NBA All-Star Game: First-half thoughts

By Bethlehem Shoals
Observations from Sunday’s East-West battle of New Orleans:
First quarter
The back of those West jerseys match the floor. This is going to be rough on the eyes.
Is it just me, or was last night a major breakthrough for Dwight Howard as a player? He may be twice as colorful going forward, maybe even on the court.
For instance, I will go ahead and call the All-Star MVP for Howard.
It’s funny to me how they call this game like a super-national game. “Not know anything about the NBA? We’ll help you catch up.”
Why wouldn’t they give injured players time off? Dwyane without full health is a detriment to this. Kobe yanked immediately is just depressing, and kind of scary.
Here’s how good LeBron is: Even in this situation, he carries himself like all eyes are on him.
I knew the game got clankier: Three Pistons are in.
I think I speak for America when I say that the three Pistons plus Paul Piece is not a combination I really care about seeing together. Will of Doc Rivers or no will of Doc Rivers.
I don’t ordinarily think that the NBA should take a lesson from And1, but shouldn’t they be calling this like a loose, hyperbolic exhibition game, not a midseason refresher? Have some fun, people! Don’t say “glorified pickup game” with such disdain, Reggie!
Again, these dudes just don’t get it. “Some of the best basketball we’ve ever seen in an All-Star game when four Pistons were in.”
I promise, the complaining will end in a minute.
If I were David West, I would just pretend I was from Xavier of New Orleans.
Nice touch pass by ‘Sheed. Some particularly slick indifference.
Mark my words: Amare will start taking more threes with Shaq around.
Did Reggie Miller say something about Atlantis?
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Second quarter
If there’s so little defense being played, why doesn’t this look more like Rookie/Soph?
No one will block Brandon Roy because no one knows who he is. I am waiting for Reggie to say that.
You don’t realize this yet, but every single sentence spoken by these announcers is directly or indirectly related to the Kidd trade.
I would like it if each team had one random scrub, like Sasha Pavlovic. And the team whose scrub had the best line got some kind of horribly deformed trophy.
Tim Duncan really only brings out his personality for the All-Star game. It’s his own personal social dunk contest.
Kobe is so at peace right now. He holding back “we’re still the best team, by far.”
A one-man fast-break. . . . would that be the same as the proverbial “taking it coast-to-coast?”
Those two LeBron lobs have me thinking: We really need a lob contest. That’s kind of what that second Rudy Gay dunk was like, since it didn’t really depend on Gay at all.
This 50 Million Pound Challenge scares me. I just keep thinking about a 50 million pound Kobe or LeBron. Or the day when one of them asks to be paid in pounds, not dollars. Worldwide indeed.
There is something really impressive about an All-Star triple-double. I’m talking to you, ‘Bron.
Word to helping people: Players giving money helps a lot more than them personally hammering together houses. Which they did, more than any other sport.↵