 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Head of the class Richardson leads sophs, irks Boozer in Rookie ChallengePosted: Saturday February 08, 2003 6:35 PMUpdated: Sunday February 09, 2003 3:33 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Jason Richardson bounced the ball off Carlos Boozer's forehead, then buried a 3-pointer before the clock ran out. Finally, a little competitiveness broke out in the rookie-sophomore game. Richardson, a second-year guard with the Golden State Warriors, scored 31 points but angered Boozer with the closing act in the sophomores' 132-112 victory over the rookies to kick off All-Star Saturday. "He has no class, man," said Boozer, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Richardson's Golden State teammate, Gilbert Arenas, scored 30 points and was named MVP as the sophomores dominated the second half of a game -- using that term loosely -- that barely passed for basketball. There were plenty of schoolyard moves, a plethora of sloppy passes and hardly any defense at all. Arenas, who scored 23 points in the second half, was picked as the top player. But it was Richardson who provided most of the game's signature moments.
In the first half, he got a head start on defending his dunk championship later in the evening with a couple of jaw-dropping moves. He made a 360-degree spin on his way to a one-handed slam and followed that with a reverse two-hander that left the backboard shaking and crowd oohing and aahing. "Fans come out to see some spectacular plays," Richardson said. "When I got in the game, I tried to give them some." He wasn't through. With the clock winding down and the game in hand, Richardson dribbled leisurely outside the 3-point arc before a quick flip off Boozer's head. As if playing with a yo-yo, the ball bounced straight back to Richardson, who swished the shot for the game's final points. "Fans love stuff like that," Richardson said. "No disrespect to Carlos. I've known him a long time." Afterward, the two players embraced, as if there were no hard feelings, but Boozer made it clear that he didn't appreciate Richardson's final move. "He was just trying to get the crowd hyped up, but he has no class," Boozer said. "You don't do that."
The rookies led 69-57 at halftime and quickly pushed the margin to 15 when Gordon Giricek opened the second half with a 3-pointer. But the sophomores reeled off a 27-12 run to tie the game at 84 with 12:09 remaining. Arenas put the sophomores ahead to stay when he sank a 3-pointer with a 10:58 to go for a 92-90 lead. Arenas hit 5-of-8 from outside the arc in the second half to steal the MVP award away from Richardson, who took the award last year as a rookie. "We were losing by 10 and I really wanted to win," Arenas said. "Once we came out in the second half, I thought we were going to win the game." The rookies were blown out over the final five minutes. The sophomores closed with a 28-12 spurt and finished with their biggest lead of the game. Neither side, however, appeared to take the outcome too seriously. In the first half alone, there were 26 dunks and 18 layups. With everyone trying to one-up the last move, the teams combined for 55 turnovers in the 40-minute game.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
