Us Sixers fans don't have a ton of great recent All-Star memories (unless you're one of those Iggy haters and relish him getting jobbed in the 2006 dunk contest). But the 2001 All-Star game stands out in my mind, not only as a great game from the perspective of a Sixers fan, but also as just the best damn All-Star game I have ever seen PERIOD.
The Sixers went into the All-Star break in the 2000-01 season with a league leading record of 41-14 (only went 15-12 after the break). That meant that, in addition to Iverson being voted in as one of the starting guards, Larry Brown and company would be the coaching staff for the East. Theo Ratliff actually was voted in as the starting center for the East (due to Alonzo Mourning, the top vote getting center, being injured), but he ended up withdrawing due to his injured wrist, an injury that ultimately precipitated his being traded to Atlanta for Dikembe Mutombo (also on the East All-Stars that year). It was definitely the most Sixer-tastic All-Star game of my lifetime.
Looking at the rest of the rosters, it was hard to feel like the East stood a chance.
The West rolled out 5 future hall of famers as their starters, including the second leading scorer in NBA history and probably 2 of the 3 best PFs ever. And speaking of the frontcourts, look at the size differential here! The East basically had 3 big men (Mason, Davis, Mutombo) to match up against KG, Duncan, Webber, Sheed, the Admiral, Vlade, and freaking Karl Malone (Shaq sat out with an injury). A few of those big men (Vlade, Duncan, Webber) are some of the best passing big men in the game, so it wasn’t like the ball was going to stick in the post. On paper, this had the looks of a massacre.
And for about 39 minutes, it WAS a massacre. For 3 quarters the West played an absurd game of NBA Jam with a team of giants (you can watch full highlights here), throwing lobs to each other off the backboards, over their heads, behind their backs. If anything the West was over-passing, which you might have expected from the guard heavy East team, but not the plodding collection of giants on the West. With 9 minutes to go in the game, the West led 95-74, and all the expected storylines were coming true.
And that’s when AI took over. This All-Star game, coming in Iverson’s best season to date, was played at the MCI Center in Washington DC, making it a real homecoming for the Answer. Born in Virginia, college hoops at Georgetown, the arena was packed with AI fans, who throughout the were cheering Iverson every time he touched the ball, urging him to get hot. Man, did he Answer (pun intended!) their calls down the stretch.
Iverson led a furious comeback for the East squad over the final 9 minutes, scoring 15 of his 25 points in that span. With LB coaching, you got the impression that he just pulled Allen aside and said, “Lets just do what we’ve been doing all season.” Iverson scored on a dazzling array of slashes to the basket, ran the break like a blur, and even dropped in a 3 over Kobe for good measure. It was vintage AI, your standard “I am not letting us lose like this” Iverson moment where he throws a team on his back and pulls them back into the game. Except this time it was 11 other All-Stars he put on his back. It felt like you were watching a bizzaro Sixers game.
In an instant, the score was tied and the game became way more competitive than an All-Star game
should be. Said Mutombo after the game, “It was like a championship game out there. I've been in the All-Star Game the last seven years, and I've never seen anything like this." The final minutes were marked by an insane shootout between Kobe Bryant and Stephon Marbury. After Kobe drained a pair of baseline buckets (one with Mutombo in his face) to put the West up by 3, Steph drained a cold-blooded pull up 3 to tie the game at 108. Kobe immediately answered with a long 2, followed by Starbury draining another pull-up 3 to put the east ahead 111-110. On the final possession Kobe got 
himself free after a couple moves, but passed up the final shot to Tim Duncan who clanged one off the rim. The East bench actually stormed the court as the buzzer sounded. Stormed the court in an All-Star game. It was only the second time in All-Star history that the game was decided by 1 point.
Iverson of course took home MVP honors, bringing his mom up on stage, shouting out his Georgetown mentor John Thompson, and then of course famously scanning the room for Larry Brown, shouting “Where’s my coach? Where’s coach at?” before thanking his coach, teammates and fans. The storyline with Iverson was always his willingness to run in among the trees and still come out on top, and this whole game was a crazy exaggerated version of that. "Everybody was saying we couldn't win because of our size. It's not about size. It's about the size of your heart," Iverson said after the game. "Coming into the fourth quarter, we were all sitting on the sidelines saying 'Why not us? Why can't we be the ones to come back from a 19-point deficit (after three quarters) in an All-Star Game?" I know I left that game thinking with Iverson at the helm, the Sixers could probably overcome any obstacle. A week later we had Mutombo on our squad (he led the All-Star game with 22 boards and 3 blocks), and it felt like anything was possible.
Perhaps in a few years we can look forward to an All-Star squad coached by Brett Brown, led by Jojo and Nono, maybe even MCW and Saric. Until then, I recommend Sixers fans revisit this game, clearly one of the best All-Star games from a Sixers perspective, and arguably one of the most competitive All-Star games ever.
