J-Speaks: Review of the 66th Annual NBA All-Star Game

The 66^th Annual NBA All-Star Game from the Smoothie King Center Sunday night on TNT had a lot of things take place. A new scoring record happened. A player on the West recorded a rare triple-double in the game and it was not any of the two leading candidates for MVP. The unofficial ambassador for the 2017 All-Star weekend made history two times over and we had highlight after highlight after highlight take place.

The Western Conference All-Stars defeated the Eastern Conference All-Stars defeated 192-182 on Sunday night.

Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans, who played in his 4^th All-Star and was selected as a starter for the second time, scored 52 points going 26 for 39 from the field and grabbed 10 boards and was named Kia All-Star Game MVP, something he said when he was announced as a starter back on Jan. 19 that he wanted to accomplish.

The 52 points broke the individual scoring record for a player in the unofficial mid-season classic, which was set by the late great Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlin’s 42-point effort in 1962.

“It was a lot of fun,” Davis, who became the 14th player to win All-Star Game MVP in home city said to TNT’s Ernie Johnson after the MVP presentation ceremony at center court. “My teammates did a great job of looking for me. They just told me set a pick and well throw it to you. So, it was a lot fun playing with these guys.”

Davis, who scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, became just the fourth player in the last 20 seasons to take home MVP honors playing the game in his home city. Future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant did it in 2011 when the game was played at the Staple Center in Los Angeles, CA. NBATV/NBA on TNT studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal accomplished that in 2009 in Phoenix, AZ when he shared MVP honors with Bryant and in 2004 when the game was played again in Los Angeles.

“I was amazing,” Davis said to Johnson. “That’s what I wanted to do it for. For the city of New Orleans and the Pelicans organization. I love this city. These guys support us each, and every night. So I wanted to get this one for them.”

Davis was not the only star that shined at the Smoothie King Center. Oklahoma City Thunder guard and MVP candidate for 2017 Russell Westbrook had 41 points, seven and five boards in 20 minutes, going 16 for 26 from the field including 7 for 13 from three-point range.

His former teammate Kevin Durant, now with the Golden State Warriors recorded the fourth triple-double in All-Star Game history with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. His teammate Stephen Curry also had 21 points and six assists. Fellow “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson had 12 points and five assists.  

James Harden of the Houston Rockets had a near triple-double of 12 points and 12 assists, along with seven boards and so did Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies with 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

For the East in a losing cause, first time All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks led nine players in double-figures with a team-high 30 points to go along with six rebounds. LeBron James, who played and started in the game for the 13^th straight season and became the first player to eclipse 300 total points in his All-Star career had 23 points on 10 for 17 shooting. His teammate Kyrie Irving, the 2014 All-Star Game MVP had 22 points, 14 assists and seven boards. Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors had 19 points while his teammate DeMar DeRozan had 16, five boards and six assists.

Boston Celtics starting lead guard Isaiah Thomas scored 20 points, while Paul George of the Indiana Pacers had 12 points and five rebounds and John Wall of the Washington Wizards had 12 points, six rebounds and four steals.

When the dust settled, a total of 374 points were scored in the game combined by both teams, a new All-Star Game record. The record for points in one quarter combined by both teams was also set, when both combined for 101 points in the first with the East leading the West 53-48 after one. The West led 97-92 after the first 24 minutes, with a new record of 189 combined points in one half.

Combined, the East and the West went 162 for 180 from the field, a clip of 57.9 percent shooting, which set a new All-Star Game record.

On top of that, the West broke the record for assists by one team in the game with 60. The West had 43.

One moment that everyone was focused on coming into the unofficial mid-season classic on Sunday night was were Durant and Westbrook going to interact with each other.

For those of you that might have been hidden under a rock for the past few months, Durant left in free agency to sign with the Warriors and he let his former teammate know of his decision via a text message, which really rubbed Westbrook the wrong way.

In the three meetings between the Warriors and Thunder this year, all won by the Warriors, Durant and Westbrook put on display an animosity that was as cold as the weather in the Northeast in January.

