Rice Clumps His Points Together to Lead East

Glen Rice set up on the right baseline, caught Terrell Brandon’s pass and let fly. Swish! Then he shot from the left sideline. Swish! Then from beyond the top of the key. Swish again!

Three three-pointers in 49 seconds.

And that was only the beginning for Charlotte’s sweet shooter, who dominated the third quarter of Sunday night’s NBA All-Star game with a record 20 points. Rice finished with 26 and was named most valuable player as the Eastern Conference defeated the West, 132-120.

The Hornet forward also set an All-Star record for points in a half, with 24.

Following his quick flurry from long range, which capped the East’s 13-0 run to start the second half, Rice hit another three-pointer, dunked at the end of successive fast breaks, made a layup and scored on a double-pump jumper over Eddie Jones.

The East, which trailed, 53-30, midway through the second quarter, led, 92-79, by the time Rice went to the bench in the final minute of the third.

Rice’s 20 points were one more than Hal Greer scored in a quarter of the 1968 All-Star game; Rice was eight of 11 in the period, including four of five from three-point range. His 24 in the second half were one more than Wilt Chamberlain had in 1962.

Rice, scoring 25 points a game for the Hornets this season, has averaged 31 over his last 20 games to become one of the league’s hottest players.

Sunday, he even outshined Michael Jordan, the NBA scoring leader and last year’s All-Star MVP.

Jordan had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for the first triple-double in the event’s history. It also was Jordan’s first triple-double since coming out of retirement 23 months ago.

But when Jordan got off the bench to replace Rice with about 2 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter, Rice was doing so well that East Coach Doug Collins changed his mind and had Jordan sit back down. Rice followed with his double-clutch 10-footer over Jones, one of the NBA’s top defenders.