2017 All-Star Game

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For the third year in a row, the Western Conference All-Stars topped the Eastern Conference All-Stars, as hometown hero Anthony Davis excited the crowd at New Orleans' Smoothie King Center by entering the record books with 52 points, the most ever scored in the NBA All-Star Game.

Despite a late rally from the East, the Western Conference All-Stars finished the game strong, going on to win 192-182 in Sunday's conclusion to All-Star Weekend.

Representing the Pacers, in his fourth career All-Star Game, was Paul George, who finished the night with 12 points and five rebounds. George struggled to find his touch from long range, but still managed to lift the crowd with some thundering dunks throughout the evening.

"It was fun, it was really just about getting out there and showcasing, having fun out there," said George to reporters after the game. "Looking forward to the break now, get some rest, and get ready for the second half."

George knew coming in that replicating his 41-point effort of the 2016 All-Star Game would be a tough task, and mentioned in Saturday's media availability that the type of night he would have might depend on whether his shot was falling.

But after going 0-of-4 from beyond the arc in the first half, George focused on getting to the rim, where he scored in a multitude of ways; from throwing it off the backboard to himself, to hammering a bounce pass alley-oop from Paul Millsap.

By the end of the evening, George was 6-of-16 from the field, with all six of his made field goals coming from dunks. He also added three assists.

George checked in the game for the first time with 6:08 remaining in the first quarter and the East leading 26-24. With PG in the game, the Eastern Conference All-Stars pushed ahead to a 34-28 advantage before the West charged right back, retaking the lead 35-34.

George got his first points of the game in transition, slamming one down in the open floor. He picked up another powerful dunk minutes later when he received an alley-oop from John Wall on the break and put it down behind the back with two hands.

By the time the first quarter ended, the East was leading 53-48 and George was 2-of-6 from the field with four points and four rebounds.

Just minutes into the second quarter, George ignited the crowd again, throwing an alley-oop to himself off the glass for his third field goal of the evening, subbing back out moments later.

During his shift in the first half, George went 3-of-7 from the field, making all three of his field goals on plays at the rim while missing on his four 3-point attempts.

With one minute left in the opening half, Stephen Curry of the Warriors drained a 3-pointer to give the West a 90-88 advantage. From there, the West closed the second quarter with force, putting the West in front 97-92 at the break.

For the Eastern Conference All-Stars, LeBron James led the way in the first half scoring a team-high 20 points, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, in his first All-Star Game, went 7-of-7 from the field for 16 points.

In the third quarter, George checked into the game at the 7:20 mark and quickly played the role of distributer, dishing a dime off of the backboard to Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan.

Following his assist, George crammed two alley-oops, the second of which came on a crafty bounce pass from Millsap.

Without George in the game, the focus was the race to see who would be the first to break Wilt Chamberlain's All-Star scoring record of 42, which was set in 1962. With 8:00 left in the game, both Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis had 38.

Westbrook first hit a 3-pointer to perch himself at 41, one point away from the record. But Davis closed the gap quickly, scoring in a flurry to hit 44 points on the night, knocking down the 55-year-old record.

Following the record's fall, Davis continued to score in droves, finishing the night with 52 points, 10 rebounds and an All-Star Game MVP trophy.

"It was great, great for New Orleans, great for the Pelicans, great for Anthony," George said. "Great for the NBA to showcase our young talent, and you know, Anthony is really the future of our NBA."

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2017 NBA All-Star Game Rewind: East 182, West 192

Despite being cast as an underdog in this year's NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Glenn Robinson III rose to the occasion, defeating Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns in the final head-to-head round.

Robinson III becomes the first Pacers player since Fred Jones in 2004 to bring the Slam Dunk trophy back to Indiana.

Take a look at how fans, teammates, and more reacted to GR3's high-flying performance on All-Star Saturday Night.

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What They're Saying: GR3 Becomes NBA Slam Dunk Champion

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The NBA All-Star Game could be making a long-awaited return to Indianapolis in the near future.

Representatives from Pacers Sports & Entertainment, the Indiana Sports Corp, and Visit Indy traveled to New Orleans for the 2017 All-Star Weekend to gather information for a possible bid for Indianapolis to host the All-Star Game in 2021.

Pacers owner Herb Simon has expressed strong interest in bringing the All-Star Game back to the city, which last hosted the event in 1985 at the Hoosier Dome.

"We have a great building, we're in our 18th year at Bankers Life Fieldhouse," said Rick Fuson, Pacers Sports & Entertainment President and COO. "It's time to bring the NBA world back to Indianapolis."

