Starbury Shows the Chinese The Wonders of Trick Shots

Stephon Marbury was named the MVP of the Chinese Basketball Association’s All-Star Game over the weekend. Even though he scored 30 points in a 133-121 North victory, from the sound of things it seems like he won the award on style points more than anything else. And there’s nothing wrong with that: it is the All-Star Game after all. The fans come to see over-the-top feats of athletic prowess.↵↵So when it’s reported that the dunk contest at the event was marked by copious misses, anything that approaches high-flying stunts in the actual game is bound to draw rave reactions from the attendees.↵

↵↵⇥Stephon Marbury of the Shanxi Zhongyu introduced more no-look pass, alley-hoops and mid-court 3-pointers into the Game, which won him the Most Valuable Player award of the All-Star.↵⇥↵⇥Marbury, who had 30 points, was pitched minutes into the game when his North starting teammates clearly took the upper hand in a quite dull game.↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥He received the full-house cheers and the fans were inspired by the efforts of the players for more interesting running and shooting after that.↵⇥

↵↵↵It sounds like the Chinese crowd would have preferred that a Rock n’ Jock game broke out rather than see the premiere players in their country do what they do best. Luckily, Starbury was there to pull off moves that would have been hard pressed to dazzle American audiences. Though a stand-off between two squads launching half-court shot after half-court shot would be undeniably amusing to any basketball fan.↵

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