The NBA 2021 All Star game is all set to be
played on Sunday, March 7 at the State Farm Arena in Atalanta with the captains
– Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets –
having selected their respective team rosters.

This year’s edition will be the 70th
All Star game, with the first-ever being played in 1951. The tweaked game
format, introduced in 2020, has been very well received by fans. The changed
format includes every quarter being turned into a mini, 12-minute game for
charities before a final, untimed quarter with a target score to decide a
winner.

Anthony Davis was the hometown hero last
year, scoring a free throw to win the game for the Western Conference. Let’s
take a look at some of the best All Star games of all time.

1.      
1970

This game featured a great
mix of players from two generations. NBA icons like Jerry West, Elgin Baylor
and Oscar Robertson were nearing the end of their careers while players like Walt
Frazier, Elvin Hayes and a Lew Alcindor were starting to make a name for
themselves.

Played at the Philadelphia
Spectrum, the game was won by the Eastern Conference by a 142-135 margin. New York
Knick’ Willis Reed was the MVP with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

2.      
1972

Lakers icon Jerry West –
whose silhouette has been incorporated as the NBA logo and was rightly
nicknamed ‘Mr Clutch’, for his ability to make a big play in crucial situations
– scored a 20-foot jump shot at the buzzer to hand the Western Conference a
112-110 win.

3.      
1997

The NBA revealed its
greatest 50 players of all time, with 47 of them present on the occasion for a
halftime welcome. Michael Jordan completed the league’s first-ever triple
double that year, with Charlotte Hornets’ Glen Rice putting in an MVP
performance as East won 132-120.

4.      
1992

This was Magic Johnson’s
return to basketball after a shock retirement ahead of the 1991-1992 season due
to HIV. It is remembered more for its message about HIV and AIDS than the game
itself but regardless, is one of the greatest to have ever been played.

Both Michael
Jordan and Isiah Thomas embraced Johnson to spread awareness about the disease.
Johnson led the West’s 153-113 win with a 25-point MVP performance.

5.      
1988

Micheal Jordan was already
established as one the biggest stars of the sport by now, but he put in a statement performance in this game, hinting at
his future stature as the greatest player of all time.

The game saw an incredible
dunking contest between Jordan and Dominique Wilkins, won by the ‘Jumpman’, who
scored a whopping 40 points and went on to win the league’s MVP and Defensive Player
of the Year titles. The East won 138-133.