| | OAKLAND, Calif. -- They are two of the NBA's most talented
young offensive stars, fearless and feared on the court. Yet
first-time All-Stars Allen Iverson and Ray Allen admitted they were
scared stiff in Sunday's game.
"I was sitting up all night, I couldn't go to sleep. I've never
been as nervous in a game before in my life. My first game in the
NBA, I know I wasn't this nervous," said Iverson, an Eastern
Conference starter.
|  | | Sixers guard Allen Iverson hugs Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal before the start of the All-Star Game. |
"It's the environment. You don't get to play in front of Magic Johnson and Bill Russell every night."
Iverson, of the Philadelphia 76ers, seemed to overcome his case of nerves pretty well. He scored 26 points and had nine assists, some of them spectacular, as his East team lost 137-126 to the West.
Allen also seemed to cope well after some early nervousness. The Milwaukee Bucks guard had 14 points, though he went just 4-of-13 from the field and made just one of his six 3-pointers.
"It was fun. I was sitting there, nervous, on the bench," he
said. "When I got in the game, I said, 'Reggie (Miller), are you
rushing your 3's? It's almost like you're a kid in a candy store.
You get the ball and you want to do something with it."
Grant's focus
Detroit's Grant Hill played the fewest minutes
of any All-Star starter Sunday, and had the fewest points of any
starter. He scored seven points and had five assists in 19 minutes.
But those numbers are remarkable, considering that he could
hardly see what was happening on the court.
Hill lost the contact lens from his right eye in warmups before
the game, and didn't have a backup set of lenses. Detroit's trainer
usually carries an extra set, but he was not at the All-Star Game.
"It popped out before the game. I couldn't see anything," he
said. "Everything was blurry."
Rooting from the bench
Phoenix's Jason Kidd, who grew up in
Oakland and played his college ball at California in nearby
Berkeley, got one of the loudest ovations during pre-game
introductions of the All-Star lineups.
A starter for the Western Conference squad, Kidd saved his
applause for teammates Karl Malone and John Stockton as the two
Utah Jazz players executed one of their trademark pick and roll
plays.
Kidd was caught by a courtside microphone marveling at the Utah
duo.
"You know it's coming, but you can't stop it," Kidd said to
West teammates.
Tiger watch
Before the game, the television in the Western
Conference locker room was tuned to the Buick Invitational as Tiger
Woods was making up a seven-stroke deficit only to fall back and
lose by four strokes to Phil Mickelson.
Someone made the observation that with everyone at All-Star
weekend talking about which player would be the next Michael
Jordan, maybe they were looking at the wrong sport.
"If that is Michael Jordan, he's going to have a heck of a
golfing career," Jason Kidd said. "He's been on a heck of a run.
A lead is never safe with Tiger out there. He's getting that
reputation, and it all starts with winning. That's what he's
doing."
Hot stuff
The NBA was hoping excitement on the court would
make All-Star fans forget about the miserable weather outside.
Since the start of the All-Star weekend, there had been nearly
non-stop rain in the San Francisco Bay area.
But perhaps the folks operating the giant scoreboard outside the
Oakland Coliseum Arena were a bit too optimistic. As fans arrived
at the game, the scoreboard flashed: "At 2:47 p.m., it's 150
degrees."
Most overrrated?
Fans chose the starters for the All-Star Game
and coaches picked the reserves. The San Jose Mercury News decided
to poll the All-Stars themselves about their peers, and got some
interesting answers.
In a completely unscientific poll that got responses from only
about 20 percent of the players, the newspaper asked several
questions that fans often debate.
Such as: "Who is the most overrated player in the league?"
There was a tie for first on that one, with Penny Hardaway of
the Phoenix Suns and Washington's Juwan Howard getting five votes
apiece. Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and Sacramento's Jason Williams
were right behind, with four votes each.
Among other results of the survey:
Cedric Ceballos of Dallas and Toni Kukoc of the Bulls tied for
the distinction of being the NBA's worst defender.
Indiana's Reggie Miller was a runaway winner as the best pure
shooter, and Allen Iverson had 36 votes -- compared to four for his
nearest challenger -- in the "best 1-on-1 move" category.
And the most underrated player was Shareef Abdur-Rahim of Vancouver.
Star watch
Among the non-NBA luminaries sighted at the game:
Brandi Chastain, the star of last summer's Women's World Cup;
presidential candidate (and former NBA star) Bill Bradley; former
heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield; actor Peter Boyle; singer
Natalie Cole, and celebrity lawyer Johnnie Cochran.
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