by Rodger Bohn / @rodgerbohn
6:49- What’s going on guys? Just chilling here at the Girls game right now. The East only dropped 24 points in the first half. All time low for an All-Star game? I’m thinking so.
7:00- One hour and counting! Just saw Afure Jermerigbe throw a Dikembe Mutombo-esque elbow and drop a girl! These girls are playing like it’s the national championship here, no lie!
7:10- Been debating for a few minutes and I’m going to have to go with Josh Selby to win MVP of the Boys game. Dude is made for an All-Star game with that combination of bounce, handles, and range on his J.
7:16- You’ve gotta love the amount of NBA scouts, “handlers”, and agents on hand here the last few days. It’d be unrealistic to say that players are “looking towards college” when they’re already interviewing agents at age 17…
7:25- Make sure you guys tune in during halftime. The guys from Team Flight Brothers will be putting on a dunk show that will blow your mind. Dunk from the foul line off of TWO FEET?!? Yessirrrrr!
7:30- Girls have hit the deck more than 20 times in this half, no joke. Hoping they have some body armor on under those jerseys.
7:36- By no means the most exciting stuff, but you’ve truly got to appreciate how hard these girls went. Polar opposite from what we’re going to see in the Boys game. West with the win. Meighan Simmons with the MVP for the West and Natasha Howard with the MVP for the East.
7:40- Boys warmpus have started. There are at least 20 people down there filming them. Going to be some nasty highlights on YouTube!
7:42- DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall in the house. Already getting mobbed. Wonder when they make it official.
7:50- Today McDonald’s held their first ever All American Advisory Council Panel. The All Americans got to ask Jay Williams and Alonzo Mourning virtually any question and pick their brains. McD’s couldn’t have selected two classier guys to give the guys advice.
7:58- Word on the street here is that Darnell Dodson, John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, and Patrick Patterson are all bouncing Kentucky for the NBA
8:06- How many potential NBA early entrants do we have in the house? John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Evan Turner, and William Buford have all been spotted.
8:09 Game just tipped, got two diet cokes in front of me, and there are already 14 points in less than 3 minutes of action. LET”S GOOOO!
8:13- SLAM favorite Kyrie Irving is killing so far. I seriously had no idea that he was THAT fast when I saw him on the AAU circuit. He just has that calm demeanor and swag to him, so he’s a little easy to take for granted.
8:15 Fab Melo with a ridiculous block on a Tobias Harris dunk attempt. Dashonte Riley, watch out. Mr. Melo is coming for your PT next year at Syracuse!
8:19- So we’re 5 minutes into the game and I haven’t seen either team run any of the pays that their coaches put in. As I say that, Cory Joseph actually runs one and drills a three.
8:23- East is up 23-20 at the under 12 timeout in the first half. C.J. Leslie is playing hard and it’s downright scary what this guy can do when motivated. Couple boards, a block, a deflection, a crazy putback dunk, and a coast to coast take. Not bad for 4 minutes of burn.
8:26- “I’m lovin’ it” that there is no NBA three point line on this court so we don’t see the guys chucking up ridiculously deep J’s that they have little chance of making.
8:30- Fab Melo and Jared Sullinger GOING AT IT! Sullinger with a three pointer and then took Melo to the weight room in the open court. Melo responded with a block, a steal, an assist, and a dunk. Wonder what name he will go by if he makes the league?
8:45- C.J. Leslie really getting it going here. Running the floor, blocking the heck out of people, handling the rock. Let’s see how long he can keep it up with this intensity.
8:49- My pick for MVP, Josh Selby, not looking good so far. We allowed to renege? If so, I’ll take Harrison Barnes. He’s got 15 ponts so far and really making it look easy.
8:53- Kyrie Irving making people look silly out there. If you were to base things solely off of this game, he’d easily be the number one point guard in the class. Faked half the team out of their shoes with his fake behind the back pass and lay-up. Easily play of the day so far.
8:58- 59-51 East on top at the half. My 3 favorites for MVP: Jared Sullinger, Harrison Barnes, Kyrie Irving. 3 most disappointing: Perry Jones, Reggie Bullock, and Brandon Knight. Who honestly would have imagined that Brandon Knight would be scoreless at the half?
9:10- Actually, how are 2 of the top 5 players in the nation (Perry Jones and Brandon Knight) both scoreless? Give up the rock, yo!
9:17- The Canadian duo of Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson starting to get it going. Joseph doing a great job of actually running the offense and controlling the tempo, despite the fact that he’s not looking too hot in the box score. Thompson racking up some points with three dunks on the break in less than 3 minutes.
9:23- Just got word that Tobias Harris broke his toe, according to his Pops. Ouch. Break your toe in an all-star game?
9:29- Reggie Bullock getting it going bigtime. Drilled a pretty, pretty floater and just had a tip-dunk.
9:39- 8 minutes left in the game and both teams still playing ridiculously hard. This is my 4th McDonald’s game and I’ve NEVER seen the guys go like this Both teams running plays, sharing the rock, hustling. Kudos to both coaching staffs and the players.
9:41- The lowest ranked guys here: Keith Appling and Jayvaughn Pinkston playing opposite roles. Appling letting the game come to him, despite being a pure scoring machine. Pinkston, on the other hand, is looking the power forward version of Lance Stephenson in terms shot selection. West up 94-87.
9:46- Jared Sullinger, Kyrie Irving, and Harrison Barnes duking it out for MVP. These 6 minutes could win it for any of them.
9:49- Fab Melo really looking like he will contribute sooner than expected at Syracuse. The Brazillian truly has the chance to be a beast in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone if he continues to stay in shape like this.
9:51- Terrence Jones with back to back buckets. Looking great handling the rock and can truly play both forward positions, a feat that you can’t say about too many guys in this game. Would’ve
loved to see him play this aggressive for the entire game.
9:57- Sulinger with great plays back to back times down the floor. First spins baseline, defense collapses, and drops dime to Perry Jones for dunk. Then pick and pops for a three. Shorter version of Kevin Love in my eyes.
9:58- Selby givs up the rock on the break for a nice oop for DeShaun Thomas. Tied game at 104 with 18 seconds left. West rock.
10:00- Brandon Knight completely pushes Kendall Marshall down and drills a 3 with 3 seconds left to win the game. Refs completely swallowed their whistles. Harrison Barnes was named MVP for the West, while Jared Sullinger took MVP for the East. Man, my Josh Selby pick is looking mighty bad now.
10:05- I’m out for now. Heading to the press conference to talk to a couple of guys. I’ll let you guys know if they say anything good later on!
