A Look Back: The 2000 NBA All-Star Game

Feb 154 min read

This weekend, the San Francisco Bay Area is hosting the NBA All-Star Game for the first time in a quarter century. It was a much different era back then, with a couple of dynasties being forged, future stars in the making and the great introduction to the World Wide Web. Let's take a look at the last time the event was held there.

The Lead-Up

The festivities began with the Three-Point Contest. Dirk Nowitzki won the first round by making 18 shots while Jeff Hornacek made 17 and the eventual all-time leader Ray Allen made 16. Hornacek edged the two other finalists in the final round by making 13 of his shots compared to Nowitzki's 11 and Allen's 10 to take the title.

Although more participated, the Slam Dunk Contest really came down to two Toronto teammates: Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. While McGrady put on a show, it was Carter who really brought the "wow" factor to the event. Once he twisted his way to an incredible, awe-inspiring reverse 360 dunk, every single seat at the Arena in Oakland was empty as all 18,000 pairs of feet were standing in wonder and astonishment as the place erupted in euphoria. Needless to say, Vince Carter won the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest.

The Rookie Challenge saw numerous future stars taking the court at the Arena in Oakland such as Lamar Odom, Steve Francis and Andre Miller who were led by former Warriors coach Al Attles. The Sophomores were coached by Bay Area and NBA legend Bill Russell who saw Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Jason Williams, Mike Bibby and the Warriors' own Antawn Jamison under his care. The Rookies won in overtime 92-83 while the Bulls' Elton Brand earned MVP honors after scoring 16 points and collecting 21 rebounds. It was a good appetizer for the main event the following night.

The All-Star Game

The 2000 NBA All-Star Game was held at the Arena in Oakland on February 13, 2000 in front of a capacity crowd of 18,325. In some ways it was a somber occasion as the event memorialized the immortal Wilt Chamberlain, who passed away just four months earlier. In other ways, it was a glimpse into the future as people were just starting to get into technology and the internet, with the dot-com craze swirling around in the broadcaster's booth throughout the game. Bill Walton couldn't stop talking about Shaquille O'Neal's "dunk.net", which was a website dedicated to selling his shoes and other products.

The game began very sloppily as neither team could shoot. In fact, both Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, two men who would at one time hold the record for most three-pointers in a career, only made two of their combined twelve attempts from three-point range for the night.

Aside from the poor shooting early on, something else was amiss: there was almost no connection on the alley-oop pass. All through the game, the alley-oop pass was missed time and again as men with tremendous leaping abilities comically flailed in the air as they missed pass after pass. Still, it was an Allen Iverson-to-Vince Carter alley-oop that lit the crowd afire early in the first quarter. It was the first of many fantastic passes by Iverson who may have been the best on the floor in that category that day.

The first quarter wound down with a smooth three-point shot by Jason Kidd and a skyhook by Shaquille O'Neal. Both teams passed better in the second quarter and the game picked up as the quarter went along. Michael Finley made the corner his home by making a three-pointer that would make Steph Curry swoon.

After LL Cool J and Mary J. Blige entertained the crowd at halftime, the game continued. Befitting of the contest, late in the third quarter, Jason Kidd attempted to feed Tim Duncan an alley-oop pass but the ball went in the net half a second before Duncan could reach the leather. Neither team ever could figure out how to consistently make that shot. Kobe Bryant practically ended the game with an alley-oop pass to Stephon Marbury and the West beat the East 137 to 126. Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal were named Co-MVP's, thus paying tribute to one of the greatest centers who ever lived.

West

Starters points assists rebounds three-pointers

Kevin Garnett 24 5 10 0

Jason Kidd 11 14 5 3-6

Tim Duncan 24 4 14 0

Kobe Bryant 15 3 1 1-4

Shaquille O'Neal 22 3 9 0

Reserves

Rasheed Wallace 9 0 4 0

Gary Payton 5 8 4 0

Chris Webber 6 3 8 0

John Stockton 10 2 0 0