The East held on to defeat the West, 141-139 in what was a surprisingly competitive game down the stretch. The score was knotted up at 137 with 18 seconds left when Dwyane Wade swiped the ball from Deron Williams. Williams, apparently thinking the East had the lead, fouled Wade, much to the chagrin of every other player on the Western Conference roster (particularly Dirk Nowitzki. On the replay, you can see Dirk screaming, 'NO!' in slow motion, as Williams starts to wrap up Wade, like in one of those bad action movies when the moron is about to open the door that blows up the whole house and the hero is trying to stop him). Both Wade, Nowitzki, and Chris Bosh hit some clutch free throws down the stretch and Carmelo Anthony's three at the buzzer went begging.
Dwyane Wade is your MVP. His line tonight: 31 minutes, 28 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals. Yeah, I think he earned it.
Here are the final numbers for our guys:
Garnett: 13 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebound, 2 assist, 1 block
Pierce: 11 minutes, 8 points, 1 steal
Rondo: 20 minutes, 4 points, 5 assists, 1 steals
The best part? No injuries. Bring on the final 32 games.
Some quick first quarter, halftime and third notes can be found after the break.
I figured I would check in at halftime, but then figured the end of the first quarter was just as good. Here's where Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo stand at the end of the first quarter of the All-Star Game:
Garnett: 6 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block
Pierce: 5 minutes, 5 points, 1 steal
Rondo: 5 minutes, 4 points, 3 assists
The East leads the West, 37-34 at the end of the first quarter.
The East is leading the West, 76-69, at halftime of the NBA All-Star Game in Dallas. As for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo, here's where they stand:
Garnett: 6 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block
Pierce: 5 minutes, 5 points, 1 steal
Rondo: 9 minutes, 4 points, 4 assists
No real highlight plays for any of the Celtics thus far, with the possible exception being Rondo's alley-oop lob toDwyane Wade of the Miami Heat with 9:27 left in the second quarter, which put the East up 43-42 at the time.
Other Notes: I wonder what Garnett was thinking as he was rising out of that smoke-filled hole while he was being announced as a starter.
I think it's fair to say that the Celtics easily have the worst dancers on the Eastern Conference roster. Dwight Howardand LeBron James have the moves down. Garnett and Pierce...Not so much. But then again, they're the old guys at this thing.
There's a pretty substantial list of guys making their first All-Star appearances: Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose, Deron Williams, David Lee, Zach Randolph, Al Horford, Kevin Durant, Chris Kaman, and Gerald Wallace.
At the end of the third quarter, the East is leading the West, 118-109. Pierce just buried a three before Kevin Durant beat the buzzer. Here are the numbers for the Celtics after three:
Garnett: 12 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebound, 2 assist, 1 block
Pierce: 8 minutes, 8 points, 1 steal
Rondo: 10 minutes, 4 points, 4 assists
At this point, based on the way the Celtics' season has thus far gone, if these three guys can escape this game injury-free, we should consider it a victory. Rondo didn't see action in that third quarter, but George Karl said he's going with four point guards to start the fourth quarter, so maybe Stan Van Gundy will have Rondo in to counter.
OR...Maybe not. Pierce is still in, but he won't see too many minutes in this fourth quarter. This game might actually get competitive though.