The NBA is currently accepting bids for both the 2020 and 2021 All-Star Games. The Pacers' bid would be for 2021, as that year is the best fit for the city when considering future convention commitments. It is also the next year that the city is scheduled to host the men's Final Four, meaning that the Circle City could possibly host the two biggest single-city annual basketball events in the world in the span of six weeks.

In preparation for a possible bid, a number of high-ranking officials made the trip to New Orleans. That group includes Fuson and Senior Vice President of Facilities Operations Mel Raines; Indiana Sports Corp President Ryan Vaughn and Senior Vice President Susan Baughman; and Visit Indy President Leonard Hoops, Vice President Susie Townsend, and Frank Short. A similar contingent also traveled to Toronto for last year's All-Star Game.

That group has been diligently researching everything it takes to pull off a successful All-Star Weekend. From the marquee events like the Rising Stars Challenge and All-Star Saturday Night all the way down to the minutiae of coordinating transportation schedules and plotting out the distribution of signage across the city, the Indianapolis representatives have been documenting it all for a possible bid.

"I think we learned how big it is," Fuson said. "Because it is big. And not only all the official events, but the 'unoffical events,' whether it be parties or sponsors who do things. Thinking about looking at all the different places that you'll have to find for all these folks and partners coming (to the city), it's a big task."

Given the scale of the event, it was particularly important that the Pacers have support from the rest of the city before they began the process of exploring making a bid.

"We can't do it without them," Raines said. "It's absolutely a partnership...Visit Indy and the Indiana Sports Corp and the CIB and the governor and the mayor, all of those partners, we can't be successful in hosting these kind of events without everybody being in 150 percent."

One of the strongest components of an Indianapolis bid would be the city's long and highly successful history in hosting large events, from the 1987 Pan American Games to the 2012 Super Bowl to numerous Finals Fours. Each of those events involved citywide collaboration and cooperation, something that Indianapolis prides itself on.

"There's a lot of good cities in the country, but I don't think there's a better event city than Indianapolis," Fuson said.

In addition, Simon has a strong relationship with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. When the Pacers played in the 2017 NBA Global Games in London, Silver expressed his admiration and respect for Simon — the league's longest tenured owner, having bought the team with his brother Melvin in 1983 — and told the media that Indianapolis "should be on the top of list" to host a future All-Star Game if Simon and the franchise chose to submit a bid.

Still, Indianapolis is far from the only city in the running for the 2021 All-Star Game. About a dozen teams have expressed interest in hosting All-Star Weekend in 2020 and/or 2021. For that reason, Fuson said that the Pacers would need to be "competitive" in their bid.

The number of teams interested in hosting the All-Star Game is growing, and for good reason.

"The economic development, the impact — just walking around here the last couple of days, it's massive," Raines said. "The restaurants are full, the hotels are full, people are shopping, sponsors are doing big events. It's really a great thing to go after and if it wasn't, so many teams wouldn't be bidding for it."

Fuson added that data shows that the economic impact of the weekend for the host city is estimated around $100 million.

The deadline to submit a bid to the league is in the spring. The host cities for both 2020 and 2021 could be announced before the start of the 2017-18 regular season.

The Pacers have not submitted a bid yet, but there is substantial enthusiasm about the possibility of bringing the event back to Indianapolis in 2021.

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Pacers Preparing for Probable All-Star Bid

A strong Pacers contingent has descended upon New Orleans for All-Star Weekend. On each of the next three nights, a Pacers player will take center stage at the NBA's annual showcase.

Tonight, second-year center Myles Turner will take the floor as part of the United States team in the Rising Stars Challenge (9:00 PM ET on TNT), a showcase for the best first and second-year players in the league.

On Saturday, swingman Glenn Robinson III will take his highflying act to primetime in the 2017 Slam Dunk Contest, the grand finale of All-Star Saturday Night (coverage begins at 8:00 PM ET on TNT).

Then on Sunday, Paul George will make his annual appearance in the All-Star Game (8:00 PM on TNT). It will be the fourth All-Star game for the Pacers' star forward, who set a franchise record with 41 points in last year's game in Toronto.

Despite coming off a grueling back-to-back that saw them play on Wednesday night in Cleveland and then again on Thursday night in Indianapolis, all three Pacers All-Star representatives were in New Orleans bright and early on Friday morning for media availability. Below are some highlights from their time with the press.

GRIII Confident He Can Wow the Crowd in Dunk Contest

Glenn Robinson III was a late bloomer. Believe it or not, he didn't dunk for the first time until his sophomore year in high school. His right arm still has a handful of small scars from dunk attempts gone awry as a young teenager.

