picks off Washington’s John Wall and scores.
Boston’s Isaiah Thomas scores first, a layup that adds to the East’s lead, but only briefly as, and this is a cool sentence to type, the Clippers’ Chris Paul finds Houston’s James Harden, who makes a three pointer to tie the game up.
West 31-34 East, 2:43, 1st quarter
Paul George makes a three pointer, and then we get contributions from the first substitutions into the game. DeMar DeRozan impresses his home crowd with a dunk for the East. The Pelicans’ Anthony Davis, responds with a layup for the West.
The West takes a timeout to give me a chance to type that all out.
West 25-27 East, 4:35, 1st quarter
A little more defense, meaning some, coming out of the timeout. There are several fruitless possessions before Wade makes a two-pointer, one answered by Kobe Bryant.
West 23-25 East, 5:41, 1st quarter
Durant hits a shot, one that’s immediately answered by Paul George’s three-pointer.
And THEN the West comes back. Steph makes a layup and teammates Durant and Westbrook combine for 6 points to force the East to take their first timeout.
West 13-22 East, 7:05, 1st quarter
And then the East goes crazy. Lowry with a three and then an assist to LeBron who makes a two-pointer and Paul George adds a three.
West 11-12 East, 8:38, 1st quarter
George makes a layup, then Anthony fouls Kobe who makes one of two free throws for his first point of the game. Kobe adds to his numbers with an assist to Westbrook to bring the West within one.
West 8-10 East, 9:11, 1st quarter
Paul George makes a three-pointer for the East. Durant dunks in response. Wade makes a shot, Kawhi misses a three pointer, LeBron gets the rebound but makes a bad pass that’s swept up by Westbrook who tosses to his teammate in Durant who makes his shot.
Updated
West 4-5 East, 10:51, 1st quarter
LeBron scores the first points for the East, then Kawhi Leonard responds with a two-pointer. Kyle Lowry makes the first three of the contest.
Opening tip
West 2-0 East, 11:45, 1st quarter
Russell Westbrook wins the tip and immediately dunks for the West.
Kobe (18) 2nd all-time to Kareem (19) in All-Star selections. Only 13 players in NBA history have more than Dwyane Wade's 12. LeBron also 12
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) February 15, 2016
Kobe speaks: He’s been extremely fortunate, he hopes his children get the chance to play for 20 years, and he has to “go get loose.” Well, props to him for keeping it short.
@HunterFelt Ahem. https://t.co/7V33wGsXXo
— janice (@chestnuthell) February 15, 2016
Did Guy Fieri do to cooking shows what Kobe Bryant did for basketball? I feel like there’s an argument.
Magic Johnson is here to talk a bit about...
Well, what do you think he’s here to talk about? Kobe “has blessed all of us with 5 NBA championships.” All meaning “Lakers fans and Lakers fan exclusively,” I assume.
And a video tribute for Kobe. This is going to be the All-Kobe Game, isn’t it? For comedy reasons alone, I hope he shoots 20 times and misses every single one.
Russell Westbrook might already have MVP honors wrapped up (via @Steve_OS) pic.twitter.com/jZxoxJTKfJ
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) February 15, 2016
Nelly Futardo sings “O Canada” and... um. Listen, I really loved “Promiscuous” back in the day, so I’m just going to say that she tried very hard.
Meanwhile on Twitter, this is still happening.
NBA All-Star Game – live!: Email hunter.felt@theguardian.com with your thoughtsOr tweet him @HunterFelt 1.08am... https://t.co/Jyz7rFCHFs
— detikcom (@detik_corn) February 15, 2016
...Oh that’s right, Kobe Bryant, playing for the West for the last time. I’m already a little worn out by this.
And the Starters
But screw those guys! They don’t get Drake! Drake is for starters. Kyle Lowry is announced first, getting a huge cheer. Then it goes to Kawhi Leonard, for the West. Paul George, from the East. Steph Curry, for the West.
This is stupid, why do they alternate them like this? Announce them as teams, at least pretend this a game.
Then comes Carmelo Anthony, for the East. Russell Westbrook, for the West. Dwyane Wade, for the East. Kevin Durant, for the West. LeBron James, for the East.
Who’s left?
Player introductions
Oh hey, actual basketball players! Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan gets one of the bigger ovations among the reserves, as one would expect.
Next All-Star Game, I demand Kabuki.
Cirque du Soleil is currently performing because... I got nothing. Maybe it’s supposed to properly set our expectations about how physical this game is going to be?
Okay, so I have about 30+ notifications that all look like this.
#News NBA All-Star Game – live!: Email hunter.felt@theguardian.com with your thoughtsOr tweet him @HunterFelt ... https://t.co/oIE3rU8IwP
— #NEWS (@Samsungsphones) February 15, 2016
I won’t lie, I feel kind of powerful right now knowing that I have an army of Spambots that are willing to do my bidding.
