Stanley Tse
Twitter: @NyJuMpMaN23
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The 2001 NBA All-Star game, while held in DC. was supposed to be a slaughterhouse with the huge line-up the West had. But something about the East sparked something. The first two quarters of the all-star game were always about getting the fans into it and allowing the players to do things they normally wouldn’t do, like big guys shootings threes, and little guys jacking up half court shots.
Let’s not forget about the heat that these players were rocking.
Let’s go down the list of maybe mainly a few:
Ray Allen aka Jesus Shuttlesworth & Michael Finley rocking the White/Navy Jordan XVI, Marubry wearing the And 1 Tai Chi, Iverson wearing Reebok Question 3 in 1st half and changing to the Question Mid 2nd half of the game, Vince Carter/Jason Kidd/Antonio McDyess/Allan Houston each wearing a different colorway of the Nike Shox BB4, Gary “The Glove’ Payton wearing the Nike Zoom GP III, Kevin Garnett switching brands to wearing the And1 Mad Game Select as the same as Latrell Sprewell, Tim Duncan rocking the Nike Air Max Duncan, Tracy McGrady with the Adidas Mad Handle(which needs a retro),Kobe with the Adidas The Kobe 1, Rasheed Wallace rocking the glassic Air Force 1 High Patent Leather. That’s a lot of heat to be rocking in one Exhibition game that’s just for fun.
It wasn’t until the 3rd of 4th quarter that you realize it wasn’t just a all-frills hoop-it-up game. It was highly competitive. The West Had taken a commanding lead into the second half of gameplay but the East squad was not startled, led by Allen Iverson & Stephon Marbury. The two unsung heros brought the East back to victory with the small Line-up used by Larry Brown was an astonishment. Leading the way was MVP Allen Iverson while finishing with 25 points, 5 assists with 4 steals, scoring the first 15 in the 1st quarter itself. but that game was a thriller. It’s how all all-star games should have been played…like every minute mattered.
