If the NBA ever stages another All-Star Game in Utah, it will be nearly impossible to improve on the first one.
On. Feb. 21, 1993, Karl Malone and John Stockton led the West to a 135-132 overtime victory over the East in a game featuring seven members of the original Dream Team, including Michael Jordan.
Malone scored 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Stockton finished with nine points and 15 assists. They were named co-Most Valuable Players.
?I remember the Malone-Stockton tandem ... playing so hard,? said former NBA communications vice president Brian McIntyre, who is now a consultant to commissioner David Stern.
?They brought their regular-season game to the All-Star Game.?
Malone and Stockton weren?t alone.
Beyond being a worldwide showcase for the hometown heroes, the game quickly evolved into a heavyweight fight among the game?s greatest players.
The ?93 All-Stars were clearly more interested in winning than entertaining, although that was the byproduct of their efforts.
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The Knicks? Patrick Ewing called it ?the best defensive All-Star Game I?ve ever played in. ? Both teams were focused and really getting after each other.?
East coach Pat Riley said, ?I think instinct took over. These guys started getting after one another. This was a pretty good game.?
According to Stockton, the players ?really got competitive, and that?s the way it should be. That?s when it really gets fun.?
In retrospect, the All-Star Game was a defining moment in Utah?s sporting history.
It was played 14 years after Magic Johnson and Michigan State defeated Larry Bird and Indiana State for the NCAA championship at the then-Special Events Center.
Given the globalization of the NBA during the 1980s, however, the All-Star Game was a bigger event.
Along with the Jazz?s consecutive trips to the Finals in 1997-98 against Jordan and the Bulls, the game was also a forerunner to the 2002 Winter Olympics.
?It gave the city great credibility,? Frank Layden, former Jazz coach, general manager and president, once said. ?It announced that we were truly a major-league city; it had a lot to do with the Olympics coming here. ... Major-league sports had arrived.?
luhm@sltrib.com
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/53577743-77/game-star-stockton-malone.html.csp
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