With all of the hoopla about the Dunk Contest, we should take some time to at least mention that Klay Thompson won the 3 Point Contest last night. Good for him, right?
Hot Debate Topic
Should Aaron Gordon have actually won the Dunk Contest last night rather than Zach LeVine?
Hot Debate Answer:
Fun with coaching match-ups:
While normally, the head coaches for the All-Star team are the coaches who have led their teams to the top of their respective coaches. However, a series of events has made that a bit difficult.
Luke Walton coached the Golden State Warriors for most of the season, filing in for the recuperating Steve Kerr. Because of this split-duties, Walton never technically “won” those games that he won, instead the league chose the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich to coach the Western Conference All-Stars.
Meanwhile in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been the top team for most of the season. However, they let head coach David Blatt go a few weeks ago. So, new coach Tyronn Lue will head the Eastern Conference All-Stars. (It still would have been hilarious for Blatt to retain the gig, just to see him have to coach LeBron one more time. Awkward.)
Kobe Bryant
Obviously, the big story of the All-Star Game is that it is Kobe Bryant’s last one. I suppose it would be a slightly better story if, well, Bryant actually deserved to be anywhere near the All-Star Game, let alone being voted into it as a starter. But, hey, his fans wanted to see him in this game, and I suppose there’s a value in sentimentality.
At least home court advantage in the NBA Finals isn’t on the line. *side-eyes baseball*
Temperature
The current temperature in Toronto is 12 degrees Fahrenheit, which is actually warmer than here in Somerville MA. Plus, Air Canada Centre currently has full heat, while my apartment kind of doesn’t.
This is mostly here as a notice if I disappear for an unusual amount of time it’s possible that the repairman has arrived or I have died of frostbite. Either, really, would be a welcome relief.
Preamble
Welcome to the NBA All-Star game where the Eastern Conference All-Stars will play against the Western Conference All-Stars for… Well, for nothing really. It’s an exhibition game, after all. That doesn’t mean that it won’t be exciting to watch the best players in the world show off their skills in a complete vacuum (i.e. a game where nobody plays defense).
I’m actually excited for this game. Now, I can hardly believe it’s possible, but I think this NBA All-Star Weekend has actually been entertaining? We had a solid Rising Stars game, one of the best dunk contests in history and something interesting even happened in the celebrity game! Not even Kevin Hart has been able to ruin it!
Hopefully that good fortune will carry over here into the All-Star Game itself. Although it gets slagged a lot, the NBA All-Star Game, unlike its equivalents in the NHL and the NFL, actually can resemble a a competitive contest, particularly if it ends up being a close match by the fourth quarter. You can almost see players flipping the switch in real time once they realize there’s a game on the line. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this doesn’t end up with a line like a Warriors/76ers game.
Oh, hey, and if you want to join in the fun, send your comments to the Guardian via email (to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) or tweet them to @HunterFelt. The All-Star Game itself is set to begin at 8:30pm EST, but we’ll be back before then.
Updated
Hunter will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Dave Schilling on Win Butler’s run-in with ESPN on Friday night:
Leave it to the frontman of a Canadian band to ruin a pure American spectacle like the NBA All-Star celebrity game. Win Butler, lead singer of indie-pop-arena-noise-dance-rock band the Arcade Fire, accepting his trophy as the Most Valuable Player, took his golden opportunity to speak to the millions of sleepy, bored fans who tolerated two hours of horrible flailing alleged to be basketball and relayed a political message about the relative merits of Canada’s public health care system. As you might have guessed, that didn’t go over too well with the good people at ESPN, which televised the “game”. Butler told the audience that America could learn a few things from Canada’s system, and before you could say “single-payer”, ESPN’s Sage Steele shut him down, making it very clear that :“We’re talking about celebrity stuff, not politics.” Thank God. The last thing I want from my novelty basketball game is anything that actually matters to the fate of the planet. Hopefully Sage gets a raise for her quick thinking.
And what a spectacle it was. The word “celebrity” gets tossed around so cavalierly these days, what with your Kardashians and your YouTubers and what not. Fortunately, this event did not disappoint in the star power department. Megawatt celebs like Nick Cannon, Joel David Moore, the Property Brothers and someone named Terrence J performed true feats of athletic wonder – bricking free throws, flinging errant outlet passes and airballing wide-open three-pointers for two ungodly hours of abject horror. When not shaming the sport worse than a collection of sugar-addled toddlers tripping over their own shoelaces, the audience was treated to several plugs for the upcoming Jesse Owens biopic Race, starring Jason Sudeikis and Stephen James, both players in the game. Sudeikis actually seemed refreshingly comfortable playing basketball, unlike many of his fellow competitors. He buried a few contested threes, showed a confident handle when carrying the ball, and finished a reverse layup that made me sit up and take notice. He was good enough that I could forgive the constant shilling for his film.
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