NBA All-Star Game

After a long weekend of festivities, the game finally arrived. And it didn't disappoint.

The first half was a little up-and-down, with very little flow or intensity at all, as the West stormed to a 70-53 lead. The highlight of the first half was when Shaquille O'Neal missed a free throw by throwing it off the backboard and basically throwing an alley oop to himself, which I found amusing. Other than that, it was fairly low-quality, although still entertaining.

The second half got much better, as the East played much better. Now, whether that was because, as LeBron said, "I think Charles Barkley kick-started us. He said at halftime the game was over." Or maybe it was because the 4 Pistons and Paul Pierce came on midway through the 3rd, caused some turnovers (with the help of Tony Parker), and picked up the intensity of the game. Either way, it ended up with a 122-120 victory for the East.

The MVP of the game was LeBron James, who scored 29 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, including shooting very well from the outside, and blocking/fouling McGrady on the last shot for the West.

The biggest mystery of the night was Tracy McGrady, who has apparently been plagued by personal problems of late. He looked like he was having no fun at all out there even playing in front of his home crowd and scoring 36 points. Very strange.

All in all, a pretty entertaining game, and a nice end to a nice weekend, including the Rookie Challenge, the Slam Dunk Contest, the game, and lots of Sir Charles and "The Jet." Another reminder to me about why the NBA All-Star game and weekend far surpasses all other professional sports' all-star games.