NBA All Star Game 2000
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 Monday, February 14
Summing up the All-Star experience
 
By Eric Karabell
ESPN.com

 
LASTING WEEKEND MEMORIES, IN QUOTES
"I wanted to start with a bang. I wanted to show people I was ready."
-- Vince Carter after the dunk contest.


"What was the favorite part? Watching Vince, of course."
-- Shaquille O'Neal after the All-Star game.


"Playing in front of your hometown, in front of your aunts, uncles, cousins and all that -- it was great."
-- Oakland native Gary Payton.


"I had 50 tickets. That's why I was playing so hard. I had to get that check for the winning team to pay the expenses."
-- The other unofficial host, Jason Kidd.


"Um, let me see ... no."
-- Jeff Hornacek, after winning the shootout and 2ball, when asked if he would compete in the dunk contest as well.


"It was raining in Oakland all weekend. But I think today there was a lot of sunshine in the gym."
-- Rookie participant Lamar Odom.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- What really matters at the All-Star Game, deep down inside, is having a good time. It must be the case, because that's all you heard the players talking about all weekend. Oh sure, the we-want-to-win line was heard ad nauseum, but nobody really believes that.

Allen Iverson had the ball in his hands a bunch for the East team on Sunday and afterward he admitted -- you can always go to The Answer for an honest answer -- that he wanted to throw more alley-oops than he did and have more fun. Yeah, he threw in the win line as well, but most of the throng of reporters listening at the time stopped writing when he started that sentence.

Here's a post-game quote from Kevin Garnett: "My whole thing was to come out and enjoy the game. And I did. I had a lot of fun."

Next, here's Iverson saying the same thing: "I wanted to have a good time. This is what it's all about. This is what life is all about."

And we could go on down the list, player after player. Does everyone in the NBA sound the same? Is it all about fun? Well, let's ask an old guy.

"It was fun to watch some of my younger counterparts going after it. I just had a good time. That's what it's all about," Alonzo Mourning said.

You know who had the best time? His name is The Amazing Eyal (No relation to Half-Man, Half-Amazing Vince Carter) and he is from Israel. And all this guy did was bounce and balance a ball off his head for three-plus minutes a number of times during the weekend. Eyal wore multiple shirts -- all but one of which he would remove while still bouncing the ball on his head -- and the bottom one he never took off was a John Starks jersey. (Someone remarked, if only Starks could use his head so effectively.) Eyal, assuming we can call him that, wore black socks with sneakers and shorts. And the ball never touched the ground until he shot it.

He got the biggest ovation of all on Sunday. That's probably because the All-Star Game -- even with its dunks and behind the back passes -- just cannot compare to what Vince Carter did on Saturday. The game is actually not all that exciting. Or maybe it was because Carter owned the weekend. At least ESPN.com users think so in the poll we have posted right now.

However, while talking to Dikembe Mutombo after the All-Star Game he made a mistake -- which could have been intentional.

"We have exciting, young guys on this team, with Grant Hill, and Vince Carter, who officially joined the league yesterday..."

The rest of the sentence didn't matter. It sounded like Mutombo could have meant was that Carter is the leader of the new NBA based on his accomplishment Saturday -- he is the new Michael Jordan. Others will score more and win more and do more things, but Vince can dunk like nobody else and that's what the fans came to see. Don't get us wrong: The fans were stoked for Sunday's game, but no single play made the crowd go insane like Vince did. And hey, The Amazing Eyal deserved that standing ovation anyway. Try balancing anything but a hat on your head and see how easy it is.

So naturally, we all wanted to know if Carter had a good time this weekend, since that's what really mattered. "It feels good to make everyone excited," Carter said. "What was most important was having a good time."

Just checking.



DEEP THOUGHTS FROM DR. JACK RAMSAY
The atmosphere of this All-Star weekend elevated the NBA. All the action, all the orchestration, the events of Saturday and last night's All-Star Game, it was a great weekend. And what I did on Friday with Dan Patrick, the interview session we had on the radio, was one of the best sessions I have ever been involved with. We talked to a lot of All-Stars.

