2017 All-Star Weekend

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Paul George's 2017 All-Star Weekend

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

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Glenn Robinson III's All-Star Weekend

At the 2017 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest on All-Star Saturday Night in New Orleans, Glenn Robinson III had the Smoothie King Center glowing with an array of awe-inspiring slams and became the first Pacers player since Fred Jones to be crowned Slam Dunk Champion.

After a head-to-head showdown with Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns, Robinson III's repertoire of slams proved to be too much for the competition, as the Pacers' soaring swingman executed at each turn to be crowned the 2017 Slam Dunk Champ.

"My whole career, my whole life, I've been an underdog," said Glenn Robinson III at the podium, with his trophy sitting next to him. "I'm okay with that. I'm a relaxed, chill guy. I stay out of the way. But when it's time to shine, I think that I definitely want to come with it."

The Slam Dunk Contest, which is comprised of two rounds, featured Robinson III, Clippers All-Star DeAndre Jordan, Magic forward Aaron Gordon, and Suns high-flyer Derrick Jones Jr. The players had a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. The slams were graded by five judges on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30. In the first round, each player was given a chance to complete two dunks and the two players with the highest combined score advanced to the head-to-head final.

In the opening round, Robinson III soared over two people, one of which was sitting on the other's shoulders, lifting the ball off the top and slamming it down on his first attempt. The dunk sent the Smoothie King Center into a frenzy and elicited the first perfect 50 of the night, as the judges — NBA legends Gary Payton, David Robinson, Dominique Wilkins, Alonzo Mourning, and Chris Webber — were struck by the athleticism of the dunk.

After the three other competitors had completed their opening dunks, Robinson was ahead of the field.

On his second dunk attempt of the opening round, Robinson III completed a 360-jam in which he dabbed on the finish (lifted his for arm in front of his face, for those unfamiliar with the dab), and was awarded a 41 by the judges, sending him and Jones Jr. of the Suns to the finals.

In a surprise, Gordon of the Magic was unable to advance to the final round, while Clippers big man DeAndre Jordan, despite leaping over rapper DJ Khaled, did not accumulate enough points to make it to the head-to-head round.

Robinson III opened up the show in the final round, getting a hand from Pacers All-Star Paul George. With George holding the ball over his head, Robinson III leapt over the 6-foot, 9-inch George, finishing the dunk with a windmill. The slam, which Robinson took three runups to complete, earned him a 44 from the panel of NBA legends.

His opponent, Jones Jr., struggled to complete the first of his two slams in the final round, paving the way for GR3 to jam his way to the finish.

Needing a 44 or better to win, Robinson III brought PG back on the floor to assist, as well as Boomer and Pacemate Kayla. GR3 flew over all three and dunked with two hands, sending the crowd into a final frenzy and earning him another 50 from the judges to seal the deal.

"I couldn't dunk until my sophomore year in high school, and now not even a decade later, I won an NBA Dunk Contest," Robinson III told reporters after he had won. "Going into this, I hadn't really practiced any trick dunks. I hadn't really got time. I focused on playing. I focused on starting and playing to the best of my ability. When they gave me this chance, it took me a week to come up with some things that nobody's ever seen in the NBA dunk contest."

Prior to the Dunk Contest, Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks won the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, and Eric Gordon of Houston Rockets (and North Central High School in Indianapolis) was crowned champion of the JBL Three Point Contest. All of which set the stage for the night's main event, the Slam Dunk Contest. From there, Robinson III showed what he had been working on for weeks, unveiling a series of acrobatic slams to bring the Slam Dunk trophy back to Indiana for the first time since 2004.

"The shoes I had today, maize and blue, Pacers colors. I'm an Indiana kid," GR3 explained. "To be playing for Indiana and representing the state means a lot to me, and the fans and everybody wanted to see me do great."

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Slam Dunk Contest Rewind: Glenn Robinson III Crowned Champion

Wheat Hotchkiss

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

Last All-Star Game, Paul George knew he was on the edge of a historical performance, racking up 41 points to lead all of his peers in scoring in Toronto.

But his 41, while impressive, fell just one point shy of the all-time record set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962.

Following a lighthearted practice at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, George spoke to the media and mentioned that he wouldn't mind tackling the record this time around.

When asked what type of performance fans can expect, George was quick to blurt out a number: "43. Beat the scoring record," he said with a smile, before tempering his answer. "Nah man, it's as last year, I came in just to have a good time, to have fun."

But last year George's version of having fun nearly culminated in the all-time scoring record. His 9-of-19 3-point shooting performance did make the record books with the most made threes in All-Star Game History.

According to George, whether or not he ends up breaking open the record books this time around will depend on how he's doing early in the game.

"If I get hot early, best believe I'm going for it again," he said with a grin.

Sunday's All-Star game is set for Sunday night at 8 PM ET.

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Paul George Talks About Going for the Scoring Record

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Myles Turner's All-Star Weekend

Despite a late rally, Myles Turner and the U.S. Team were unable to beat Team World for the second year in a row in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, falling 150-141 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Friday night.

With 5:04 remaining in the game and trailing by four, Turner checked back into the game to try to rally his team. But despite Turner's presence, the U.S. Team was undone by the unreal shooting of Canada's Jamal Murray, who connected on triples on three straight possessions down the stretch, sending Team World to the win. Murray went on to win the night's MVP award, finish the game with 36 points.

"It was funny," Turner explained. "We were so worried about Buddy (Hield), then (Murray) just came out of nowhere and started hitting, brining them back into the game."

Turner, who was playing in his third game in as many nights, finished the evening with 12 points and four rebounds, providing a couple moments that excited that crowd during his first-ever Rising Stars Challenge game.

In the first half, Turner racked up nine points and four rebounds. His first points of the game came in booming fashion, when just minutes in, he corralled a pass from D'Angelo Russell and hammered it with a two-handed slam.

Turner also got the crowd going by dribbling the ball up past halfcourt like a point guard and drilling a deep 3-pointer from the wing, bringing the U.S. Team within two of the lead with minutes remaining in the half.

But Team World, led by a game-high 19 first-half points by Pelicans guard Buddy Hield, pushed out to a 77-66 lead at the break.

2017 ALL-STAR WEEKEND: Complete Coverage at Pacers.com/All-Star »

In the second half, Turner opened up the scoring with a jumper to bring the score back to a single-digit deficit.

After another Team World rally, the U.S. team started to find its footing, going on a 14-4 run with 8:51 remaining in the game, thrusting the home team to a 116-111 lead.

But Team World wasn't about to go down easy, as Nuggets guard Jamal Murray caught on fire from deep, burying 9-of-14 3-point attempts to push the international squad back into the lead. From their, Team World cruised to its victory, and remain undefeated in the current Rising Stars format of international versus United States.

"I was just playing within the game," said Murray, the game's MVP. "And I wasn't trying to force it. I was trying to find my teammates and make sure everybody have fun."

2017 All‑Star Weekend