PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 9 -- M-G-M, when it was Hollywood's pre-eminent dream factory in the '30s and '40s, described itself as having more stars than there were in the sky.
A similar claim could be made for All-Star Weekend. With the exception of the Super Bowl and possibly the Academy Awards, no event has more wattage than this.
 Tom Cavanagh of NBC's "Ed" drives by, by, by *N SYNC's Justin Timberlake in the 989 Sports All-Star Hoop-It-Up. Andy Lyons |
But when the festivities closed, the night belonged to the group from California's capital and one high flying rookie from Golden State.
Sacramento's contingent dominated All-Star Saturday night. Peja Stojakovic won the 1 800 Call ATT Shootout and the International team, which had a current King, a current Monarch and a former King, won the 989 Sports All-Star Hoop-It-Up three-on-three tourney in sudden death overtime.
And then, there was the mightiest Warrior of them all. Jason Richardson, whose MVP performance in the 'got milk?' Rookie Challenge was a prelude to his winning the NBA.com Slam Dunk sponsored by RealOne.
Here's hoping the 21-year-old rookie has room in his home for the new hardware he collected this weekend.
MY, SARUNAS
If any team had a tough road, it was the International team in the three-on-three tourney. It opened against the heavily favored Los Angeles team featuring Magic Johnson, Lisa Leslie, Derek Fisher and Brian McKnight.
Sarunas Marciulionis, the first Russian to sign an NBA contract was automatic against L.A., hitting for 15 points in the 25-13 win.
In the finals, the Internationals had to beat the hometown team. While Justin Timberlake of *N SYNC and Tom Cavanagh of NBC's "Ed," started for their teams in the finals, they had a permanent seat on the bench down the stretch and into overtime. The Kings' Hedo Turkoglu hit a game-winning three to lift the International team to a 12-9, eliciting a wave of boos (naturally) from the Philly fans.
Cavanagh, who played "Canadian college ball" and tries to play whenever he's not shooting his TV show, wasn't complaining that he wasn't in there at the end.
"They really don't come to see us play," Cavanagh said. "The sooner they can get Cavanagh and Timberlake off the floor, the better.
"Just to see how they play and the caliber of play is amazing. It's extremely impressive."
And extremely serious. By the end, Moses Malone was sweating like it was Game 7 of an NBA Finals, bodies were being shoved and Philly, which had a couple of chances to win it in sudden death, couldn't get a shot off because the Internationals did what everyone does at game point in three-on-three -- if fouled Philly every chance it got.
Because the game turned serious, and was entertaining, the tourney got a thumbs up from Philly's Dawn Staley.
"I love it," she said. "I hope they keep it."
TIGHT KICKS AND SAGGY BOTTOMS
Boston's Paul Pierce had a tough time in the three-point competition.
His form wasn't the reason he tied with San Antonio's Steve Smith for the lowest first round score of eight.
Maybe it was because he had to pull up his sagging drawers between every shot. America was lucky Pierce was wearing a shirt, or else he would have received more than just national exposure.
Also, Pierce was one of many players who debuted shoes during the weekend that looked like they were covered in tight plastic, much like my great-grandmother's furniture. His were a fluorescent forest green to boot.
PERSON TO PERSON
Wesley Person, whose brother Chuck "The Rifleman" Person was a fair long-range bomber himself, was stellar in the three-point shooting competition, hitting nine in a row at one point in the first round.
Did Wesley get any pointers from Chuck about the competition?
"He mostly gives me pointers on my shooting," Person said. "He always tells me to get the ball up.
"In the first round, I was short a bit. When I got the ball in the air, I was all right."
THUMBS UP AND DOWN
The dunk contest had many new wrinkles this season, including two dunkers going against each other instead of the whole field, internet voters and a game-show type wheel the contestants would spin before the third dunk to determine what type of slam they had to copy. Categories ranged from Dominque Wilkins' "Human Highlight Film" dunks to "Dr. J Classics" to dunks from different decades.
True to form, Philly was featured as the wheel landed on Dr. J's space three times.
While the crowd reacted positively to the where the wheel landed, sometimes the neo-classics didn't live up to the real thing, like when Steve Francis tried to copy Terrance Stansbury's spectacular 360 Statue of Liberty.
What did the contestants think?
"I didn't like it at all," said Houston's Cuttino Mobley, who was Steve Francis' partner in the teammate dunk. "It was too strict. You have to let these guys go and create."
Richardson gave it a thumbs up.
"It was pretty cool," Richardson said. "Though, not many people can do that 360. I thought the wheel was pretty cool."
Richardson, whose first windmill dunk finished with enough energy and force to power all of Holland, let the creativity flow. He had only tried his winning dunk, a 360, two-handed windmill, once before the contest.
