| « Hawks Making Up for Lost Teammates | Oduya Proves to be a Good Move for Hawks » |
Basketball Thu Mar 29 2012
Muhammad Amazes at All-American Game
Even with all eyes on him, Shabazz Muhammad put on an absolute show Wednesday night.
Muhammad scored a game-high 21 points and took home the MVP in a West 106-102 win in the 2012 McDonald's All American Game at the United Center. Yet, he just missed putting the final touch on a fantastic evening.
With 13:21 remaining in the second half, Muhammad had the ball on a breakaway and went up for an electric windmill jam. He was a little too strong on it and drew back iron, and the ball sailed away. If he would have converted, it would have been the play of the night; the audience at the UC let out a collective disappointed "Awwwwwww" after Muhammad missed.
"I think the reaction would have been wild in there," Muhammad said with a smile. "I was really mad I missed that, I haven't missed one of those in awhile. But I got it back and got another dunk and it was fine."
That he did. Muhammad had several crowd-pleasing plays on the night, including a few alley-oops, a putback slam, a finger roll layup, and slick flip shot with his left, dominant hand. Plus, his two-handed throwdown with 1:27 left in the game gave the crowd Big Macs; the slam put the West over 100 points, and fans who received a "West" promo card at the gates were waiting for the century mark to be passed for a free sandwich. People cheered wildly, no doubt for both the slam and the Big Mac.
So much attention is being placed on the number two ranked 6-6 guard from Las Vegas because he is still undecided on his college - he is still choosing between six schools, including UCLA, Duke, Kentucky and Kansas. After the game, in the hallway outside the press room, Muhammad fielded dozens of questions about his future, with everyone inquiring about where he will go.
Muhammad wasn't the only one who impressed, though. The West's Rasheed Sulaimon had 18 points, with 12 coming from beyond the arc, and teammate Archie Goodwin had 14 points and a breakaway tomahawk jam. Alex Poythress led the East team with 19 points, Kyle Anderson had a 13 and 8 (points and rebounds), and Rodney Purvis had 15 points. Anderson even hooked up with Purvis for a nifty alley-oop in the second half, when Anderson bounced the ball off the backboard and Purvis finished with the dunk.
The West led for most of the game, and took a 25 point lead with 9:37 left in the game when Anthony Bennett sunk a three to make it 87-62. The East clawed their way back though, turning up the defensive pressure (including full-court defense from guard Kris Dunn) and bringing it within five points with 1:15 left. The East's T.J. Warren got off a good look for three with just over a minute remaining, but the ball banged out, and the West was able to cruise to a victory from there.
Not surprisingly, dunks and fast breaks dominated the game, with the teams combining for 148 points in the paint. Of course, it was an all-star game. High octane offense is just as much of a given as the Chicago crowd cheering for Derrick Rose and hissing at LeBron James during a montage on the jumbrotron, which was celebrating the 35th year of the All American Game.
Still, no one played matador defense, both teams played hard, and the contest was entertaining throughout.
Meanwhile, the girls' game was mired in controversy.
Okay, maybe not mired. And maybe it's not all that controversial, what with it being an all star exhibition... but still.
With the game tied and six seconds remaining, the East's Alexis Prince drove to the left corner, took it in baseline, and shot a jumper that rimmed out. The East's Bashaara Graves snatched the rebound, went up with it, missed and the buzzer sounded. OT.
Not quite. The refs called a foul on the West's Katie Collier with 0.0 left. All alone at the line, with the other nine players outside of the three-point arc, Graves coolly sank the first free throw as the crowd booed the ref's call. The free throw clinched the game, and the East won 79-78.
The East essentially led the entire game, jumping out 11-0 to start the game, and leading by 16 with 4:34 left in the first half. Though the score was 40-31 at the break, both teams left points on the table. The West was shooting only 33% at half, and each team missed their fair share of layups, and both threw some passes out of bounds.
The second half was much different for the West. Guard Nirra Fields and forward Morgan Tuck turned it on, scoring 14 and 12, respectively, and shooting a combined 12 of 15 from the field in the second half - mainly because their buckets came at the rim.
Yet the West could never take the lead - they tied it three times, and the East always had an answer. Some of the biggest hoops for the East came from ESPN's number one ranked senior Breanna Stewart. She hit a turnaround jump hook to make it a 73-68 advantage, and she knocked down a three with 1:22 left to give her team a 78-73 lead.
Prince finished with a 15 and 9, and Fields scored 20 points on 9 of 11 shooting, falling three short of the women's game scoring record set by Elizabeth Williams last year.
Awards were presented as well, with the UConn-bound Stewart taking home the women's Player of the Year honors. Muhammad, to no surprise, was named men's Player of the Year.
To Muhammad, that surely means more than a windmill dunk any day.
