Atlanta Hawks: Paul Millsap’s All-Star Game Recap
Paul Millsap represented the Atlanta Hawks in Sunday night’s NBA All-Star Game. How did he perform?
Heading into Sunday night’s All-Star game, I repeatedly mentioned that this type of game was not suited to Paul Millsap’s strengths. Millsap is a fundamentally sound player. He plays defense. He makes the extra pass. He gets most of his points on methodical drives to the basket, rather than thunderous dunks or three-point attempts from near half-court.
The All-Star Game is all about flashy play. It’s a game full of uncontested dunks, ridiculously deep three-point attempts, and defense is in short supply. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just not real NBA basketball. It’s meant to be fun, not competitive.
Millsap will acknowledge that he might not be thought of as the most exciting player in the NBA. In Dan Devine’s recent piece for Yahoo! he spoke about the fundamentally sound way he plays the game.
"“I mean, at the end of the day, I play the game the right way, regardless of All-Star Game or not,” Millsap said during Friday’s media session. “Some may call it boring; I call it basketball.”"
Quotes like that are why Hawks fans have grown to love Millsap and his no nonsense approach to playing in the NBA. Millsap also indicated that he might attempt to break out of his shell and embrace the looseness of the All-Star Game.
"“I don’t know. I think this year I may be a little bit more aggressive,” he said. “The past few years, I spectated and watched all the other players, the great players around me. This year I’ll get a little more involved and be more aggressive […] I do have to get some of my streetball out of me, because I do have some of that in me.”"
Did we see “Streetball Paul” on Sunday night? Not really. Millsap was as fundamentally sound as ever in his 13 minutes of action. Millsap finished the game with five points, five rebounds, three assists, and one steal. He just isn’t selfish enough to have a big performance in an All-Star Game setting.
The rest of the game was exciting, if you hate defense and love points. The Western Conference came away with a 192-182 victory. Anthony Davis led the way with 52 points on 26-for-39 shooting. His impressive point total broke Wilt Chamberlain‘s All-Star Game record of 42 points.
Russell Westbrook also had a big night, finishing with 41 points in 20 minutes of action. The lob he received from Kevin Durant in the first half was the moment of the game. Will these two finally mend their broken relationship? Probably not, but that lob was fun.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant each finished with 21 points. James Harden finished with 12 points and 12 assists, while Klay Thompson scored 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Davis and Westbrook obviously stole the show.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Eastern Conference in scoring with 30 points. It was a coming out party for “The Greek Freak”. If you didn’t know who he was before the game you better get on board. He may soon develop into the best player in the NBA.
LeBron James had 23 points, three rebounds, and one assist on 10-for-17 shooting. His pal Kyrie Irving dropped 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Diminutive point guard Isaiah Thomas ended his night with 20 points and even had a brief showdown with Russell Westbrook.
Millsap didn’t have the best performance of the night. His five points were the lowest total on the Eastern Conference team and fourth lowest in the game. That’s fine. Hawks fans know how good Millsap is and how important he is to Atlanta’s success.
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Overall it was a fun showcase for the NBA. Now let’s get back to real basketball.