Live Blog: 2009 NBA All-Star Game from Phoenix

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Live Blog: 2009 NBA All-Star Game from Phoenix

Posted on: February 15th, 2009Joshua Holmes3 comments

Live blogging of tonight’s 2009 NBA All-Star Game from Phoenix. (Reload often for my updates and thoughts on the game.)

8:24pm – Co-MVP’s of the 2009 NBA All-Star Game: Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant (as predicted)

I am very glad Shaq won as it was very likely his last all-star game, as O’Neal himself mentioned in accepting the award with Kobe.

8:21pm - FINAL: West 146 – East 119

Leading Scorers: Kobe 27, Amar’e 19, LeBron 18, Dwayne 18, Pierce 18, Shaq 17, Roy 14 and Howard 13.

8:18pm – 1 minute to go. CP3 misses a wide open dunk and blows it - grabs his own rebound and puts it back in. Paul off the glass to Brandon Roy for a dunk to make it 146 – 117. Everyone gets out of the way for LeBron to throw it off the glass to himself and dunk it. Literally every player was outside the three point line….and that brings the game to an end.

8:16pm – The Eastern Conference has looked extremely weak tonight. Perhaps is a matter of coaching with the West led by grizzly vet Phil Jackson going against the Cav’s Mike Brown.

8:12pm – Nice exchange with Kobe going one-on-one with Howard. Howard lucks up and steals the ball and calls out Kobe on way down court, Howard proceeds to bounce ball off his own leg out of bounds. Kobe and Howard both all laughs heading down the court. Howard had hit a 3 pointer his last time down on the offensive end.

8:10pm – West 132 – Wast 110, 3:22 remaining

8:07pm – Kobe back in the game and knocks down a jumper for 25 points.

8:02pm – I still contend that brothers Marc and Pau Gasol would make a great Geico ‘Cavemen’ commercial.

8:00pm – King James checks back into the game. Timeout for the East with the West ahead 120-101.

7:57pm – Pierce has 16 points for the East but the team is down -19 points with him in the game.

7:54pm – Team Euro is back in the game with Dirk, Pau, Parker and American’s Billups and Roy. The East is going with Mo, Allen, Johnson, Pierce and Lewis.

7:50pm – Shaq has made 8-9 shots for his 17 points. True to form (ugh) O’Neal is 1-4 from the free throw line.

7:48pm – End of the third quarter. West 110 – East 91

7:44pm – Shaq and Kobe could end up as c0-MVP’s. How amazing and unique would that be. If only one gets the award then look for the Phoenix Sun’s O’Neal to grab it.

7:36pm – Cp3-Shaq give and go back to Shaq for a powerful baseline dunk. Shaq bounced it between Howard’s legs to initiate the play. Next time down Kobe pass down to Shaq who turns around for his 4th dunk and 11th and 12th points of the game. I hope Shaq plays forever. He is the most entertaining NBA player of all-time. Charles Barkley would also be on that list. Shaq and Kobe now have 41 points between them.

7:35pm – Nice reverse layup by Kobe to give him 23 points. Shaq is back in the lineup…with Kobe. Shaq dribbles Howard down in the paint before making an aerobic pass out to Chris Paul for a 3.

West 99 – East 85

7:33pm – Where is Chris Brown tonight? I thought he was scheduled to be here….oh wait!!!

7:30pm – Kobe hits his third 3 pointer to give him 21 points. LeBron, not to be out down, makes a reverse layup to give him 15 points.

7:28pm – West 90 – East 74

7:24pm – Amar’e now has 14 points after a high-flying baseline dunk. It is a lot tougher to pick Iverson out on the court without his cornrows. Chris Paul for the West and Dwight Howard for the East are off to good starts in the second half. The game play is pretty sloppy so far in the second. Kobe with a three pointer to give him 18 points.

7:20pm – And here we go! The Western Conference all-stars bring the ball up the court to start the second half. Yao misses a hook to start the half. Yao and Joe Johnson are the only All-Stars yet to score in the game.

7:08pm – The male and female Olympian basketball teams are being awarded rings for winning Gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Jerry Colangelo met with many of these players over the weekend to see who would be interested in making a two year commitment to play in the 2012 Olympics.

6:48pm – Half Time Score: West 72 – East 67

Scoring Leaders: Pierce 14, Kobe 13, LeBron 10, Amare 10, Gasol 10, Wade 9, Garnett 8, Roy 8

MVP at the Half would be Kobe Bryant with 13 points – 3 rebounds – 2 assists – 3 steals.

6:42pm – West 64 – East 62. The West is +21 with Dirk Nowitzki on the floor tonight. The East is -17 with Joe Johnson on the floor.