But just a few years later, Robinson is set to compete in the world's biggest dunk competition, something he said he's been dreaming about since an early age. Robinson's competition includes Magic forward Aaron Gordon — who lost to Zach LaVine in a dunk-off last year, Clippers All-NBA center DeAndre Jordan, and Suns rookie Derrick Jones Jr.

Robinson has spent the past few weeks coming up with a repertoire for Saturday, coming in early or staying late on the TCU Practice Court at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, rehearsing and fine tuning his ideas.

"You've just got to be creative," Robinson said. "Everybody's done everything, so now I think it's about creativity and getting the fans involved."

George, who competed in the Dunk Contest in both 2012 and 2014 has offered plenty of advice to Robinson heading into the competition. One of his best nuggets, according to Robinson, was to make sure he spends ample energy hyping the crowd up before each attempt.

"It's your show," George said he told his teammate. "You get to rock the show, you get to put on a performance for everybody to watch. So I just told him just live in (the moment). Don't be too nervous — I know he will be — but just let everything happen naturally."

Robinson wouldn't reveal any specifics on what he had planned for the competition, but did say that he had six dunks scripted out — two for the opening round, two for the finals, and two more in the event of a dunk-off.

"I've been working on some stuff," Robinson said. "I'll just put (this way) — it will be something that the fans haven't seen before in an NBA dunk contest."

George said he has seen Robinson's script for Saturday and thinks he will keep the fans entertained. George also hinted that he could be making a cameo appearance in one of Robinson's dunks.

"I won't give any insights on what he's doing, but I might be a part of it," George said with a sheepish grin.

Turner also said he is confident in his teammates' ability to put on a show.

"I know he's got what it takes," Turner said. "Guys haven't really seen him on a national level and I think that kind of plays to his (advantage) a bit. He's going to catch a lot of people by surprise."

Robinson did reveal one dunk we won't be seeing on Saturday night. He said he tried to pull off a double between-the-legs dunk while messing around a couple weeks ago, but "it didn't go well," he joked.

Robinson also said he has reached out to LaVine, the two-time defending champion who decided not to enter this year's competition (he couldn't have competed even if he did enter, as he tore his ACL a few days after the field was announced). Robinson spent the majority of his first NBA season with Minnesota in 2014-15 and said he used to compete in impromptu dunk competitions with fellow rookies LaVine and Andrew Wiggins.

It will be hard to top last year's thrilling duel between LaVine and Gordon. The two players each got perfect scores on both of their dunks in the finals and then again on their first attempt in the dunk-off before LaVine won it on his sixth dunk of the night.

Still, Robinson is optimistic that this year's field can put on a similar show.

"In my opinion, this could probably be one of the best dunk competitions that anybody has (seen)," Robinson said. "We've got a lot of great talent, a lot of guys who jump high."

Turner wasn't named to the Rising Stars Challenge roster as a rookie, in large part because he missed 21 games in the first half of the year with a fractured thumb.

Disappointed by last year's omission, Turner made it a personal goal to be invited to the game in his sophomore season. He made it an easy decision for the league's assistant coaches, who vote to pick the Rising Stars rosters.

Still just 20 years old, Turner enters the All-Star break second on the Pacers in scoring at 15.6 points per game and leading the team in rebounding (7.2 per contest). He is third in the entire NBA in blocks, averaging 2.1 per game. He has also demonstrated exceptional range and efficiency shooting the basketball from the center position, with a .518 field goal percentage, .366 3-point percentage, and .800 free throw percentage.

Scouts across the league are well aware on Turner's abilities, but he still isn't quite a known name to some fans outside of Indiana. He's hoping that will change after this weekend.

"To go out here and just put my talents on display on this stage, I think it would be good for the organization and myself," Turner said.

Like Turner, George also was not chosen for the Rising Stars Challenge as a rookie, but he made the team in his second season. A year later, George was an All-Star and has made the team in every season since then except for 2014-15, when he was out with a broken leg.

Turner said he would love for his career to follow a similar trajectory.

"It's a huge goal," Turner said. "My ambitions are set high. I definitely want to be (an All-Star) sometime soon."

Pacers Have Personal Connections to New Orleans

Both George and Turner were happy to hear that the NBA was hosting the All-Star Game in New Orleans again this year (New Orleans previously hosted the event in 2014).

"This is where my mom is from," George said. "She's from Louisiana, Baton Rouge. So this is great, kind of a homecoming for our family.

