Curry was ice cold, the funny thing is that came in the first three quarters, and the West was up big anyway. He wasn't bad in the 4th. They took some bad shots which allowed the East to come back. Wade only played 12 minutes but the fact that he was a starter just is pretty telling about the East roster. Think of it this way: If you could take 10 guys from these rosters and form your own team (or just take the 10 best players), how many of those guys would be from the East? Obviously LeBron. Maybe Carmelo or George and that's it. I want Durant, Curry, Blake Griffin, Aldridge, Paul, Lilliard, Howard, Harden, and Love.
It's fan voted for the starters. That's why Melo, Lebron, and George were the front court for the East too, and why Kobe who played I don't know how many games this year was a starter in the West. If a real lineup was being made to start the East would look a lot different, Melo's not starting at center. I do agree though, the West is more talented. It just came down to the East bench getting serious a bit more early in the 3rd quarter, and then KD forcing a handful of possessions and not getting the expected results.
I know it's fan voted. Has been for many years, like MLB. That's why Yao Ming was voted a starter every year, even when he was injured. One of the most overrated players of recent years, but Chinese ballot-stuffing insured he was an All Star starter many times over. Wade shouldn't have even played in this game. He sits out most of the Heat games and it's not like he was helping the East team by playing. But Wade was just part of a weak team. West starters>East starters West bench>East bench I think 8 of the best 10 players in the game were from the West. It mirrors the NBA, because 8 of the top 10 teams are out west.
Yeah I'm sure if these were real teams that has to play a 7 game series, the West takes the series. But this is an All Star game where nobody tries defensively for half the game or more. The West was up 18 in the 3rd and these were their offensive possessions before the East cut it to 3 at the end of 3. K love misses a 3 Blake misses a 3 K love misses a 3 Curry misses a 3 K love misses 2 free throws Aldridge misses 20 foot 2 Lillard misses a 3 Aldridge misses a 19 foot 2 Howard misses a 3 Lillard misses a layup Lillard hits a 3 Dwight misses buzzer beater from half court If this stretch was taken more seriously by the West they might have had enough of a buffer to win. Then in the 4th it remained close down the stretch with both teams hustling and playing D. Harden had the bad foul on PG from 3 who made all 3 free throws for the East to take a 1 point lead. KD misses a shot, Lebron misses a shot but East rebounds the miss, finds Melo, who hits the 3 to put them up 4.
I don't think Kobe would've let them blow that lead, that's all. That team is loaded, give them a 13 point lead in the third and they don't blow it assuming they're trying hard and taking it seriously. Kobe wouldn't even be a top 7 player on the team but as long as he's on the team, they take it more seriously. Instead, he was in street clothes and not involved at all. Hopefully he'll be back next year.
No that makes sense. He adds a level of competitiveness. It seemed the East bench was really into it b/c TNT kept on showing the East bench after buckets in the 4th and never the West bench until the very end
They pointed out that the East bench was really into it at one point and then near the end of the game they showed how the East bench was still into it and the West bench was perfectly quiet, no one on their feet.
This matches your theory about Kobe: http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1y4f57/kobe_bryant_since_the_2007_nba_allstar_game/ The person says since 2007, Kobe has missed 3 AS games and the East won each time. In all other years, West won.
I didn't know that, but it makes sense. I would also guess that the West had a better team for almost all those games, if not all of them.
Its a shame Pop waited this long to give Patty Mills minutes, the guy is lighting it up and honestly a lot of people saw this coming. In the limited minutes last season he was really impressive. Spurs with 2 good road wins in Los Angeles and Portland. If the Spurs can get healthy they will win the West, it won't be easy but it can be done.
The Blazers have really been slipping down the standings recently and now LMA is out for a week or two. They are closer to missing the playoffs (5.5 games) than the first seed (6.5 games). Memphis is making a late push into the playoffs with M. Gasol back. Miami is now one back of IND in the loss column. I think IND would benefit more from the HC than Miami. Miami just cares about getting D. Wade healthy for the playoffs and the supporting cast healthy.
The western conference is just stacked more so than Portland slipping, I can't see Indiana beating the heat without the #1 seed though so they better get on a streak soon.
Definitely, good point. Their schedule was difficult from Christmas onwards and they've gone .500 over the stretch. They did suffer some losses to SAC and NOP and PHI they should have avoided, but their other losses have come to vs MIA @HOU @OKC @GS vs MEM @WAS @IND vs OKC @LAC vs SA (no LMA)
And like I said about a month ago, watch out for the Washington Wizards, I think they can derail someone in the playoffs.
Wizards can knock anyone off from 3-8 seed in the East because they all are close to each other in inconsistency and talent. They need to take a HUGE step forward this regular season or postseason to knock off IND and MIA. They have the best PG in a series against those teams, a "weakness" on both MIA and IND, but not too sure if Beal and company would be enough to push them over the top
Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA 3m Indiana has traded Danny Granger to the 76ers for Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen, league sour
3 and down in the East is lousy, anything can happen there. Like I said before, though, it'd be an upset if it wasn't Indiana/Miami in the ECF they're much much better than anyone else in the conference. At least six teams in the West are better than the third best team in the East.
At least 6 is being nice to the East too haha. It really should be Miami/Indy. If one of them doesn't make it to the conference finals, they would have to be extremely disappointed in how the season turned out. It's really only allowable they missed the conference finals if they suffer major injuries.
You could take Wade away from Miami and they'd still be better than the entire East aside from Indiana.
