ALSO SEE
By Phil Green and Jason Yellin
ESPNET SportsZone
CLEVELAND -- For many fans, Sunday's halftime show provided as much, if not more enjoyment than the All-Star Game itself.
The league used halftime to honor the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history. Forty-seven of the 50 attended the festivities. Only Jerry West, Shaquille O'Neal and the late Pete Maravich were absent; Maravich was represented by his two sons, Jason and Joshua.
Decked in leather team coats, the players marched onto the floor by position. While many players had only played on one team in their careers, others had a clothing choice to make. Current Bulls center Robert Parish wore a Celtics jacket. But current Rockets guard Clyde Drexler wore Rockets colors, rather than Portland -- where he spent most of his career, and Charles Barkley went with the Sixers rather than the Suns or Rockets.
Upon reaching the floor, the players were called by position, in ascending order of their entrance into the league. Michael Jordan was called first with George Mikan's name rounding out the select group. Following Mikan's introduction, the crowd gave a last standing ovation, fireworks exploded, red, white and blue balloons fell from the rafters, and the players' beaming faces appeared on the video screen.
Julius Erving received the crowd's loudest applause, followed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lenny Wilkens and Wilt Chamberlain. The unscientific poll of fan clapping might have been a little skewed, though, because Jordan was the first name called.
The current All-Stars watched the event with awe from the locker room.
"It was touching for the fans of our age to cheer them on," 25-year-old Anfernee Hardaway said. "You could tell they were loving every minute of it. I was one of the one's clapping for everyone who went up there, even the present guys."
Return to sender
The normally gracious All-Star crowd greeted Jazz forward Karl Malone with a smattering of boos every time his name was mentioned or he appeared on the overhead video screen.Malone shouldn't have been surprised by the crowd's response. In the week proceeding the game, Malone said he didn't really want to make the trip, and that his family would leave after the third quarter and he'd leave as quickly as possible after the game.
The citizens of Cleveland took his comments personally, though Malone explained he meant them in regards to the entire All-Star Weekend -- regardless of location.
Show me the money
Even though he was injured and did not play in the All-Star Game, Charles Barkley was very upset not to collect his $6,000 bonus if the Western Conference had won the game.Immediately following the game, he stormed into the locker room and yelled to the Western All-Stars. "You cost me $6,000 because you lost!"
Later on Barkley admitted that he was being a bit greedy.
"Yeah, I was (upset)," he said. "But it was just more money for me to gamble with, so maybe it wasn't meant to be."
The greatest battles the prot�g�
Jordan and Kevin Garnett had only faced each other on an NBA court four times prior to Sunday night. But the 20-year-old All-Star had some fun with His Airness in the second quarter."Under the basket I told him, I was going to foul him out of the game," Garnett said. "I was like, 'Let's get Michael out of the game.' Then he started tugging on my shorts. I told him that I almost had him with a highlight (with a dunk). I told him that he would get caught up in the 'KG Special.' "
Anybody seen any pancakes?
The potential first overall pick in April's NFL draft, Orlando Pace, attended Sunday's game. Someday he'll probably spend plenty of time at the NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu, but the former Ohio State star took advantage of Cleveland's proximity to Columbus to watch the NBA."It was a great time," Pace said. "It was a fun time to come down here and relax a little bit. It was my first All-Star Game, so it was really exciting."
The halftime celebration provided Pace with one of his day's highlights.
"That was great, just to see those players you watched on television and just to see them up close and in person was a plus," he said.
All-Star Game facts
- Glen Rice is the third player to win the MVP after not starting that All-Star Game. Nate Archibald (1981) and Mitch Richmond (1995) were the other two.
- The 21 3-point field goals by both teams set a new All-Star record. The East made 12, while the West nailed nine. The old record was 16 combined, set in 1993. The teams also set the mark for treys attempted with 50 -- East (29), West (21). The old record was 49, set in 1995.
- The Eastern Conference had three players with double-figure rebounds -- Vin Baker (12), Jordan (11) and Christian Laettner (11). The last time a team had a trio with 10 or more rebounds was the 1980 Eastern team -- Dan Roundfield (13), Moses Malone (12), George Gervin (10).
- The East's 67 total rebounds are the highest total since they grabbed 68 in 1985. The All-Star Game record is 83 by the 1965 East squad.
- With Chris Gatling's hook shot in the final minute of the game, every player in the game scored. The last All-Star to go scoreless was Shawn Kemp in the 1993 game.
- Jordan shot just 4-of-7 from the foul line. But that was not the most free throws he has missed in an All-Star Game. He went 9-for-13 in the 1993 and is 35-47 overall.
- With five field goals, Jordan (87) moved into third place on the all-time list behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (105) and Oscar Robertson (88).
- With 14 field goal attempts, Jordan (175) moved into fourth place all-time in that category behind Abdul-Jabbar (213), Bob Pettit (193) and Julius Erving (178).
- With a pair of 3-point field goals, John Stockton (7) ties Scottie Pippen for third place all-time behind Magic Johnson (10) and Mark Price (9)
- With three 3-point attempts, Pippen (22) moves into first place in all-time All-Star Game trey attempts, passing Magic (21).
