Kobe Bryant steals the show

PHOENIX: It started with a bang and ended with a whimper. That, in a nutshell was the story of the NBA All-Star Weekend. The All-Star game between the Western and Eastern Conferences on Sunday turned out to be less engrossing than the other events over the previous two days despite Western Conference winning the high-scoring match 146-119.
There was Shaquille O'Neal and there was Kobe Bryant, and then there was a long line of stars starting from LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Allen Iverson, Dwayne Wade, Paul Pierce, Rashard Lewis, Amar'e Stoudemire, Chris Paul, Brandopn Roy, Tony Parker, Paul Gasol et al.
And then there were legends like boxer Muhammed Ali, basketballers Irvin Magic Johnson and Bill Russell and the glamorous Beyonce Knowles and Sheryl Crowe in the crowd. Yet, the game failed to rise to the dizzy heights despite the fantastic atmosphere created by not just the denizens of this desert city but a whole lot of basketball buffs who descended here for the world's biggest star-studded event.
The first quarter made it for quite an exciting script when the young guns from East appeared to cut their experienced and illustrious opponents to size. They sunk in seven points without reply and then held a 20-8 lead after six minutes.
But it took all of three minutes for Kobe Bryant to change the course of the match and put his side West in the lead. If anything, the first six minutes signaled that the days of O'Neal and Yao Ming are long over and that they were there on the team just as icons of an era that is soon going to end.
Once they were substituted, the game changed dramatically in favour of West and although they were brought in occasionally, their contribution was quite ordinary. O'Neal may have finished with 17 points against his name, but most of those were either scored due to the brilliant assists from his teammates or because the opponents were a bit charitable towards him.
Bryant was undoubtedly the star of the match. If his assists were classy, his shooting, both from far and near, was outstanding. The other players to share the limelight were Amar'e Stoudmire and East's LeBron James and Paul Pierce. Although they too were brilliant in their own way, Bryant was the league higher. That he was on the court for less than 30 minutes of the 48-minute match and yet came out with 27 points - with the highest number of three-pointers (3) in the game - is proof enough of that.