But last Sunday night (Monday morning, Manila) at the Toyota Center here, the East rewrote history and put on a gritty display of hard-nosed defense to eke out a 122-120 win over the West.
Leading the charge were East coach Flip Saunders’ "Bad Boys" from Detroit — Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups who provided the late defensive push that eventually broke the West’s back.
The MVP trophy, however, went to Cleveland’s wunderkind LeBron James who poured in 29 points, 13 in the third period when the East trimmed a 21-point deficit to three. James’ selection was true to form because in the All-Star Game, offense is still what fans enjoy the most.
Saunders took over as the Pistons coach from Larry Brown this season and has so far done a masterful job on the bench. Detroit is the league’s leading team with a 42-9 record. Next in line is Dallas at 41-11.
If the NBA ended its regular season today, making the playoff cut in the East would be, in order, Detroit, Miami, New Jersey, Cleveland, Indiana, Milwaukee, Washington and Philadelphia and in the West, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, New Orleans and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Saunders, who turns 51 tomorrow, was unceremoniously kicked out as Minnesota coach in the middle of last season. The Timberwolves were in a state of confusion with a 25-26 record and although Saunders wasn’t to blame, he was made the convenient scapegoat. Minnesota’s loss turned out to be Detroit’s gain.
In the press conference after the All-Star Game, Saunders paid tribute to the East players for rolling up their sleeves, getting down to business and playing tough defense in repulsing the West. He said the effort down the stretch made the difference as the East preserved a 10-point lead with 3:29 to go to edge the West by two.
"Defense is team-oriented," said Saunders. "It’s harder for a team to get together and play good defense than play good offense because you’re not sure of who is rotating, who takes who off the traps. That becomes a little it harder to do. If the game is close, it’s always tough in that situation you’re thrown in, more importantly, late in the game. If the game is close and you decide that guys can all play together, you might have a chance of winning than the other guys."
Down the stretch, Saunders called on Allen Iverson to play the point instead of his Detroit quarterback Billups. He assigned James on Tracy McGrady and Dwayne Wade on Kobe Bryant. Rasheed Wallace was the center and the only East player to log all 12 minutes in the period. Vince Carter was the fifth cager on the floor for Saunders.
The lineup appeared to be unwieldy, what with four guards on the court. But Saunders gambled on quickness to get the jump on the West, defensively. The trick worked.
Saunders said with the score tied at 120-all, time down to 16.6 seconds, he picked Iverson to take the last shot instead of James because of his speed advantage over Steve Nash. The Answer had an open look but missed a 15-footer. Then, from out of nowhere, Wade grabbed the offensive rebound and sank a floater.
Wade’s crucial rebound was the ultimate irony because the West controlled the boards from start to finish. The West wound up with 68 rebounds to the East’s 49 and hauled in more offensive boards, 25-11.
There was still a lot of time for the West to equalize or win the game outright with a triple. But the East wouldn’t be denied. Saunders knew West coach Avery Johnson would set up either T-Mac or Bryant for the final stab so he reminded James and Wade to stay home from the inbounds pass.
The ball went to McGrady who uncorked a 20-footer that missed badly. He insisted James clipped him and there should’ve been a foul called. The ball fell short of the target and appeared to have been deflected. Kevin Garnett, who had just checked in for Ray Allen, plucked down the rebound to give the West another chance. Bryant got the ball. Only seconds earlier, he buried a difficult 20-foot fadeaway to knot the count.
All game long, there was a concerted West effort to give McGrady every chance to shine so he could walk away with the MVP trophy before the Houston homecrowd. Bryant unselfishly gave up shots to pass to T-Mac.
But as the clock wound down, Bryant knew it was up to him to bail out the West. Alas, the East knew that, too. Three defenders crowded Bryant on his dribble and he lost the handle under pressure. Defense did it in the end as if scripted by Saunders. Bryant, incidentally, finished with eight points, seven rebounds and eight assists in 26 minutes.
Only two players failed to score. Pau Gasol was scoreless in three tries but collected a game-high 12 rebounds in 14 minutes. Ben Wallace missed a field goal and two free throws in 24 minutes. Big Ben compensated with eight rebounds, two assists and three steals.
McGrady would’ve been the MVP if the West won. He fired 36 points, including 4-of-10 treys. On the downside, T-Mac had no rebound and flubbed 5-of-7 free throws.
Saunders’ defense was the key to victory as the East held the West to .455 from the floor and forced 24 turnovers which resulted in 31 points. In contrast, the East shot .505 from the field and committed 16 miscues.