The two though really hid their animosity from all that watch starting at least for this game, which began in the pregame layup line when they passed the ball to each other and executed a give-and-go that was capped by Westbrook dunking a lob pass from Durant.

“OH, MY GOD! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” Curry shouted on the West bench, which was followed by the other West players throwing their hands skyward. Curry also tossed a cupful of ice water onto smiling Durant.”

“It was a nice give-and-go, man,” Westbrook said to TNT’s David Aldridge on the bench during an interview.

Durant said to Aldridge in an interview at the end of the second quarter, “It was a great basketball play. He was open so I threw the lob. He [Westbrook] can jump really high so yeah, good play.”

West head coach and head man of the Warriors Steve Kerr said that play specifically set up the West for the night.

“I guess that’s kind of the beauty of the game,” he said. “You just let the game break the ice, and that play, I thought, broke the ice.”

Opposite him for the East was head coach of the Celtics Brad Stevens, who gave his team a symbolic message of what this moment meant to him, his coaching staff and what it meant to the fans, especially the young ones in attendance and those watching on television.

“It’s an honor for us to be here and we appreciate the opportunity to be here with you guys I get asked all the time about, 'What inspired you to get into coaching? And what inspired you to want to do this? And the truth of the matter is nobody is inspired to get into coaching, it just means we weren't good enough to be players. And ultimately the people that inspired me as a kid were the Reggie Millers, were the Larry Birds, were the [Earvin] Magic Johnsons, the Michael Jordans of our era-the guys that are sitting in your shoes. And so I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to share the day with you. And I also recognize the fact of what you mean to those kids.”

He thanked the East All-Stars for allowing him and his coaching staff for the opportunity to share the day with them and what they mean to every young person that watched the game in person or at home on television.

Another great moment from this game was a highlight that was shown our men and women of our Army serving in Kabul Afghanistan had a viewing party of the All-Star Game from Bagram Airfield, sponsored by the USO and the NBA’s “Hoops for Troops.” They watched the game with former NBA players Sam Perkins and Caron Butler, former WNBA player Ivory Latta and the Vice President of Referee Operations Bob Delaney, who wore one of the late Craig Sager’s sports coats that was presented to him by his wife Stacy.

“That’s cool in itself right there,” TNT color analyst Reggie Miller said during the broadcast about that moment. “Anytime you can dawn some of Sag’s gear, but to show our people that are in harm’s way, that are protecting our freedoms here. This has to be a treat for them because I’m sure all of them have some of their favorites who are on the floor tonight.”

If there was one thing that may have made many basketball purist look at Sunday’s exhibition a little sideways was the fact that there was not a whole lot of defense played in the game. That the players were getting to the basket with no type of resistant.

Play-by-play commentator for TNT Marv Albert joked at the end of the broadcast about Miller and Chris Webber, who broadcast the game with him that even they scored a couple of times in the game.

“I think we did score tonight,” Miller said.

As far as what can be done to make the game a little more competitive, Miller said that the players must be the ones to do that.

“It’s got to come from within,” he said. “I know the fans want to see scoring and they want to see an exhibition, but it’s got to be a little bit more competitive between the two teams.”

The game was fun to watch though and at the end of the day, fans filled the arena. People watched the game in high number Guy Fieri, Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z, Dave Chappelle, John Legend, who performed during halftime, along with his wife Chrissy Teigen and the band, “The Roots,” who performed at the start of the game and introduced both teams.

On top of that, some of the games greats were in the audience like Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson to name a few.”

When less people watch and celebrities no longer attend All-Star weekend, then there is something to worry about.

The game was great. The weekend in general was great and an amazing show was put on by the players, especially Davis.

“Getting this trophy meant a lot to me,” he said. “I wanted to go out and get this trophy…Just for this city, especially all the stuff it’s been through recently with the tornado. I just wanted to make sure I came out and played hard for the city of New Orleans and get this trophy for them.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 2/19/17 8:30 p.m. of 66^th Annual NBA All-Star Game on TNT, presented by Kia, with Marv Albert, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Kristen Ledlow and David Aldridge; 2/19/17 10:30 p.m. edition of “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia on NBATV, with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal and www.nba.com/games/20170219/ESTWST#/recap.