An All-Star Turns Into All-Timer

Cooz. Elgin. The Mailman, the Dream and the Stilt. Larry Legend. Kareem, Magic and Big Game James. The Reds, Auerbach and Holzman. Dr. J, Billy C and the Big O.

And offense.

Offense!

The NBA pulled out all the stops on this 50th anniversary thing Sunday, bringing back most of the great players and coaches for a salute en masse, and then bringing back scoring. Talk about nostalgia.

And here of all places, ground zero for walk-it-up basketball. Strange surroundings or not, it was all-star basketball as we know it, with the East getting 115 shots and a 132-120 victory over the West before 20,592 at Gund Arena behind a record-setting 26 points from most valuable player Glen Rice.

“That was one of the reasons the crowd was lackadaisical,” said Charles Barkley, injured but on the West bench. “They are used to the Cavaliers scoring 10 to 15 points the first quarter.”

Instead, Rice got 20 in the third quarter alone, making nine of 18 attempts to break the all-star mark for points in a period. That was part of a stretch in which the East used a 44-7 charge to turn a 56-34 deficit with five minutes left before halftime into a 78-63 lead with 8:17 remaining in that third.

That he would have the big night was hardly a shock--Rice had scored 40 points in three of the previous seven games for the Charlotte Hornets. But now, he was doing it against good defenders, and a day after failing to reach the finals in the three-point contest. Sunday, against some good defenders, he was four of seven from behind the arc.

He finally came out with 52 seconds left in the third quarter, removed either for a breather or to ice down his arms, with Michael Jordan sent in to mop up. Lucky Eddie Jones. The Laker guard, making his all-star debut, had gone in about 5 1/2 minutes earlier, late enough to be off the hook for Rice’s four three-pointers, but still plenty of time to contend with his range and post-up strength and then get Jordan for the second game in a row.

Some people get congratulated for being an all-star. Jones got a blindfold and cigarette.

“But they put me on [Rice] after he got going,” Jones said.

Besides, it was a great day no matter who did their best to make it miserable--Jordan on his way to recording the first triple-double in all-star history with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists or Rice. After all the buildup because family and friends kept asking him leading up to the selection by coaches whether he would make it, after the weeks in between being picked and the weekend itself, after years of showing the flashes of a star, he had finally reached the game.

So did the butterflies, unusual for him. West teammate Mitch Richmond of the Sacramento Kings, who comes from the same area around Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., but is several years older, encouraged Jones to relax. He did.

Jones checked in with 3:59 left in the first quarter, played the rest of the period and stayed in for the start of the second. The first possession, he drove the baseline, went under the basket and twisted around to convert the reserve layup while being fouled by Rice. Three-point play.

“I was calm by then,” Jones said.

As if nobody could tell.

Jones settled down so much that he scored seven points in the quarter, blocked a shot and became an early MVP candidate since it helped the West build a 23-point advantage. That notion disappeared about the time Rice appeared, burying everyone on the other bench, but Jones finished with 10 points while making three of four shots in 17 minutes.

“A lot of fun,” he said.

Imagine if he had played more than seven minutes the second half and continued to score while the West continued to lead. He could have gone from being the MVP of the rookie game in 1995 to MVP of the big game in ’97. He’ll just have to settle for a great time.

“Just being out there competing with the top of the crop,” he said. “It was fun just being out there with them. Just being out there with these guys.”

Now to see whether Jones’ first All-Star game was Jordan’s last. Jordan said afterward it may have been, but that also could just have been the way the wind was blowing at that moment.

About two weeks ago, he said he wanted to return for 1997-98.

Saturday, he said if Bull Coach Phil Jackson didn’t come back, he wouldn’t either. Sunday, Jordan said he never said that.

Which today leaves the whole matter up in the Air.

“Could have been the last,” Jordan said. “I think the way I accepted this and had a great time is the way that I want to leave the situation, leave it smiling and saying I had a great time competing against some of the best young talent, some of the best talent in the world.

“If this so happens to be my last All-Star game, believe me, I had a lot of great situations here, the fans have been very appreciative. I’ve been very happy to entertain them in whatever capacity I have in the last nine years. I don’t have a problem saying this could be my last All-Star game.”