The 2ball competition with Jeff Hornacek winning it on the last shot was great. Then Hornacek won the shooting contest as well. Vince Carter put on a spectacular display. I think the crowd really loved it. And the game on Sunday was a little loose, but had some unbelievable moments. It was all great theater, and that's what the NBA stands for. I enjoyed it.
ESPN.com's All-Star coverage



Final thoughts here and there
  • What was the media doing 45 minutes before the tipoff on Sunday? Watching in awe as Tiger Woods made up another impossible deficit. Of course, Tiger didn't win, but neither did the East team. Life will go on.

  • Maybe Karl Malone was right all along. Was it really worth it for him to: a) threaten to skip the entire weekend; b) later have his agent say he will show up; c) miss all of Friday and Saturday and likely incur a fine; d) then show up and play all of three minutes. He did manage to take a shot and get booed.

  • In the opening minute Alonzo Mourning was called for a foul. The public address announcer saw the ref give the sign for 33 with the foul and said it was Grant Hill. Who knew? Both Hill and Zo were wearing No. 33. That's OK, since Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett each wore 21. Don't other sports make sure no numbers are chosen twice? Just checking.

  • No one electrified the crowd with their moves on Sunday as much as Vince Carter had with his dunks on Saturday, but there were some pretty good efforts. Iverson took a behind-the-back pass from Carter on the baseline and flung it up on the other side of the hoop with the right hand. He was also fouled by Duncan on the play. Jason Kidd threw a bounce pass off the backboard for a Duncan dunk. Grant Hill did a fancy finger roll and got fouled. Hill and Chris Webber failed on passes off the backboard. And Shaq played point guard and drove half the court to the hoop. Shaq also did a 360 dunk, and Carter told him it was only a 9.6 out of 10.

  • Like the Amazing Eyal, the Rockets mascot was unbelievable. (There were plenty of TV timeouts for the mascots, the dancing Warrior girls and some high-flying dunking men.) We're not sure how they did this, but the mascot, about 8 feet tall and wider than Shaq, would shake and shimmy like he was having a seizure. But he was full of air as well. When he popped, the air came back in. The mascot also shook uncontrollably, but in a good way, and pinched Ray Allen's butt. The crowd loved it.

  • There were more than 1,600 members of the media from at least 42 countries. And it seemed like all of them were in the West locker room after the game. At least nobody tried to pawn off yogurt on any players at that point (see Saturday's Around The Rim). The NBA is definitely a global game.

  • The hometown Warriors didn't have anyone in the All-Star game. Antawn Jamison pulled out of the dunk contest and rookie game with an injury. But Vonteego Cummings, the Golden State rookie point guard, saved the weekend by winning the Fleer 2000 ShootAround during the All-Star Jam Session. Ah, memories.

  • The Bay area did a nice job during the weekend, but the city of Oakland had to feel left out. The talk around town was that it was a tough weekend to get momentum because there was no central meeting place and much of the activity was in another city, San Francisco. The flash flooding also didn't help. Indeed, the media traveled to The Arena from San Fran to Oakland by bus, then quickly bolted when Saturday and Sunday's events ended. And in a local newspaper on Sunday, players answered a questionaire and listed their favorite activity in Oakland as going to San Francisco. Ouch.

    Eric Karabell is the NBA editor for ESPN.com.

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    Around the Rim


    ALSO SEE
    NBA All-Star Game 2000

    West is the best in NBA All-Star Game

    Frozen Moment: Youth taking over

    Frozen Moment: Carter dunks everyone

    Carter soars to near-perfect slam-dunk victory

    Iverson now leading NBA into next century

    Around the Rim in Oakland, Saturday

    Around the Rim in Oakland, Friday

    Flashy points spice up Rookie game