EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

CENTERS
 Fantasy Central
 Inside Game
 Video Plus
 Statitudes
 Your Turn
 Message Boards
 Email Newsletters
 Golf Guide
 Cities
 

CNNSI.com GROUP
 Sports Illustrated
 Life of Reilly
 SI Women
 SI for Kids
 Press Room
 TBS/TNT Sports
 CNN Languages

COMMERCE
 SI Customer Service
 SI Media Kits
 Get into College
 Sports Memorabilia
 TeamStore

All-Star Notebook

It was a game Marbury plans to remember

Click here for more on this story

Stephon Marbury hit two key 3-pointers in helping erase a 21-point Western Conference lead. AP

WASHINGTON (CNNSI.com) -- Who says NBA stars are jaded? After playing a pivotal role Sunday in his very first All-Star Game, Nets guard Stephon Marbury sat at his locker stall at the MCI Center smiling like a kid on Christmas.

"It felt good. It couldn't have worked out better," said Marbury, who drained back-to-back clutch 3-pointers down the stretch to help lead the East to its comeback victory. "Two 3-pointers to help my team win the game? I'll be telling my kids about that some day."

Marbury, who finished with 12 points and four assists, admitted he and his Eastern Conference teammates were motivated by pregame talk in the media of Western dominance. "We were the underdogs, man," he said. "You guys were talking junk all week."

Now Marbury apparently will be the one flapping his gums. When asked about the East's jubilant reaction after the game, Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett sounded like a man who would soon be in the market for ear plugs.

"Now I gotta hear Steph's mouth every time I talk to him," Garnett said. "It's going to be a long summer for me, man."

Bucks' Allen rolls the Dice

It was an unusual matchup, the kind usually created only by masochistic PlayStation devotees. But in this All-Star Game, where the towering West was often faced with an Eastern Conference lineup best described as Dikembe and the Four Midgets, the brief mano a mano duel between Nuggets forward Antonio McDyess and Bucks guard Ray Allen proved among the more interesting.

It began late in the third quarter when the 6-foot-9 McDyess, who finished with eight points and eight rebounds, bounded in for a two-handed windmill slam only to have the 6-5 Allen unceremoniously swat it from behind.

"Yeah, he was talking trash the whole game, especially after he blocked that dunk," McDyess joked after the game.

As for Allen, he finished with 15 points and described his defense on the Nuggets star as "a lockdown." Told of this assessment after the game, McDyess, looking resplendent in camel-hair pants, smiled incredulously. "Is he STILL talking? Man, I looked for someone else to guard, but nobody wanted to switch with me. All those littles out there, I had no choice."

No Lil Answer for Lil Bow Wow

For Sixers guard Allen Iverson, leading the East to victory and capturing the MVP trophy was the easy part. The hard part came after the game when his toddler son, Deuce, crawled into his locker stall and refused to greet the special friend his dad had brought over to meet him: kid rapper Lil Bow Wow.

"C'mon, don't act like that," Iverson pleaded to his son, who had curled up, eyes shut, behind the MVP trophy. "You love Lil Bow Wow. That's your guy."

As Iverson, still dressed in his Sixers uniform, tried to bring his son out of his apparently frightened state, Lil Bow Wow stood silently in his black Sixers No. 1 jersey, silver chains and black Sixers hat cocked to one side. No matter how hard Iverson and his mother tried, however, the young boy wouldn't move.

"I hear him sing it every day," a frustrated Iverson said as a crowd gathered around his locker. "He loves Lil Bow Wow."

Eventually, Deuce got over his nervousness and greeted the star rapper with a handshake. For Iverson, it was the second successful comeback of the day.

Foul is fair for Hawks' Mutombo

While Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo got major props from his peers for his 22 rebounds, intimidating defense and numerous shot alterations during Sunday's game, some All-Stars couldn't resist poking fun at the five fouls he picked up in 28 minutes.

"He's always hacking, man," Knicks guard Latrell Sprewell joked, raising his voice to make sure Mt. Mutombo could hear him a few locker stalls away. "He should have fouled out the way he was going."

Only 12 times in All-Star history has a player fouled out of an All-Star Game, the most recent being Hakeem Olajuwon in 1987. According to McDyess, the Western Conference squad was wishing Mutombo would have joined the club Sunday.

"He throws 'bows all the time," McDyess said with a laugh. "I've played with him [before]. He broke my nose twice. I'm not surprised."

 

Related information
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.