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After some talk about whether he would go for the assists record in the All-Star Game, John Wall had a lot to live up to. Could he break the 22 assists that Magic Johnson dished in 1984?
Unfortunately, Wall wasn't able to do so. He only dished seven assists for the night, and dish as many as Chris Paul (15), James Harden (8), or fellow East guard Kyle Lowry (8) did. The East lost as well, 163-158 in a game that was closer than it often seemed at times. In addition to the seven assists, Wall also scored 19 points, third among all Eastern Conference scorers on 9-of-16 shooting.
The game began on the right note when Wall threw an alley oop pass to LeBron James for his first assist of the game:
But soon after, there were a number of blown plays, like this easy pass for what could have been another Wall assist (or another LeBron dunk) in the first quarter:
Wall didn't just try to pass the ball to shooters. After all, he did score 19 points. My personal favorite was this dunk he made from a LeBron alley oop pass:
He even crossed over Stephen Curry where he eventually got another dunk:
Wall, who is the NBA's leading assister at the All-Star Break also asked for a favor from "National Bureau of Assists" members like Paul, Stephen Curry, and Damian Lillard:
After this tweet, which non-NBA All-Star Bureau members Sue Bird or John Stockton presumably sent out, you never know what the future holds for the #WallStar:
.@JohnWall at @StateFarm we all want to be wizards! #AllStarAssist https://t.co/oMrbzvT5E8
— All-Star Assist (@SFNBA) February 16, 2015
And to top it all off, Wall's shoes were dedicated in honor of his friend Miyah:
@DcRisingforsure John Wall honoring his friend Miyah at the All Star Game pic.twitter.com/2ck41mAlKV
— Ben Celestino (@bencelestino) February 16, 2015
As for the rest of the game itself, the West raced to a quick 20-point lead in the first half. But the East caught up by halftime, and the rest of the game was an even affair if you look at the box score. Even though Wall, or LeBron, or Kyle Korver, who scored 21 points (all on threes) made plays to get the East back into it at various points, it wasn't enough.
Russell Westbrook played off the bench and scored 41 points, one away from Wilt Chamberlain's record of 42 set in 1962. He won the MVP award of the game. And for those of you #KD2DC activists out there, Kevin Durant played under 10 minutes and only scored 3 points in a lethargic performance.
All in all, Wall had a good individual performance, represented the Nation's Capital well, and that's pretty much all we could ask for in an exhibition game. Hopefully the positive momentum from this game carries into Friday night when the Wizards host the Cavaliers for a nationally televised contest.