Note: Meant to post this a bit earlier, but it took a few days just to recover from all the action of my first in-person All-Star experience, and in that time, D-League news managed to keep rolling in to keep me preoccupied. Still, I experienced plenty of note, and I figure better late than never. So here goes. -sw
“Very exciting. It went and came, and before you knew it, it was over, but I enjoyed it.”
That’s what Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo said after playing in his first NBA All-Star Game two Sundays ago in Dallas, a 141-139 win for his Eastern Conference squad. Judging from several conversations that weekend, those words could have easily come from any of the eight other first-time participants in the 2010 All-Star game. Or me.
The Surroundings
I’ve been watching All-Star festivities on TV for as long as I can remember (how cool were those cactus jerseys in Phoenix in ’95?), but my own inaugural in-person experience took the weekend to a whole new level.
Stepping off the plane in Dallas, I found a city enveloped by professional basketball fever and fervor. Life-sized posters of the NBA’s finest players adorned the sides of buildings. My hotel room key card (which I kept because I’m a nerd) featured the official All-Star Dallas 2010 logo. Cabbies knew they needed only ask which of two buildings I wanted to approach – the Dallas Convention Center (playing host to the NBA’s Jam Session and D-League All-Star festivities) or the American Airlines Center.
The Whirlwind Lead-Up
The two and a half days prior to the NBA’s 59th All-Star Game itself flew by in a series of cab rides from arena to convention center to hotel to arena to …you get the idea. With so much to take in, 60 hours never seemed like so little time. Somehow, All-Star weekend is about, well, everything.
It’s about a packed house at Jam Session’s Center Court witnessing virtually every D-Leaguer involved in All-Star weekend rising off the bench as one to congratulate Los Angeles’ Dar Tucker for jumping over Bakersfield big man Brian Butch to clinch the D-League dunk contest at Dream Factory Friday Night. It’s about snappily dressed NBA players showing the same boyish exuberance the following night when their teammates and friends around the league succeed in the various competitions on All-Star Saturday.
At the end of the Eastern Conference’s practice on Saturday morning, I stood less than 50 feet away when Magic center Dwight Howard sat down to set a new Guinness world record by knocking down a halfcourt shot from the seat of his shorts. He then ensured the longevity of his name on the books (well, until Orlando teammate Vince Carter recently begged to differ) by knocking one down from 52 feet, 6 inches, and he did it left-handed. That might not be what you see at most NBA practices, but I defy you to tell me it isn’t cool.
Cool, just like the feeling one gets walking into an empty Cowboys Stadium, seeing a set of four video boards and thinking that they look nice but not as jaw-dropping as advertised. That’s before looking up to see the real adjective-defying video boards above those miniatures and having to catch one’s jaw after all.
“This building,” Clippers center and first time All-Star Chris Kaman told me when I asked him what made the biggest impression of the weekend. “It’s unbelievable. It’s just incredible.”
The weekend is about the pageantry. Usher almost tore the roof off that building with a great live show to introduce the 2010 NBA All-Stars. There is a special chill that comes with being amidst the crowd to hear 108,713 roars for Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki, former Maverick Steve Nash and local product Chris Bosh. And a totally new understanding for just how much people all over the place (Los Angeles, China and now you can add Dallas to the list) love Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
The Game
One other thing about the weekend: It’s also about watching the league’s finest take the floor together.
Nowitzki electrified the crowd by scoring the game’s first two baskets. Dallas native Bosh posted 23 points and 10 rebounds and drew cheers when he hit the two free throws that would ultimately clinch the game.
Just five rows in front of me, Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony managed to leap and while in the air bring the ball down to elude a defender before snapping it right back up over the rim and in for a thunderous dunk. It happened in the blink of an eye and seemed a mere illusion, even seen at such proximity. A half later, LeBron James replicated the feat. Nope, not an illusion. Wow.
But perhaps nothing all weekend topped the atmosphere in the building when the West closed the gap to four points with just outside two minutes to play. All at once it seemed more than 100,000 people came to a collective realization: “We’re going down to the wire.”
Suddenly, the sizable crowd hung on each possession like it was the last of the Finals, waiting to exhale with ebullience after a big basket. That it did when Chauncey Billups tied the game with 1:05 to play and once again when hometown favorite Nowitzki deadlocked it once more in the final seconds. Whoosh. The noise crescendoed through each possession and climaxed after the buckets. Think of it like an audible version of the wave, except that it was actually enjoyable.
The players’ intensity matched that of the crowd down the stretch. As Anthony’s last-second attempt clanged off the rim, securing a win for the East, I turned my attention to the victors’ bench just yards away. Celtics forward Kevin Garnett led an exhausted but excited squad onto the court, arms raised in celebration as a group of teammates brought together for just this one night jumped on each other and high-fived in celebration.
To complete a weekend that offered nary a second of idling or boredom, it seemed fitting that this collection of the NBA’s finest players took us down to the final horn.
“Everything was impressive to me as a first-time experience,” said Bobcats forward and first-time All-Star Gerald Wallace, smiling after an All-Star win. “I enjoyed it all.”
Me too, Gerald, me too.
Coming soon: More miscellany on various behind-the-scenes sights and sounds of All-Star weekend in Dallas.
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