Ok, so despite my disappointment with this year’s all-star game, it still supplied us with some nice numbers. In this part I’ll try to put my bitterness aside, in order to return to the previews I wrote before the game about the leaders (you can see part I and part II here). I’ll go over each category in turn. Let’s start with…

Games Played

Mirror mirror on the wall, which category was the most predictable of them all? This was! It’s like the Academy Awards category for “Best Actress” in 2011, when Natalie Portman was nominated for “Black Swan” (one of my all-time favorite movies, BTW. One of the 14-movies in my top 10). Timmy climbed to second place all-time, with 15 games, and there’s really nothing interesting to say about it apart from that.

Minutes

LeBron played 32 minutes in the 2015 game, and thus fulfilled my prophecy and squeezed right between Bill Russell and Jerry West. However, All the available records show that he has logged 343 minutes in the all-star games, so I guess I need to update my notes and add one extra minute to his credit. He’s now lying at 7^th place all-time, alongside Russell.

Field Goals Made

LeBron made 11 field goals in this year’s game, and moved into 2^nd place all-time, just as I predicted (dayuuuuum, Professor Trelawney, you got nothing on me!). He made 113 field goals now, just two less than Kobe. Wade didn’t play in this year’s game, and so he is still stuck in 7^th place with 77.

Field Goals Attempted

LeBron once again. He attempted 21 field goals, moved one place up after this year’s game, and now he lies at 3^rd place, with 219 attempted field goals. This is getting quite predictable, isn’t it? iI’m sick of all this LeBron thing, bring me someone else for a fucking change!

3-Pt Field Goals Made

Despite his abysmal shooting from behind the arc (2-for-13, jesus fucking christ, I can shoot that! Well, actually no, I probably can’t), Carmelo did not disappoint me and entered the top 5. He managed to improve the standards of the top 5 by a bit, and now one needs to make 14 treys in his all-star career to enter it. Sadly, Steph Curry didn’t get his shit together, and shot only 3-for-10, despite many of the shots being quite comfortable. But Klay Thompson outdid them both, with a 1-for-9 performance. Way to go, Klay! Go ahead and take a bow! 😦

LeBron made 4 three pointers, and extended his lead. Now he has 27 treys in his all-star career. Durant didn’t get to play much, but he also managed to score a three-pointer, to come a bit closer to Kobe who is in third place (Durant – 18, Kobe – 21).

Actually, another player has made some great progress. That is the man with the beard, or should we say the beard with man? James Harden. Harden had an awesome night, and he went for 7-for-12 from behind the arc, to bring his total to 12 three pointers scored in only three all-star games. Wow! He already lies at 7th place all-time. And It seems likely that this awesome scorer will take part in at least 5 more all-star games. I see a bright future ahead of that talented manned beard!

3-Pt Field Goals Attempted

LeBron went big in this all-star game, and fired 12 three pointers, which hoisted him up all the way to the top. Now he has 77 three point attempts in his all-star career. Despite playing only 10 minutes, Durant managed to shoot 6 three-pointers, to maintain his grip on the #4 spot. Carmelo, however, defied all odds and shot his way to the top 5, with 13 attempted three-pointers. He currently sits in 5^th place all time, with 41 attempts.

Free Throws Made

Nothing to say here. LeBron did nail 4 free throws, but he is still as far from the top 5 as I am from landing a writing job at Grantland (Bill Simmons, if you are reading this, I’m available!).

Free Throws Attempted

Can you believe that apart from LeBron, who attempted 5 free throws in this year’s game, the East were granted only 1 free throw (Kyrie Irving, who nailed it BTW. Also, I was sure his name is spelled Erving… What the hell, Michael?). One free throw!!! Can you fucking believe it??? I watched the game and I still don’t believe it. How can anyone hope of ascending through these all-time lists if this is the situation?!

Offensive Rebounds

Hey, Timmy did grab exactly one offensive rebound! High five to myself! Now he has 38 offensive boards, and he’s tied with Hakeem for the all-time #3 spot. Also, Carmelo grabbed 3 offensive boards to move a bit up the rankings, to 6^th place. He now has 30 in his all-star career.

Defensive Rebounds

Timmy is the man! He grabbed 8 defensive rebounds in the game, to extend his hold on this record which I don’t really like. Also, I must correct my notes here as well, as all the signs show that he has in fact 98 defensive boards in his career, not 97. Jesus Michael, get your shit together. Anyway, that’s really really awesome, but it’s a pity he will end his career without reaching 100… Or will he?

Also, LeBron entered the top 5, with his 4 defensive rebounds, and he now has 62 for his career, good enough for the #5 spot.

Rebounds

My man Timmy grabbed a total of 9 rebounds, what a legend… He’s still in 5^th place, but it doesn’t hurt to make more space between you and the #6 spot. It will be several years until someone catches him… LeBron has 71, Dwight Howard 70. And they are the only active players in the top 20 (seeing as Garnett doesn’t really has a chance of adding some to his total… Sorry KG, but you’re in the “Patrick Ewing-in-Seattle” phase of your career right now. I really liked you in the past, though).

Assists

Chris Paul had another mammoth all-star game, and he dished out 15 assists. It propelled him all the way up to 3^rd place all-time, and now he has 90 assists. He trails Magic by 37 assists, so he can reach the top sooner than I thought (I predicted 4-5 more games. He might just make it in 3). Also, LeBron had 7 assists in this year’s game, and he entered the top 10 all-time, with 68 in total. Not bad!

Steals

I guess we changed the theme from “The LeBron Show” to “The Chris Paul Show”, cuz Paul owns this category just as he owned as the previous one. A somewhat disappointing game by his standards – “only” 2 steals (for instance, Kyle Lowry had twice as much), but still – after this all-star Paul finds himself knocking on the “all-time steals top 5″‘s door. He now has 22 of those. LeBron also had two steals, and he improved his total a bit, to 17 – good enough for 12^th place all-time.

Blocks

No, Timmy did not record a block in this year’s game, and so he stays where he was. In fact, only two blocks in total were recorded in the 2015 all-star game, one by Carmelo and the other one by Pau Gasol. Are you fucking kidding me?!

Points

LeBron came mighty close to breaking Kobe’s all-time record. He scored 30 points, and had he shot some little less treys and a bit more 2 pointers, he might just have broken it. But as it is, LeBron currently sits in 2^nd place all-time, with 278 points, a mere 2 points from tying Kobe, and 7 from overtaking him.

Ok, 3 from overtaking him. I was just checking your awareness. Or pulling your leg. We will never know.

Like I mentioned earlier in this post, Durant had a very disappointing game, playing only 10 minutes and managing to score only 3 points. He not only didn’t move up the rankings, but he actually slipped one place, down to 18^th, because of Carmelo, who didn’t have a great game himself, but still scored 14 points, which upgraded him to 15th place all-time. Now Carmelo has 162 points, Durant – 156. Who will be ranked higher after next year’s game? Wow, I really have no idea. My money is on Durant, who will be in a “fuck you” mode in next year’s game, but it’s mighty close. Let the battle begin!

Well, this concludes our all-star-themed posts. I think I’ll take a short break from all these NBA-related posts, in order to write on some different stuff that I have in mind.

Cheers!