Game Isn’t Always All for Show

It’s not true that nothing memorable happens in the All-Star game, officially the centerpiece of the NBA’s three-day showcase and marketing extravaganza.

It is true that nothing has recently, however.

The last two, in Denver and Los Angeles, were generic. The 2003 game in Atlanta wasn’t memorable but it had a story line with Michael Jordan (presumably) making his final appearance.

The last interesting one was in 2001 in Washington when Larry Brown played four guards with Dikembe Mutombo as the East came from 20 points behind in the fourth quarter. The East won, 111-110, and most valuable player Allen Iverson signaled a new era, saying he didn’t want to accept the trophy before they brought up “my coach.”

To show how long ago that was in NBA years, Brown has since left Philadelphia, won a title in Detroit and left for New York. Meanwhile, the 76ers are on their third coach since he left.

Appropriately, today’s game has a Piston motif, with four of them on the East team, which is well deserved but nothing cable channel TNT was going to build an ad campaign around.

East Coach Flip Saunders, another Piston, says he’ll play all four of his guys together, although he isn’t sure who the fifth player will be.

“It doesn’t matter who it is,” said Detroit’s Chauncey Billups, laughing. “Whoever it is will just be a decoy. We ain’t running no plays for him.”

Meanwhile, the West coach, Dallas’ Avery Johnson, has his own game plan.

“I want to try to play Elton Brand probably 48 minutes since we play them [the Clippers] right after the break,” Johnson said. “We want to wear the guys out from all of our enemies.”

There is the Shaquille O’Neal-Yao Ming matchup, although that’s getting old because each is respectful of the other, they’ve been matching up for four seasons and faced each other in last season’s All-Star game too.

Last season’s duel at Denver, won in a squeaker by Shaq, 12-11, was unmemorable even to O’Neal. Asked at Friday’s media session how he felt about facing Yao again, Shaq said, “Did we do it last year? Did he start last year? So did I, right?”

No one was sure, either, so O’Neal announced, “I’m just very excited to go out there and play for the second or first time against Yao Ming.”

You think these things don’t run together? This will be O’Neal’s 13th and he says, “I don’t remember any of them.”

This used to be a real show in the days when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird talked trash, Jordan set his own mark and Kobe Bryant set about leaving one even higher.

To recap some high points:

1985 -- Jordan, a rookie, shows up at Indianapolis in his own Nike line of clothing. Because he’s the first player who ever had a line of clothing, veterans’ feelings are ruffled and talk about freezing him out during the game.

1992 -- Johnson, who has just retired because he’s HIV-positive, returns for the All-Star game in Orlando, setting off a controversy. Isiah Thomas, his former pal but now on the outs with him, leads the other players over for a group hug. Johnson gets 25 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, hits a three-pointer in the final seconds and is the runaway MVP.

1994 -- O’Neal, starting for the East in his second season, is on posters all over for his movie, “Blue Chips,” and noses are out of joint again. In the game at Minneapolis, West players swarm him, although Coach George Karl insists he had nothing to do with it. O’Neal misses 10 of 12 shots and sets out to punish all involved, putting up huge numbers whenever he plays one of the West players’ teams.

1997 -- The top 50 players of all time are introduced in Cleveland in a touching tribute. It goes over so well, they’re doing the top 60 today.

1998 -- Bryant, the youngest starter ever at 19, is shown in an NBC ad before the New York game, advancing on Jordan above the Manhattan skyline, like Godzilla and King Kong. Noses are out of joint yet again as Bryant waves off Karl Malone, who’s setting a pick for him and then takes himself out of the game. Bryant puts up 11 shots in his first 13 touches, or, notes then-Laker publicist Ray Ridder, “two less than in the rookie game” the year before. Jordan outscores Bryant, 23-18, becomes the MVP and in the greatest compliment any teenager ever got, says he didn’t want Bryant to embarrass him.

So anything could happen, in theory. Where there’s ego, there’s hope.