I woke up last Sunday morning (err, afternoon) with a severe All-Star Saturday Night hangover. No, not from the amount of beer I consumed (roughly six), but from the lack of excitement that the evening’s events provided. Indeed, I needed something to get me into a good basketball mindset, if I was going to have any chance of having interest once the game rolled around at 8:30. So as I flipped through the channels (enjoying a frosty Coors Light at around 1 p.m.) I stopped at ESPN Classic, figuring they would have some All-Star themed programming for me to partake in. And what they had in store fore me was quite glorious…six straight hours of three back-to-back vintage Michael Jordan era All-Star games! It was one of those television discoveries when you think to yourself, “well I’m not doing anything else for the next six hours,” and then realize how sad that is shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, I was all set to take a trip back to early nineties basketball nostalgia. An era when Ahmad Rashad’s Inside Stuff was my SportsCenter, when NBA mascots actually qualified as C-list celebrities, and above everything else, when the talent of today was paired with the fundamentals of yesterday; all before the 96 draft came around and officially changed everything.
The 1993 All-Star Game:
East Squad Starting Lineup-
Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Johnson, Scottie Pippen
Reserves-
Patrick Ewing, Dominique Williams, Joe Dumars, Detlef Schrempf, Larry Nance, Mark Price, Brad Daugherty
West Squad Starting Lineup-
John Stockton, Clyde Drexler, David Robinson, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley
Reserves-
Hakeem Olajuwon, Shawn Kemp, Dan Majerle, Tim Hardaway, Terry Porter, Danny Manning, Sean Elliot
This game took place at the pinnacle of the Jordan Era, when he was fresh of two straight titles, and was dominating a league filled with future Hall of Famers. At the same time, it started to feel like the other players began to hate Jordan for his global domination, and his ball hogging (he took a game high 24 shots). Nonetheless, this was a great All-Game show. In the opening minutes, Jordan got the ball and was defended one-on-one by his West Coast nemesis Drexler, and the crowd went nuts (suffice to say, Kobe getting guarded by LeBron does not create the same response today). The game went into overtime, with the West edging out a victory 135-132. This was the year the game was played in Salt Lake City, and Malone and Stockton “conveniently” won co-MVP honors (alright, they deserved it). The best part about watching these games is seeing all the old players who were once considered All-Stars, and then comparing that to where they are at now. An interesting case is Larry Johnson, who started for the East. This was during his grandmamma phase, a Converse ad campaign in which he dressed up like an old woman, and schooled players on the court (at least that’s how I remember it). It even landed him a gig on Family Matters, solidifying LJ as one of the most popular players in the league. Looking back at the grandmamma phenomenon…it really didn’t make too much sense. If anything it provided an early inspiration for the movie Big Mamma’s House. Also in this game was “Thunder” Dan Majerle, another very popular player in the era. Does anyone remember that this guy made four straight All-Star teams? Neither did I.
The 1998 All-Star Game:
East Squad Starting Lineup-
Penny Hardaway, Michael Jordan, Dikembe Mutombo, Shawn Kemp, Grant Hill
Reserves-
Tim Hardaway, Glen Rice, Reggie Miller, Rick Smits, Antoine Walker, Steve Smith, Jayson Williams
West Squad Starting Lineup-Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett
Reserves-
Vin Baker, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel, David Robinson, Mitch Richmond, Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan
Wow, where do I start with this one. For those of you who don’t know, this game took place in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, and pinned an aging Jordan against an emerging young Kobe. The Lakers had four All-Stars in this game, with Shaq being the only deserving candidate. Regardless, this game epitomized the dawn of the NBA’s Hip Hop era (minus Iverson, who didn’t start making All-Star teams until his fourth year). The contrasting style of old school vs. new school was pretty apparent when Marv Albert commentated on Garnett’s first bucket. “That’s third year player Kevin Garnett - they call him Da Kid,” said Albert, in one of the worst slang attempts by a middle-aged white man in televised history. At the same time, the game was still “nineties alternative rock era” enough that when a timeout was called, they played the “Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Mmm” song by Crash Test Dummies over the speakers, which I guess was used to capture the downtime of play calling. Nonetheless, it was a pretty eerie changing of the guard. But the thing that got me buzzing the most was the East’s bench. Antoine Walker was a young, cocky second year overachiever who also embodied the new NBA star (he even had his little shimmy back then that he would do after hitting a shot). Then you have Tim Hardaway inserted into the game, which would have been totally normal 15 days ago, when his anti-gay feelings weren’t exposed. Now watching it, I can only imagine how uncomfortable he was playing in New York, what with all the gays. If a homophobic point guard wasn’t enough, the East also had Jayson Williams come off the bench, who kind of, sort of…killed a guy. It was pretty surreal to watch both guys on the court, while buzzed and a tad bit stoned. But aside from the interesting sub-plots of the bench players, the game was just damn good. Sure the East had a washed-up Kemp starting, and a dark foreshadow in Penny (Marv commented “Penny whose stayed healthy most of his career, missing most of the first half of the season with an injury. Penny got re-injured after the break, missed the rest of the season and was never the same again). Jordan still dominated a game in which young players like Kobe (impressive but sloppy) and Eddie Jones (taking way too many shots) were trying to make their marks. It kind of made this specific timeframe all the more intriguing, knowing that all Jordan could do was school them in his waning hours (final score, East 135-114), win one more title in the spring, and leave the hip-hoppers the reigns when he retired. And that’s exactly what happened until….
The 2003 All-Star Game:
East Squad Starting Lineup-
Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan, Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O’Neal
Reserves-
Brad Miller, Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Jamal Mashburn, Zydrunas Ilgauskus
West Starting Lineup-
Steve Francis, Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan
Reserves-
Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal, Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury, Gary Payton, Peja Stojakovic
Pretty interesting All-Star game for many reasons. For starters, there was a huge voting controversy in which a still developing, rookie Yao was voted in over a still dominating, veteran Shaq, because more Chinese people voted for him than Americans do in the general election. The Diesel kept his cool, but was obviously not thrilled about coming off the bench for the rest of his All-Star career (does anyone else consider that have something to do with his bolt to the East?) Another interesting thing of note (especially for Knicks fans) was the West’s starting point guard, Steve Francis. That’s right - Francis was once popular and “just” good enough to start All-Star games. Watching him only four years ago, it’s like looking at a totally different player. The guy used to be really toned and ripped - an athletic freak. He literally bounced around the court with a series of explosive dunks in the first quarter of this game. What in god’s name happened to him? Lately he looks about as toned as Ralph Macchio in the Karate Kid, and I don’t think I’ve even seen him dunk once this year. It’s a pretty sad development for a guy who started his career of very similarly to another slashing guard, Dwayne Wade, who should really take everything into consideration, considering his recent injury. As for the game, Jordan took A LOT of shots (27) for an All-Star game, and only made nine of them. But of course, MJ managed to make a 33 percent night look legendary, considering most of those makes were crucial baskets down the stretch, sending the game to overtime (in fact, his last shot put the East up wit a few ticks left, but an ill-advised foul by O’Neal gave the West an opportunity to tie). In overtime, KG took over the game, and gave the West a victory they should have had a lot easier. I mean, this was when the West Coast dominance of bigs really began to take hold, so the fact that the score was so close is a true testament to what MJ meant to these games. Later that year, the LeBron draft took place, ushering in a new era of young stars comparable to the 96 draft. We’re still waiting for either class to produce the next MJ - doesn’t look like it’s happening.
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