NEW ORLEANS (AP) -King James’ reign as half-court shot champion of the world was a brief one.
Hometown favorite Chris Paul usurped LeBron James and Jason Kidd as the leader in the friendly competition after the Western Conference All-Stars finished a brief practice on Saturday afternoon.
The Eastern and Western conference All-Star squads each selected a handful of players to attempt as many half-court shots as they could in one minute. A moderator at the makeshift arena in the city’s convention center pronounced that whoever made the most would hold the Guinness World Records mark for that timeframe.
James took jump shots from half court, hitting three. Jason Kidd also made three, all on underhanded heaves. Other shooters for the East included Ray Allen, who made two, and Joe Johnson, Dwyane Wade and Chauncey Billups, who each made one.
Wade looked exhausted toward the end of his minute and fell flat on his stomach on his last attempt.
o make half-court you’d say, ‘I’ll make about 10,”’ Wade said. “Man, it was rough making that one. I was happy to make one. It’s a big difference. You’ve got the crowd, every shot they’re ‘ooh, aah.”’
Added James: “It ain’t the easiest thing to do.”
About an hour later, when the West’s practice wrapped up, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and Paul shot from the center circle.
Nash and Stoudamire each made one, Iverson and Duncan came close but didn’t make any. Then came Paul, who routinely throws up a handful of half-court shots after Hornets practices.
It showed. He made three in the first half minute to tie James and Kidd, then drained the last one a few seconds later for the record, delighting the partisan crowd.
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WADE’S WORLD: Dwyane Wade leaned over to console the crying child who had just lost in the shooting drill Wade was running.
“Some kids don’t like to lose,” Wade said.
The way his season has gone, it’s a surprise Wade isn’t the one in tears.
Less than two years after winning the NBA title, the Miami Heat arrived at the All-Star break with an NBA-worst 9-42 record. But Wade wasn’t letting that ruin his spirits while in New Orleans.
se you’re not guaranteed to be an All-Star every year. So I’m just blessed that with the season my team is having the fans believe in me enough to bring me down here as a starter.”
Wade was on top of the NBA world when he came to All-Star weekend last year as the reigning NBA finals MVP. But he’s struggled with injuries often since then, and the Heat’s title defense ended with a first-round sweep against Chicago before this season’s debacle.
“That’s the way life is. That’s the way it happens. There’s always going to be ups, there’s always going to be downs,” Wade said. “I’m going to continue to be the person that I am and that’s all I can do.”
On Saturday, that meant conducting a clinic with a group of kids after Pepperidge Farm made a $15,000 donation to Wade’s World, Wade’s charity foundation that promotes education and healthy living to children. A dozen kids joined Wade on the Goldfish NBA Fit Zone at Jam Session, where he led them through some stretching exercises before the shooting competition.
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D-LEAGUE: Not long after coaching the Idaho Stampede to an NBA Development League-record 18 straight victories, Bryan Gates found out he’d been invited to coach at the NBDL All-Star game in New Orleans.
But it wasn’t long before this weekend’s festivities were far from his mind. His mother died unexpectedly and Gates considered skipping All-Star weekend.
Gates said. “I wasn’t going to go and my sister talked me into it and my wife said, ‘Hey, keep going.”’
Gates said support from colleagues and players helped him realize that getting back to basketball would be good therapy. The SuperSonics paid for a “celebration of life” held in his mother’s honor Wednesday in Seattle.
Gates said he also wanted to be here for three Idaho players who participated: Randy Livingston, Lance Allred and Cory Violette.
“When your guys are there and you kind of go through the battles of minor league basketball, you want to be around them at this time,” Gates said.
Gates, 34, has been coaching professionally for 11 years in the CBA, NBDL and even in Lebanon. He hopes one day to land in the NBA.
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SECURITY: David West said a number of All-Stars, nervous about New Orleans’ rash of violent, often drug-related, crime since Hurricane Katrina, asked him for advice on how best to stay safe.
“Guys have been asking me about security and safety and all those other things and I just tell them, there’s some places you can go, some places you shouldn’t go, but you can’t let that overtake your mind and let that limit you from having a good time, being part of this event, being a part of what the NBA’s doing this weekend,” West said. “Hopefully it brings some good light, some good press to this area.”
s of arrests for unruly behavior during last year’s NBA All-Star weekend. Heading into Saturday night, there had yet to be any serious reports of violence.
However, a Louisiana woman was arrested in the French Quarter after she brandished a gun in front of police officers and fired it in the air. Calizza Coyne, 21, was booked with illegal discharge of a weapon and aggravated assault on police officers.
Still, West saw little reason New Orleans couldn’t handle All-Star weekend as well as anywhere else.
“They had the big football games down here, the BCS was down here,” West said. “You have all kinds of events going on in New Orleans all the time. This is an event town. They know how to handle tourists, large crowds. It won’t be an issue. … For the most part there are good people here and it should be a good time.”
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SHORTS STORY: Daniel Gibson’s last appearance in a 3-point contest was a short one. Nearly brief.
Cleveland’s second-year guard, who was scheduled to compete in Saturday’s 3-point shootout as part of All-Star weekend, nearly lost his shorts while competing in a similar event four years ago at an All-American game in Oklahoma City.
Gibson broke the drawstring on his shorts, and after launching a shot, he had to quickly pull up his pants or face embarrassing exposure.
to my knees. At one point I thought about taking them off, but I think it was a PG-13 type of event.”
On Friday, Gibson, whose emergence in last year’s playoffs helped the Cavaliers earn their first visit to the finals, made 11 3-pointers to win MVP honors in the rookie-sophomore challenge.
He was scheduled to compete in the 3-point shootout against Toronto’s Jason Kapono, the defending champion, Phoenix’s Steve Nash, New Orleans’ Peja Stojakovic, a two-time winner, Detroit’s Richard Hamilton and Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, who is replacing Kobe Bryant. The Lakers star withdrew because of a finger injury.
Gibson said he might take some extra precautions to avoid a problem like he had last time.
“I might tape my shorts up top,” he said.
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PARADISE LOST: Rasheed Wallace is an All-Star for the fourth time. He’s not thrilled.
“I’d rather be a Bahamanian,” he said after the East team practiced on Saturday.
Detroit’s combustible forward didn’t plan to spend the NBA’s midseason mini-vacation in New Orleans, but he was recently named a replacement for Boston’s Kevin Garnett, who is sidelined with an abdominal strain.
So Sheed, where were you supposed to be?
“The Bahamas, man, me and my wife,” he said. “She had it all planned out for us. But as you can see I got sidetracked to this.”
Wallace, whose volcanic temper on the floor has earned him more than his share of technical fouls, was asked for his reaction when he learned he wouldn’t be getting any time away from basketball.
“Hot,” he said. “But she was more hot than me. She wanted to do it as a little surprise, but hey, we had to come here. I thought she was going to beat me up.”
Wallace missed Friday’s required media availability because he, ahem, missed a flight. But is that really what happened?
“It was the real joint,” he said. “I wouldn’t have done that or I would have not come at all. That was strictly accidental.”
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