I love the NBA all-star weekend, it's just great to watch and the whole thing is a lot fun. That's what it's meant to be, fun. But I wish that someone would tell that to Allen Iverson! I watched the all-star game on Sunday night, expecting to see light hearted, high flying, highly entertaining basketball that is filled with sweet passes and acrobatic dunks. And I did; from the eastern team. They shared the ball and put on a show, Dwight Howard continued his dunk-fest by putting the crowd back on their feet. But for some reason, Allen Iverson played as though this was a real game that actually mattered. And he played typical Allen Iverson basketball. You know... no passes, lots of shots, lots of misses. His team mates standing around with their arms in the air while he battles through a triple team.
I wrote in another blog that sports exist to entertain us, it serves no purpose other then to provide entertainment, which means that the athletes are the entertainers. Once a year the best players in the league get together for a fun, laid back game in which they show us their best and entertain us. This years weekend was played in New Orleans where the effort continues to cheer up a city who is still trying to recover from a horrible mess. Put on a show for the folks!
Iverson, apparently chewed out the western team during half time about their lousy performance. Well, I hope he was looking in the mirror because that is the biggest joke I have ever heard. He lead the team in turnovers and had the lowest field goal percentage on the team. But why am I talking about stats in the all-star game? That's rediculous! But I found myself like that guy in the budweiser commercial the whole game, you know, “dude! Dude? Duuude..., dude?! Dude.” And threw in a little bit of my own lingo. “Pass the ball you retard!” Thanks to the absence of Kobe Bryant, Iverson got a lot of minutes at the guard position. And don't forget his partner in crime, Carmello “sucker punch” Anthony. I don't think sucker punch has heard the “P” word either. I don't want to see a one man show, I don't want to watch a frustrating game of selfish nugget basketball. You've got the best players in the NBA, arguably the world, at your disposal, but nah, who needs em, when I have me!?
As a fan of the western conference, I was soon cheering for the east because simply, they gave me what I was looking for. I was sad that ol' VC, Vince Carter wasn't on this years roster. He has a tradition of serving the ball off the backboard to himself and dunking the crap out of the whole game. He may not have been an MVP but the MVP is usually left standing with his trophy thinking, “I wish I had done that.” Of course I have high expectations, this all-star game riding on the back of some of the games of the past. One of my personal favorites was the last all-star game that Magic Johnson played in. Toward the end of the game he backed down Larry Bird a couple drop steps behind the three point line and then shoving it high in the air where it splashed right through the bottom of the net, more then once. Everyone knew it was his last one and he went out with a bang, even earning the MVP.
The good news about this years game is that the 4th quarter had significantly less play time for Iverson and sucker punch; wave those towels! The west was able to relax and get in a rhythm and put on a show of their own. The finish was spectacular, Lebron, Dwayne and Ray Allen lit it up. The west had some sweet plays from Stoudamire and Chris Paul. The west also had that one guy who didn't do ANYTHING useful, what's his name again? He's the reigning league MVP, you know who I'm talking about... I'm pretty sure they gave it to him just so that Mark Cuban would shut up, at least for awhile. The game did end well, I was happy about that. But next year, can't we just tell those two guys that it's spring break for the NBA and not tell them about all-star weekend? Please? Do it for the fans, at least that fan.
