Nba All Star Game

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan recalls the National Basketball Association All-Star Game's bad old days -- when players flew in the morning of the game and Nate Archibald won a most valuable player award in 1981 because he looked like the only one trying."

PHOENIX -- It's fitting that while the Northeast remains blanketed in snow, Washington Bullets forward Anthony Tucker is here on an all-expenses-paid weekend -- courtesy of the NBA -- enjoying the desert sun.It's fitting because Tucker might be the only player in the league who got his ticket to the big time thanks to a stretch of warm weather.Tucker's journey began last July during the string of 100-degree days that hit the Washington area. As the Bullets prepared in their sweatbox of a practice facility at Bowie State for the New York summer league, players began dropping like flies, and a call was put out for some bodies.

Shaq danced, Kobe dazzled. And just like old times, they won again. Bryant led all scorers with 27 points, O'Neal partied his way back onto the All-Star stage with 17 in just 11 minutes, and the Western Conference beat the East, 146-119, last night in Phoenix. Back on the same team for the first time in nearly five years, the three-time champions shared the game Most Valuable Player award. They helped the West get untracked after an awful start, then teamed up for a few buckets that helped blow open the game in the third quarter.

SAN ANTONIO -- Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone says he likes to win. At all costs. And after the West lost yesterday in a contest that was mostly one-sided in the second half, he sounded almost disgusted about what the All-Star Game has become."

It was a tingling feeling, almost as if he were getting a hug. Each time a batch of All-Star voting results was released by the NBA during December and January, Carmelo Anthony couldn't help but grasp them with interest. The numbers kept growing, and so did his pride. Big-time NBA players aren't supposed to be concerned with such things; they are supposed to be part of the trappings. For a young star with Nike commercials, a huge contract and a few medals from playing with Team USA, All-Star Weekend is usually part of a routine.

PHILADELPHIA - The NBA held its second dunk contest of All-Star Weekend, but with an interesting dimension. This time it came during the West's 135-120 victory over the East at the First Union Center. It gave the East some solace in its defeat and the Orlando Magic's Tracy McGrady a small shred of the spotlight. While the results were unofficial, the clear winner was McGrady. Standing between the foul line and the top of the key, the 6-foot-8 McGrady tossed a pass to himself off the backboard and slammed it down with a little under eight minutes left in the second quarter.

LOS ANGELES - Few point guards maneuver with the skill and grace of the New Jersey Nets' Jason Kidd, and that dexterity is helping during All-Star weekend, as he has had to weave his way through the traffic of questions about the team's coaching change. The Nets, fresh off two straight trips to the NBA Finals, dumped coach Byron Scott on Jan. 26 and replaced him with former assistant Lawrence Frank. In terms of wins and losses, the move was a good one, as the team has won 10 straight games - nine since Frank took over.

PHOENIX -- He's sitting there firing off the one-liners at afurious pace, taking command of the audience as only Charles Barkley can. But for a moment the mood gets serious as Barkley is asked about the hefty fine and suspension that Houston Rockets guard Vernon Maxwell received last week for punching a fan."Even if some fans deserve it -- and some do -- you still can't go up and hit them," Barkley said. "Some of the things that fans say is horrible, but you can't go up there and hit them.

The uniform number says a lot about Gilbert Arenas. Zero. That was how many minutes some recruiters told him he'd play for a major program. And he never wanted to forget, so he slapped it on his chest as a freshman at Arizona. But these days, the number is a big part of his "superhero" identity. He's Agent Zero, the phenomenon who bursts past the fastest guards, floats shots over the fingertips of the tallest centers and swishes three-pointers from the remotest environs of a basketball court.

DENVER - It went about like Shaquille O'Neal predicted. The Miami Heat center and Eastern Conference All-Star starter predicted the game would be about flash early, substance later. O'Neal also said teammate and first-time All Star Dwyane Wade should go for the Most Valuable Player award if there was an opportunity. That's what happened last night. The clowning of the first three quarters, led by O'Neal, eventually gave way to reasonably competitive basketball, highlighted by Wade's 10 fourth-quarter points.