"It's beautiful. There's so much culture here, so much tradition. Restaurants — the food is great here."

George said a lot of his family is in town for the weekend, including his parents, sisters, and daughter.

Turner doesn't have family from Louisiana, but he grew up in Dallas, an easy day's drive from New Orleans. He ranks the city among his favorite in the NBA to visit.

"Anytime I can get to the South — I love the South, I'm from the South," Turner said. "I love obviously the warm weather this time of year and (there's) some good food and good people as well."

Though he is still too young to visit any of the popular bars on Bourbon Street, Turner does have a must-visit place when in New Orleans: the popular Cafe Du Monde, whose beignets he described as "fire."

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Pacers All-Star Representatives Descend on New Orleans

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INDIANAPOLIS – The National Basketball Association announced Thursday night that Indiana Pacers forward Paul George has been named as an Eastern Conference reserve for the NBA All-Star game, Feb. 19, at New Orleans.

This is George's fourth All-Star recognition, placing him third in team history behind Jermaine O'Neal with six All-Star games and Reggie Miller with five. Eastern Conference coaches voted for the team's reserves.

PHOTO GALLERY: Paul George's 2016-17 Season-to-Date »

"Anytime you get named to the All-Star team, it's a big honor personally but something I share with the entire organization, especially my coaches and teammates," said George. "This never gets old and I'm appreciative of the coaches for selecting me."

George is the Pacers' leading scorer at 22.2 points per game (21st in the NBA), while also averaging six rebounds, 1.73 steals (10th in the NBA) and shooting 92.6 percent from the free throw line (1st in the NBA).

The All-Star game will be televised nationally by TNT.

Below are the rosters for the 2017 All-Star Game:

*denotes starter
#denotes first-time selection

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Paul George Named to All-Star Team as Eastern Conference Reserve

NEW YORK – LeBron James and Kyrie Irving of the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers and Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry of the league-leading Golden State Warriors headline the list of 10 players selected by fans, NBA players and media to start in the NBA All-Star Game 2017. James and Durant finished as the top vote-getters at their respective positions among all three voting groups.

In addition to James (frontcourt) and Irving (guard), the Eastern Conference starters include the Milwaukee Bucks; Giannis Antetokounmpo (frontcourt), the Chicago Bulls' Jimmy Butler (frontcourt) and the Toronto Raptors' DeMar DeRozan (guard).  In the Western Conference, Curry (guard) and Durant (frontcourt) are joined by the New Orleans Pelicans' Anthony Davis (frontcourt), the Houston Rockets' James Harden (guard) and the San Antonio Spurs' Kawhi Leonard (frontcourt).

The Eastern Conference and Western Conference starting lineups for the 66th NBA All-Star Game were revealed tonight on TNT, which will also unveil the All-Star reserves on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. ET. The NBA All-Star Game is set for Sunday, Feb. 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans and will be televised by TNT at 8 p.m. ET and broadcast by ESPN Radio.

Fans accounted for 50 percent of the vote to determine the NBA All-Star Game starters, while current players and a media panel accounted for 25 percent each. Fans cast more than 38 million votes during NBA All-Star Voting 2017 presented by Verizon, a 146% increase from the same time period last year. James was the leading vote-getter among fans with 1,893,751 votes, while Curry (1,848,121), Durant (1,768,185) and Irving (1,696,769) also had the highest fan totals in their respective position groups.

After all votes were tallied, players were ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player's score was calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes.  The five players (two guards and three frontcourt players) with the best score in each conference were named NBA All-Star Game starters.

Fan voting served as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score. DeRozan (796,112 fan votes) won the tiebreaker with the Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas (755,102) for the second starting spot among East guards, while Curry (1,848,121) and Harden (1,771,375) won the tiebreaker with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (1,575,865) for the two starting spots among West guards.

Below are the overall scores – based on results from all three voting groups – for the top finishers at each position. Each player's score is weighted based on 50% for fan vote, 25% for players vote and 25% for media vote.  The formula to determine a player's score is (Fan Rank * 2 + Player Rank + Media Rank)/4. For a list of media voters and complete voting results, please visit NBA.com/official.

2017 All‑Star Game

2017 NBA All-Star Game Rewind: East 182, West 192

What They're Saying: GR3 Becomes NBA Slam Dunk Champion

Pacers Preparing for Probable All-Star Bid

Pacers All-Star Representatives Descend on New Orleans

Paul George Named to All-Star Team as Eastern Conference Reserve

George Finishes Seventh in All-Star Voting