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ATLANTA 2003

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NBA All-Star Game: East 145 - West 155

In his last All-Star Game, Michael Jordan was the main man during all the night.
Before the game began, Vince Carter finally offered him his starting spot. Both T-Mac and Iverson had suggested to Jordan to start in their place. 
Michael started the game erratic, missing 8 of his 10 first shots, but the other players did not play better. The first quarter was the lowest scoring opening period in 50 years (18-23), and the first half the lowest since 1976 (55-52).
At halftime Jordan was serenaded by Mariah Carey in a ceremony where the singer performed 3 songs including the theme Hero.
The third quarter was played in a higher pace. McGrady scored 17 points to give the East a 93-86 advantage with 12 minutes left. With 2:04 to go in the period, Jordan sank two free throws to score his 252 point in the All-Star Game and surpass Abdul-Jabbar as the leading scorer.
In the last quarter Iverson & Jordan kept the East leading in the scoreboard, but the West could tie the game in the last minutes (120-120).
The first OT almost finished with another memorable game winning shot by Jordan, who sank a jumper over Shawn Marion with 5 seconds left. But the last play still has a surprise with Jermaine O'Neal fouling Kobe Bryant's 3 pointer attempt. Kobe only scored two free throws, and the game went into a second overtime (138-138).
This extra-time was Kevin Garnett Show. He made 7 points and collected his first All-Star Game MVP with 37 points on 17-24 FG.  

Ben Wallace and Brad Miller became the second/third undrafted player to participate in the NBA All-Star Game, John Starks in 1994 was the first.

MVP: Kevin Garnett (West)

2002 <<< Sun, 9 Feb. 2003 - COACHES: Isiah Thomas (East) and Rick Adelman (West) - ATTENDANCE 20.325 spectators. >>> 2004

A really good contest, where the quality exceeded the quantity. Two players like Jason Richardson and Desmond Mason made a name for themselves amongst the greatest dunkers.
In the first round, Richard Jefferson made a pair of very weak dunks, including an attempt of copy of Vince Carter's elbow dunk, and the judges (all former NBA Slam Dunk winners: Jordan, Wilkins, Webb, Dee Brown and Dr. J) punished him.
Suns rookie Amare Stoudemire showed good conditions with a great between-the-legs dunk, but a miss in his second dunk prevented him to advance to the final.
Desmond Mason with a windmill and a dunk very similar to the one he made to win the contest in 2001, made enough points to move toward the final.
Jason Richardson in his 2 attempts threw the ball in the air to sink it in the basket fiercely. With two 50, he was the clear favourite.

The final started with Mason's best performance, another between-the-legs dunk where he caught the ball very far from the rim and finished with his left hand: 50 points.
Richardson only obtained 45 points, but Mason did not kill off the contest (43).
Everything was in Richardson's hands. He needed a 49 to win, but his last dunk excelled the expectations: Running behind the basket, he caught the ball after a high bounce with his back looking to the rim, passing the ball between his legs while he flew, and finishing miraculously with his left hand (50). Another great dunk to remember, and the second consecutive title for Richardson, who is only the second player to win this contest back-to-back.

2002 Slam Dunk Contest <<< Slam Dunk Contest Index >>> 2004 Slam Dunk Contest

3 Point Shootout: Peja Stojakovic

Repeating the 2002 contest, Peja Stojakovic won again in the tiebreaker against Wesley Person, in a exciting contest with very high scores.
In the first round, were eliminated Pat Garrity, David Wesley and Antoine Walker, who had a lot of troubles to shoot all the balls because of his slow pace. He almost made a negative record, but he got 5 of 7 points in the last seconds.
Wesley Person didn't shoot well, but he made the minimum (14 points) to enter in the final round. More effective were Stojakovic and Brent Barry, both with 19 points.
In the final, Person began slow but finished on fire with 20 points. Stojakovic's answer was great, reaching the 20 points barrier, but he missed his last 2 shots. Brent Barry only made 17 points, and he'll have to wait until another edition to become the first player to win the slam dunk and the shootout contest.
This edition, the tie-break had a complete minute instead of 30 seconds. Stojakovic shot first, but his serie was a chaos (13 points). He shot while a buzzer started to work, some balls almost hit him on the face ... so the judges decided to cancel this attempt.
Person was the first to shoot now, and he only made 16 points. Theoretically, Peja had to be very tired at this moment of the contest, but he kept surprising people scoring 22 points (Maximum score in a final tied with Craig Hodges) in order to get his second contest.

* Tiebreaker: Stojakovic 22 (best streak 5 and 4 3-Color Ball) - Person 16 (4 and 1)

2002 Three Point Shootout Contest <<< Three Point Shootout Index >>> 2004 Three Point Shootout Contest

NBA Rookie Challenge: Rookies 112 - Sophomores 132

Warriros teammates, Gibert Arenas and Jason Richardson took over the game in the second half, and gave the Sophomores a 132-112 victory. In the first minutes, Caron Butler (14 points) and Amare Stoudemire (12 points) led the rookies, who arrived at halftime with a 69-57 advantage.
The game was as crazy as every year. The first half featured 26 dunks and 35 turnovers.
In the second half started the Sophomore's show. Arenas and Richardson combined for 42 points in a 3 pointer exhibition.
At the end of the game, Richardson was the best scorer with 31 points (tying Kobe Bryant's 1997 record), but the MVP was for Arenas, who scored 30, and became the first player to win this award after not being selected in the first round of the draft.

MVP: Gilbert Arenas (Sophomores)

COACHES: Cotton Fitzsimmons and Lou Hudson (Rookies), Mike Fratello and Bob Pettit (Sophomores).

2002 Rookie Challenge <<< Rookie Challenge Index >>> 2004 Rookie Challenge

Hoop It Up: Los Angeles Team

In the second edition of this contest, the number of teams was cut to only 2.
Magic Johnson, repeating in the contest, and Dominique Wilkins led Los Angeles and Atlanta.
Wilkins, the local hero, didn't disappoint and showed that he still could fly, after finishing an alley-oop.
Los Angeles team took an early advantage in the scoreboard thanks to Lisa Leslie, who was better than Sheryl Swoopes. Marko Jaric and Magic took care of the advantage till the final 23-19.

ATLANTA TEAM:
Dominique Wilkins: Atlanta Hawks all-time leading scorer
Jason Terry: Atlanta Hawks guard
Sheryl Swoopes: 2002 WNBA MVP and Houston Comets forward
Frankie Muniz: "Malcolm in the Middle" star
LOS ANGELES TEAM:
Corey Maggette: Los Angeles Clippers forward
Lisa Leslie: 2002 WNBA Finals MVP and Los Angeles Sparks center
Magic Johnson: Los Angeles Lakers, winner of five NBA championships (1980, '82, '85, '87, '88)
Ashton Kutcher: "That '70s Show" and "Just Married" co-star

ATLANTA 19 (Wilkins 9, Terry 5, Swoopes 2, Muniz 3)
LOS ANGELES 23 (Magic 6, Leslie 6, Jaric 7, Kutcher 4)

2002 Hoop It Up <<< Hoop It Up Index

Skills Challenge: Jason Kidd

4 of the best PG of the NBA were ready to inaugurate this contest and get the title of most complete point guard.
In the first round, each one of the 4 players improved the best time, arriving to the final two Oakland players: Gary Payton and Jason Kidd, with the best time for Payton.
In the final, Kidd almost repeated his semifinal time and it seemed that Payton would be the winner, but the Sonics player needed 5 second more than Kidd to complete all the stations.

Skills Challenge Index >>> 2004 Skills Challenge