For one night, the WNBA had the nation’s spotlight all to itself as it held its inaugural All-Star Game under the bright lights of the Garden.
And the show it put on was often out of control but always entertaining, a 79-61 rout by the West squad in front of a sellout crowd at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
The West nearly ran the East team right off the Garden floor with its own version of Showtime. And when the fast-break clinic was over, it was West center Lisa Leslie who lifted the MVP trophy over her head and flashed that model smile as 18,649 cheered her on.
“I feel really great. It’s a great award to receive. I feel really honored. I just thank God for blessing me to be here, to play. I’ll leave here part of history, the first All-Star MVP,” said Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks, who scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds.
“It was great to play in the All-Star game, but to get here in the Garden, it’s just the most amazing arena to play in. The fans were amazing, totally into it. It was a lot of fun, and I think we gave the fans exactly what they wanted to see.”
Those fans included the usual luminaries in celebrity row such as Tyra Banks, Tipper Gore and Stephon Marbury. But the actual game on the court left something to be desired from a competitive standpoint.
The East suffered a disastrous first four minutes and never recovered. The West scored the first 10 points of the game and never trailed. Star forward Chamique Holdsclaw suffered a broken left index finger and played the entire first half in pain. She was limited to five points on 2-for-6 shooting. And even after the East had cut the deficit back to two four minutes before halftime, it suffered through a disastrous six-minute stretch that spanned intermission, a 15-0 West run that put the game away.
Forward Rebecca Lobo, one of the four Liberty players on the roster, was out with a season-ending knee injury, and the East sorely missed her in the post. The West enjoyed a 50-22 edge in the paint and won the board battle 48-36. And not surprisingly, the rebounding led to running, and the West held a 25-4 edge in transition scoring.
Utah’s Natalie Williams finished with a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds, and Sacramento’s Yolanda Griffith had three layups in the last 4:36 to finish with 10 points. No player for the East managed double-digits.
“You want to go out there in an All-Star Game and compete; you want to win. I got hurt, my team lost, so I’m a little upset,” said Washington Mystics rookie Holdsclaw, a Christ the King grad and the anointed rising star of the league.
The East looked shell-shocked from the opening tap by the West’s transition game, and after Houston’s Cynthia Cooper hit a fast-break basket, foul, and ensuing free throw, the lead was up to 17-2 just 5:53 into the game. The teams traded baskets and the West still led 25-9 when the East responded with a 20-6 run to get back into the game. Orlando’s Taj McWilliams scored six of her team-high eight to spark that run, and Washington’s Nikki McCray drained a baseline drive to cut the margin to 31-29 with 4:40 left in the half. But that was the East’s last sign of offensive life. The West pitched a shutout for the next 7:23 to blow the game open.
By the time Cleveland’s Merlakia Jones hit a fadeaway 12-footer 2:43 into the second half, the West had scored 15 straight points and the lead was up to 46-29. The East would never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.