6:34pm – Mo Williams with a speedy drive past Chris Paul and a very long 2 pointer on the very next possession. He made CP3 look very slow. Kobe with a fast break dunk to give him 13 points.

6:30pm – The LeBron James commercial with him wearing a Reebok Cleveland Browns football uni just aired. The ad is for State Farm. You know Nike has to love the ad. Michael Jordan, back in the day, would have had nothing to do with that. He would have had them make a Nike uni or he would have covered the Reebok insignia with an American Flag like he did in the 1992 Olympics.

6:27pm – Kobe and Chris Paul are back into the game. Gasol now has 6 points and 4 rebounds. His numbers are actually down a bit with the Lakers than what he put up for the Grizzlies. The national exposure and playing with Kobe made him an all-star this year. His jersey is also the 4th most popular in the league. West 49 – East 47, 6:09 remaining in the 2nd. Gasol with a dunk on a fast break pass from Kobe. Kobe and Gasol have the most points for the West. Phil Jackson is the coach. You do the math!

6:22pm – Paul Pierce has quietly scored 11 points and now is tied with Kobe for the game high.

Winners from last night: Nate Robinson won the Slam Dunk contest, Daquan Cook won the 3 Point contest, Derrick Rose won the Skills Competition, and Kevin Durant won H-O-R-S-E.

6:20pm – Danny Granger was born in New Orleans and went to high school at Grace King in the city. For some reason the LSU Tigers either didn’t recruit him or he passed on them. Either way he played his college basketball at New Mexico. Yeah, they have a team and a college in New Mexico. (I had to look it up to verify it).

6:17pm – The Euro version of the game has begun with Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, and Tony Parker. University of Alabama product Mo Williams is representing redneck nation tonight. Parker makes these games based on his playoff performances. If you ever take time to look at his regular season stats you will see his numbers are very average.

6:15pm – Celebs in the crowd include Snoop, Ludacris, Jay Z, Beyonce along with John McCain and a very blood-shot-eyed Cindy McCain. She must have been throwing down hard last night at LeBron’s party.

6:11pm – End of the first quarter with the West up 34 – 27 over the East. Point leaders after 1st quarter: Kobe Bryant 11, LeBron James 7, Tony Parker 6, Shaquille O’Neal 6, Dwayne Wade 5, Rashard Lewis 5. Rebounds: Shaquille O’Neal 3, Kobe Bryant 3, Dwight Howard 3. Assists: Chris Paul 5, Shaquille O’Neal 3.

6:09pm – Two assists in a row for Shaq. The first on a great no-look full court outlet pass. Tony Parker has come in and quickly scored six points.

6:04pm – Kobe with another dunk and he has already taken about 10 shots. The West is on a 11-0 run and the score is East 20 – West 21. 3 minutes left in the first. Kobe with 11 points, LeBron with 7.

6:00pm – Subs into the game include Shaq, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Devin Harris. Shaq gets quick tip in off the bench. Kobe and Shaq are on the floor together, for the same team, for the first time in four years.

5:55pm – Loose ball picked up by CP3 then fed to Kobe for a flying dunk down the lane. Kobe scores on another layup then gets the steal on the following inbounds pass. So far LeBron and Kobe are dominant and seem to be trying to outdo each other so far.

5:48pm – East up 9-2 after a quick start. Iverson with the first great move of the night with a ball fake and lay up under Yao. WOW! Dwight Howard with a massively powerful dunk over Yao and Tim Duncan.

5:45pm – Dwight Howard wins the tip and taps it back to Allen Iverson with his fresh hair cut. D-Wade hits a 3 to start the game and the race to 300 points is on.

5:40pm – Dwight Howard, the high vote getter for the game, makes a quick address to the crowd thanking them for coming out.

5:37pm – Tamia Hill, wife of Phoenix Suns Grant Hill, sings O’Canada. I am sure her connections didn’t land this gig for her. I truly didn’t understand a word she sang. The Arizona theme continues with Arizona’s own, American Idol star Jordin Sparks singing the Star Spangled Banner.

5:33pm - Now the intros of the stars begin. D-Wade is wearing some stupid eye-blue under his left eye like a baseball player. Kevin Garnett a lot more subdued than his thug-riffic NBA Finals victory melt down. The Western All-Stars are perhaps the most boring starting five in history with Yao, Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, but a bit of flash with Kobe Bryant and Amar’e Stoudamire.

5:31pm - Great intro of Shaquille O’Neal coming out in a mime mask and doing a great impromtu dance with the mimes. He then strips off his warmup pants and continues to mime dance. I don’t know if the game can be any better than Shaq’s introduction dance.

5:29pm - Introductions of both sets of backups for tonight’s game with bouncy cheerleaders and tons of flash and lights around them.

Check Out Allen Iverson’s New Haircut

Starting Lineups East