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By Ken Bergen
Associated Press
CLEVELAND -- The East had to do something in a hurry about its 23-point deficit in Sunday's 47th annual NBA All-Star Game. With the greatest players in history gathering at halftime, there would be no time for pep talks.
"We watched it in the locker room," said Glen Rice, the MVP in the East's 132-120 victory Sunday night. "That was pretty much the foundation of the NBA out there."
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Coach Doug Collins and Michael Jordan helped rally the East from a 23-point deficit.
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"There really wasn't any strategy, period," Grant Hill said. "There wasn't any strategy before the game, during the game or after the game."
Before putting on a leather jacket and joining the other greats, Jordan made sure it wouldn't be spoiled by a prospective beating.
"Michael just refuses to lose," Tim Hardaway said. "He came in and started to make plays. We rolled after that."
The East, which trailed 53-30 with 5:57 left in the second quarter, closed the half with a 27-7 run. Jordan passed to Chicago Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen for a dunk, then scored in the lane and had a tip-in.
And even though the East still trailed, the exclamation point came when Jordan charged through the foul lane and dunked a missed free throw by Hill, cutting the West's lead to 58-54.
"We just started playing, I guess," Hill said.
After the greats assembled and the All-Stars not among them watched on television, Rice turned what had started as a blowout for the West into the opposite.
Rice followed two consecutive dunks by Vin Baker with three straight 3-pointers -- one from the right, one from the left, and one from the top. He had an All-Star record 20 points in the third -- breaking the mark set, ironically enough, of one of the 50 greats, Hal Greer.
That made it 70-60, and the 40-7 run with the most memorable of intermissions was complete.
