Once Again, Jordan Steals Show Michael Marvelous Swipes Mvp From Shaq As East Knocks Off West

One look at Michael Jordan during the pregame introductions for the All-Star Game, and you had a sense he had come to play.

He sat on the bench with his bald head bowed, seemingly lost in his own thoughts while his Eastern Conference teammates were being announced. Jordan’s name was the last to be called, and he came out smiling and laughing.

After missing the last two All-Star games as a retired NBA star, Jordan was glad to be back.

“I just wanted to come out and have a good time,” Jordan said Sunday after scoring 20 points in 22 minutes. “I hadn’t experienced this in a couple of years. I relived a lot of memories.”

Leading up to the game, Jordan had a let a few hints drop that he was out to avenge the Eastern Conference’s 27-point loss last season. His 10 third-quarter points helped break open the game and sparked the East to a 129-118 victory. In the bargain, he picked up the Most Valuable Player award for the second time in nine All-Star appearances.

“I’m just amazed at how intense he plays basketball for someone who has been playing for so many years,” said Seattle’s George Karl, coach of the Western Conference team. “It seems like since he has been back, he actually plays harder and with more intensity now than he did a couple of years ago.”

Jordan didn’t play the game’s final 16 minutes, and the disappointed Alamodome crowd booed him as he accepted the MVP trophy. Phil Jackson, the Bulls coach and coach of the Eastern Conference team, said he wanted to give some younger players a chance to show off, but saving Jordan for Chicago’s run at an NBA record 70 victories couldn’t have been far from his mind.

“I think Phil wanted to let some of the younger guys play and save my legs, which is what a coach is supposed to do quite naturally,” Jordan said.

In the third quarter, however, Jordan put on the kind of show expected of him, helping the East turn a 61-58 halftime lead into a double-digit blowout. His performance, however brief, was the only bright spot in an All-Star Game with more air balls and turnovers than stellar play.

“If I had to rate this game,” Utah’s Karl Malone said, “I don’t think it was very good for the fans.”

But just as Jordan reinvigorated the league by his return from retirement last March, he saved this game from mediocrity.

There he was driving through the lane, picking up a perfect bounce pass from Anfernee Hardaway and soaring in for a dunk. There he was curling around the right side for a one-handed jam.

That basket with 4:14 remaining in the third quarter was his last of the game and gave the East an 88-71 lead.

He hit 8 of 11 field goals, making his first four shots of the game, and had four rebounds.

Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal led the Eastern Conference with 25 points and 10 rebounds, the best All-Star performance of his career and one some All-Stars thought merited the MVP award. His teammate, Hardaway, added 18 points.

“If it’s going to make him mad in the second half of the season, then I’ll give it to him,” Jordan said.

“No, I wouldn’t take it,” O’Neal said.

For the West, which had won three of the last four All-Star contests, hometown favorite David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs had 18 points and 11 rebounds, leading a brief comeback for his team. Seattle guard Gary Payton, named to the team as a reserve, played 28 minutes and had 18 points.

The rest of the West’s All-Stars didn’t do anything spectacular.

Charles Barkley, who said he had a touch of bronchitis and wasn’t feeling well, had just eight points and Hakeem Olajuwon four, and neither played more than 16 minutes.

“We used our quickness to defeat their size advantage,” Jordan said. “They didn’t really shoot well.”

Down by 22 at the end of three quarters, the West opened the fourth quarter with a 23-9 run, with Robinson scoring eight points, and pulled to 111-103 on Mitch Richmond’s fast-break layup with 4:10 to play. But Hardaway hit two straight 3-pointers, only the third and fourth for the Eastern Conference, to stretch the lead again.

The first half was just plain sloppy, with a total of 27 turnovers. The West had 17 of them, leading to 28 points for the East. Too many no-look passes went into the seats instead of into a teammate’s hands, and too many would-be alley-oops were simply oops.

For the game, the West turned the ball over 26 times, the East 20.

“We threw the ball away trying to make spectacular plays, but that’s the All-Star Game,” Karl said.

Jason Kidd, a first-time All-Star and the Dallas Mavericks’ first-ever starter, was dazzling when he was in the game.

He connected with Seattle’s Shawn Kemp on a behind-the-back pass that Kemp took in for a thunderous dunk on one play. On another, he passed to Clyde Drexler under the basket and the Rockets guard sent a nifty touch pass to Barkley on the wing for a layup.

Kidd had five assists in the first quarter, finishing with 10 assists and seven points.

Jordan had 10 first-half points on 5-for-7 shooting.

The Alamodome crowd of 36,037 was the third largest in All-Star history.

East 129, West 118

FGFTReb EAST MinM-AM-AO-TAPFPts Pippen 254-70-02-8508 Hill 266-102-21-32114 O’Neal 2810-165-113-101325 Jordan 228-114-41-41120 Hardaway 316-84-40-37018 Ewing 123-72-21-3128 Miller 184-80-00-2228 Baker 142-52-21-2246 Brandon 204-102-21-13111 Rice 151-54-40-1227 Howard 161-50-04-6232 Mourning 131-60-00-1022 Totals 24050-9825-3114-442821129 FGFTReb WEST MinM-AM-AO-TAPFPts Barkley 164-60-00-0118 Kemp 226-121-22-41413 Olajuwon 142-80-01-3024 Drexler 195-80-00-23011 Kidd 223-40-02-61017 Robinson 238-132-26-112418 Payton 286-106-63-55118 Elliott 225-121-12-52413 Malone 202-67-80-92111 Richmond 253-101-20-2207 Mutombo 112-40-06-9034 Stockton 182-90-00-1324 Totals 24048-10218-2122-573123118

East 33 28 41 27- 129

West 32 26 22 38- 118

3-Point goals-East 4-15 (Hardaway 2-4, Rice 1-2, Brandon 1-4, Pippen 0-1, Miller 0-4), West 4-25 (Elliott 2-6, Kidd 1-2, Drexler 1-4, Payton 0-1, Kemp 0-2, Richmond 0-3, Stockton 0-7). A-36,037.