Kevin Garnett wins the 2003 All-Star Game MVP Award.
“Prediction of the day: Kobe Bryant hogs the ball like crazy and screws KG out of an All-Star Game MVP award for the third straight year. It’s like predicting snow in Saskatchewan….” – DeROK2’s Away Message
2001:
Scenario: KG is leading the Western Conference to a victory when Kobe decides he’d rather be the MVP and doesn’t pass the entire fourth quarter.
Result: The East comes back from the largest deficit in All-Star Game history.
MVP: Allen Iverson
2002:
Scenario: Kobe miffed about last years explosion doesn’t pass the ball for all four quarters, but the East can’t stop him. KG puts up a valiant effort, but doesn’t get the ball enough to offset Bryant’s antics.
Result: Bryant gets booed out of Philadelphia.
MVP: Kobe Bryant
2003:
Scenario: Michael Jordan Night. The old man takes 26 shots for a total of 20 points. Mariah Carey adds to the pathetic nature of it all with her horrible tribute. Despite his teammates doing everything possible to mess the game up, KG comes up with 37 points.
Result: MJ’s story book ending is ruined by a double OT loss.
MVP: Finally, Kevin Garnett.
Throughout my college career, there’s always been that one weekend in February when Kevin Garnett finally has a chance to receive the recognition he deserves. And for the first two years Kobe Bryant has always managed to ruin that opportunity. This year the tables were turned as “The Franchise” put on what was without a doubt one of the most dominating performances in All-Star Game History. Unlike the other All-Star Games, the NBA’s has always been a must see game for me. You see it’s the one time where the Association takes on a little bit of a WWF feel. For one night, it’s no longer a team game, but rather a showcase of spectacular individuals all dueling for pride. It’s basically the sports version of the Royal Rumble, except that the winner gets the MVP award instead of a spot in the main event of Wrestlemania. And so while many might think that it’s a pointless 48 minutes of show-boating, for me it was a matter of pride in Kevin Garnett.
Kevin started off by nailing the first shot of the game and then after the Yao Ming alley-oop, he drilled another to get himself to 4 points for the night. He caught a few rebounds, but bad passes galore kept him from adding anymore. He subbed out and Dirk Nowitski took control by getting a quick nine points in two minutes. This was a little unnerving for me, but I had hope that since he came off the bench, Dirk wouldn’t get a whole lot of minutes. Sure enough, KG re-entered in the second and went off for ten points to become the games leading scorer with 14 points at the half. The West had the lead and things were looking good since Kobe had failed to find a rhythm.
Then in the third, the floodgates began to open. While KG was able to bring his point total to 18, T-Mac went on fire with 17 points in the third. The West’s combo of Shaq, Payton, Stojo, and Marion played way too much, and while it was tied at 120 a piece heading into the final quarter, the East was charging at full speed. I still don’t know why Rick Addleman left the bench in so long when they were obviously struggling to keep up. Finally, with six minutes remaining the West tried to stop the bleeding by putting in the “Big Ticket” who quickly added 8 of the West’s final 16 points in regulation. Of course down one with ten seconds to go, Kobe gets two free throws and misses one to help further the “Screw KG out of the MVP award for the third straight year conspiracy.” MJ misses a game winner and we head onto the first overtime…
KG was pretty quiet in the first overtime scoring only two points. However, that’s largely due to the fact that Kobe had fully infected the game by this point. The man who had almost as sorry a performance as MJ suddenly found his game and through some pretty nice play got the West up by seven with two minutes to go. However, he now had 17 points and with a few more baskets could be a reasonable choice over KG since he dominated the overtime. That hunger for a second consecutive MVP award kicked in and mass destruction ensued. I’ve never seen such selfish play in my life. Oh wait – scratch that – I have. That would be Kobe Bryant in the past two All-Star Games. Kobe’s complete ineptitude at passing allowed the East to take back the lead. Of course, I’m dying here. I had so much hope, and it was all about to be crushed by that moron for a