crowd to watch a basketball game saw an all too familiar sight.
Dwyane Wade did it again in north
Texas.
Wade had 28 points and won MVP honors,
and the Eastern Conference edged the West 141-139 on Sunday night in
the NBA All-Star game.
The crowd of 108,713 at Cowboys
Stadium watched Dallas native Chris Bosh make the winning free throws
with 5.0 seconds left. The West had a chance to win it, but Carmelo
Anthony‘s 3-point attempt came up short.
The largest cheer of the night came
earlier, when Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones
came onto the court to announce the record crowd, which was also the
largest in the $1.2 billion building’s short history.
They were booing at the end when Wade
went to the line and made two free throws with 12.7 seconds left. Dirk
Nowitzki of the hometown Mavericks tied it with two of his own five
seconds later before Bosh put the East on top for the final time.
Wade, the MVP of the 2006 NBA finals
when Miami won the title in Dallas, added 11 assists and six rebounds.
LeBron James had 25 points, and Bosh finished with 23 points and 10
rebounds.
Anthony scored 27 and Nowitzki — who
Kobe Bryant had predicted would win MVP honors — had 22.
But just like four years ago, Wade
found a way to top Nowitzki’s best. He shot 12-of-16 from the field and
also had five steals.
The star in this one, though, was the
building. The NBA brought its midseason showcase to a football stadium,
and the arrangement worked perfectly. The league was predicting about
90,000 but ended up blowing past Jones’ and Cuban’s hopes to reach
100,000.
It easily shattered the previous
record for the largest crowd to watch a basketball game of 78,129, set
for a college matchup between Kentucky and Michigan State at Detroit’s
Ford Field on Dec. 13, 2003.
And the thrilling finish more than
salvaged an occasionally rough All-Star weekend for the league. Injuries
knocked out fan favorites such as Bryant and Chris Paul. Commissioner
David Stern and players association executive director Billy Hunter
indicated the sides are far apart on a new labor agreement that would
prevent a work stoppage in the summer of 2011, and the slam dunk contest
wasn’t pretty even with the presence of the Dallas Cowboys
cheerleaders.
But the highlight all along was going
to be the stadium, and it didn’t disappoint.
Players came out to the court — which
appeared much smaller than 94 feet from the highest levels of the venue
— more than an hour before the game to check out the scene and the
challenges it could create. Having hundreds of feet behind the baskets
had some All-Stars wondering if their depth perception could be thrown
off while shooting.
Not to worry. Everyone was sharp
early, with even Dwight Howard making a 3-pointer, before staring at his
palm and drawing a laugh from Orlando assistant Patrick Ewing.
There’s probably never been a better
time to be on the sideline. The seats on the benches were leather
theater seats with arm rests and drink holders. James seemed to
particularly enjoy his, reclining his back and putting his feet up on
the court above him while resting to start the second quarter.
Naturally, there was a football
element. Cowboys cheerleaders were lined up as the players came onto the
court for pregame warmups, and former Dallas receiver Terrell Owens was
in the crowd.
James and Wade have talked about
playing together when both become free agents this summer, and what a
partnership it would be.
Each had 10 points in the third
quarter and had a hand in all the scoring in a 10-3 East burst that
turned a nine-point lead into a 90-74 lead with 8:21 remaining in the
period. The East lead was nine after three, and it was still there after
they answered a West surge with one of their own, but Chauncey Billups
knotted it at 137 with a jumper with 1:05 to play.
There was no scoring until Wade
forced a turnover and was fouled with 12.7 seconds left. Booed loudly —
possibly by many of the same fans who remember him leading Miami back
from a 2-0 deficit to win the 2006 finals, he sank both free throws for a
two-point lead.
Nowitzki was fouled five seconds
later by Howard, and he delighted the home crowd by knocking down both,
but Bosh quickly untied it again.
Howard scored 17 points for the East,
which is back on top after losing two of the last three.
Billups had 17 points, Kevin Durant
scored 15 in his All-Star debut and Deron Williams, who played his high
school ball near Dallas, finished with 14. Durant and Williams were two
of the nine first-time All-Stars.
Nowitzki came onto the court to thank
the fans before the game, finishing his remarks by saying, “I want to
say everything is bigger in Texas,” and the crowd sure proved it.
He then made long jumpers on the
West’s first two possessions to get his team off to a quick start, but
the East surged ahead and led 37-34 after one quarter.
The East made 19 of 29 shots in the
second quarter and took a 76-69 lead into halftime. James, Howard, Wade
and Bosh were all in double figures for the East, and Anthony had 17 for
the West.
Those core players from the 2008
Olympic gold medalists then donned their USA Basketball warmups and
joined a number of other players chosen for the 2010-12 American pool to
be recognized on the court following performances by Shakira and Alicia
Keys.
Notes
Next year’s game is at Staples
Center in Los Angeles. … Boston’s Kevin Garnett made his 13th
All-Star team, tied for sixth all-time. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the
career leader with 19 selections, and Shaquille O’Neal tops active
players with 15. … Garnett and Howard exchanged pregame handshakes
with another dominant defensive big man. Bill Russell was sitting
courtside near the East bench. … Ewing, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen
and Chris Mullin, members of the U.S. 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” that is a
finalist for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of
Fame, were honored on the court during the second quarter.