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NEW ORLEANS — The Eastern Conference interrupted the Chris Paul show to win a highly entertaining and good-to-the-last-drop NBA all-star game Sunday night, even if it did mean the host city was robbed of its host hero.
Paul was poised for a Cinderella finish to an already magical all-star weekend for New Orleans, as the Hornets' star point guard helped lead a Western Conference rally from a 13-point fourth-quarter hole.
But after Paul counted nine of his 16 points and five of his game-high 14 assists in the fourth to help the West take the lead, the East mounted a rally of its own for the 134-128 win.
Boston Celtics star Ray Allen scored 14 points in the game's final 3 minutes 14 seconds to finish with 28 points. The Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James won his second MVP trophy thanks to a line of 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, which included a steal and a driving dunk in traffic that gave the East a 127-125 lead with a minute to play. It also gave the East the lead for good.
Allen Iversosn and Steve Nash cheer as the Western Conference ties the game late in the fourth quarter of the 57th NBA All-Star Game at the New Orleans Arena Sunday in New Orleans. The East won 134-128. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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- Ray Allen
- Carmelo Anthony
- Chris Bosh
- Kevin Garnett
- Dwight Howard
- LeBron James
- Steve Nash
- Shaquille O'Neal
- Chris Paul
- Brandon Roy
- Amare Stoudemire
- David West
"You saw that last dunk by LeBron," Paul said. "I mean, we had two people on him, but that still wasn't enough."
The real winner, of course, was the city of New Orleans, which benefited from the largest one-day volunteer effort since hurricane Katrina when 2,500 volunteers, including most of the all-stars, fanned across the city to lend a hand to several rebuilding projects on Friday, bringing both help and attention to a region still in need of both.
"I think the total weekend was a success," Paul said. "Especially with the community efforts and the people of New Orleans coming out and getting excited about the NBA. … When you go around and you see people still homeless and in those tents and still just trying to make it and things like that. … [to let] the whole world know New Orleans is back [but] it's still a rebuilding process was something I was very thrilled about."
The circumstances made the game more meaningful for his peers, who quickly understood that this just wasn't any sporting event in just any city.
"Given the nature of the situation that the city had to fight through, the tragedies that happened in the past, this is a little more special because this is part of the rebuilding process," said Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh, who started in place of injured Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett and scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 21 minutes.
"You have to start somewhere and I think this game brings a lot of attention to the city," Bosh added.
The game was also a victory for the beleaguered Eastern Conference's sense of pride. Considered the weak sister of the two conferences even before a flurry of trades in which Pau Gasol landed in Los Angeles, Shaquille O'Neal in Phoenix and, as of today, according to reports, Jason Kidd in Dallas, they came out the more energetic of the two teams as they won the first three quarters to take a 13-point lead into the fourth.
But a 17-6 run, engineered by Paul, helped the West tie the score midway through the fourth, setting up one of the better finishes in the 57-year history of the all-star game.
By the time Allen checked in the game, the West seemed to have the East on the ropes, having stormed back to take the lead by two. But Allen stepped up and hit three triples in a stretch of 1 minute 16 seconds to right the ship, even though Paul answered with a pair of three-pointers of his own in the same stretch before James's dunk, a layup by Dwyane Wade and an Allen layup closed the door on the West.
"I was supposed to be in the Bahamas this weekend," said Allen, who was added to the team as an injury replacement for Caron Butler of the Washington Wizards.
Allen was subbed into the game late by Celtics head coach Doc Rivers.
"We stayed spaced and I knew I was going to get some good shots off, it was just a matter or whether or not I made them," he said.
Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns had some moments as he scored eight points and added six assists in his sixth all-star appearance.
The Victoria native's best play probably came in the first half when he used a one-handed, left-handed, cross-court bounce to hit a streaking Allen Iverson in stride for a layup.
But the best point guard on the floor was Paul, the third-year star who says he models his game after Nash's waterbug, pass-first style.
He did his part to write a storybook ending for a city that could use one, but close is the best he could do.
For a city that lit up for a weekend but still has some dark days ahead, that's probably about right.