third straight year. My world continued to spin completely out of control as Shaq went to the free-throw line down one with 23 seconds remaining. Of course he misses the first. And to be honest, I can’t blame the guy. I wouldn’t even be able to hit the backboard if I was as cross-eyed as him. Then Isaiah pulls a cheap time out to freeze the mammoth. I’m dying here. We’ve already scaled the mountain and brought it to overtime. We had the opportunity to go for their throats, but Kobe played like a moron. And now all my hopes of having my favorite athlete of all time become the All-Star Game MVP was relying on a Shaquille O’Neal freethrow. I honestly don’t know how Lakers fan’s sleep at night knowing the success of their whole season could end up resting upon this guy at the stripe. By no small miracle Shaq hits the free throw. It’s all about defense now as the East can take the last shot…
MJ hits a fallaway jumper with three seconds remaining. Again, I’m dying. The old fart had screwed me over one last time. His whole career I never really rooted for the guy. I’m not a big fan of dynasties, and I can’t stand how players can be over-hyped by the media. He’s never done anything good for me, ever. Well I’m flabbergasted and beyond disappointed. That is until Jermaine O’Neal pulls the bone-head foul heard round the world and nails Kobe as he makes one final MVP attempt from beyond the arch. So of course Kobe manages to leave a small window for Kevin to be robbed by only making two of three. With a second remaining, MJ gets stuffed on his final shot of his All-Star career and the game goes into an unprecedented second overtime.
Well KG would have no more of this and started off by scoring the first seven points of the second overtime. He would end up with 37 points total, along with 9 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 assists, and oh yeah, 1 block. Just like Harrison Ford being a quarter Jewish, KG’s performance was “Not too shabby.”
Flip Saunders told KG to bring home some hardware from his trip to Atlanta. And as a fan, I’m thrilled that he listened to him. The man who has done so much for the Timberwolves finally has his first moment to shine. But as it’s been pointed out to my by many of my friends that don’t share my enthusiasm, “What’s the big deal?” Well ordinarily I’d say they’d be right. But KG is no ordinary NBA superstar. Here’s a player that works his tail off and has never gotten to taste the sweetness of victory. Here’s a player that should be the NBA’s biggest star, and he has less national television appearances this year than Earl Boykins. Here’s a player that could lure other superstars to Minnesota if anyone actually knew how good he was. Everyone says “Wouldn’t Jason Kidd love to play with Tim Duncan?” Well seeing that Duncan already has Tony Parker and that he’s straight up not as good as Garnett, why doesn’t anyone say “Wouldn’t Kidd love to play with KG?” Basically, I’ve decided it’s because they’re all idiots. But even an idiot could see how dominant KG was last night. And pretty soon they’ll all finally understand how much he does for the Timberwolves and how he’s the greatest player in the game today. I don’t remember MJ in his prime having to search for decent teammates. And now that the world has gotten its first wake-up call that best player in the NBA doesn’t wear a Lakers’ jersey, perhaps there will be an influx of basketball stars deciding to do their Christmas shopping in the Mall of America. There’s rumors swirling already that The Glove could be making a home for himself in Minnesota. And as for me saying that MJ has done nothing form me, well that ended last night. You see, the All-Star Game was the highest rated basketball game in cable television history. All the people that showed up to see Jordan play his last All-Star Game got more than they bargained for. For perhaps the first time, they got to see how incredible Kevin Garnett is. And once the media gets a whiff of a legend, they hype it up like crazy. Just look at LeBron. And so in a way my friends are right that winning the MVP award is meaningless. After all, it’s not going to be the ticket out of the first round. But I do feel that it’s significant in finally setting up a scenario in which the Timberwolves can finally get the attention they need to make the jump to the next level. And who knows, if all goes well the next piece of hardware that KG brings home may be a golden basketball.
