NBA All-Star Game...The West takes another one as Kobe Bryant dominates!!!

By Christopher Harris

On Sunday February 20, 2011 one of the most exciting exhibition games took place in Los Angeles, California for the fifth time, the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game. This game marked the 60^th year anniversary for the event. The crowd of 17,163 had no idea of what to expect from this year’s game, but Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and the remaining West and East All-Star teams gave them their monies worth. A few entertainers attended the historic game as well, which include Jack Nicholson, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, and Justin Bieber just to name few.

The West All-Star starters included Kobe Bryant, who received the top number of overall All-Star votes, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and Yao Ming. However, Yao Ming was replaced later by San Antonio Spurs center, Tim Duncan. The West All-Star reserves included Manu Ginobili, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Willams, and three first time selections; Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, and exceptional rookie Blake Griffin. The head coach is San Antonio Spurs head coach, Greg Popovich. The East All Star Starters were lead by Dwight Howard, who received the most All-Star votes from their conference, Derrick Rose, Amar’e Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, and the spectacular Lebron James. To round it out on the East, the reserves included Ray Allen, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett, Al Horford, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, and Joe Johnson. The head coach is the Boston Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers.

The game began slowly but Kobe Bryant did not. He came out aggressive in the first and second quarters of the game. Early Bryant made a statement that he had come to play, when he drove right past East All-Star Derrick Rose and finished with a highlight dunk. By halftime Bryant had the high of all players, 21 points, half of the All-Star single game record held by Wilt Chamberlain. Bryant lead the West and opened a 10 point lead after the first quarter and by halftime maintained that lead and even extended it to a 12 point lead. The score at the half was West All-Stars 76, East All-Stars 64.

In the third quarter the West began to pull away and widen their halftime lead over the East. In that third period Kobe Bryant made two fantastic plays back to back. After leaking out on a fast break one on one with Lebron James and slamming it home for his third highlight dunk of the night, Kobe then nailed a 3 point basket to slow down the East’s push to get back into the game. Following those two huge plays from, Bryant the West took an eleven point lead and stretched it from eleven to seventeen by the end of the third quarter.

By the fourth quarter everyone’s competitive juices began to flow and take over the game.  The East All-Stars, lead by Lebron James, became more focused and turned what looked to be an easy win for the West into a competitive showing. The East All-Starts battled back and cut a seventeen point lead to only two points with two minutes and thirty-four left in the game. Although the East made a hard push towards the end of the game, the West with hard work and determination finished strong and won the game with a final score of 143-148.

This was Kobe Bryant’s thirteenth straight selection to the NBA All-Star game. He ended the game with 37 points, 14 rebounds and three steals to close out an impressive performance. Bryant also earned his fourth NBA All-Star Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. That ties him with NBA Hall of Famer, Bob Pettit for the most All-Star MVP awards in NBA history.

Sources:

http://www.nba.com/games/20110220/ESTWST/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0031000001

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NBA_All-Star_Game#Game