Top courtside moments in the NBA All Star history

Having started off in Boston back in 1951, The National
Basketball Association (NBA)’s All-Star games are an annual tradition of
exhibition games played between a team composed of top-ranked players from the Eastern
Conference, and another lead by the top ranked player from the Western
conference. The format was, however, changed by the NBA in 2018, after which
the teams have been captained by the leading vote-getter from each conference.

Rather than being a tough, competitive match, the All-Star
games have essentially always been a platform for players who have been eyeing their
shot at the MVP award, and have each year been taken over by a particular player
for the same purpose.

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Outside the periphery of contests themselves, there have
been several noteworthy, inspiring, and hilarious courtsides moments in the All-Star
events in its seven decades of existence. One of the most exciting weekends in
sports history full of celebrity appearences, music, dunking contests, exhibitions
and so on, there are many that come to mind with the phrase ‘All-Star’.

Among these, below listed are a few that definitely make the
cut:

1.     
Marvin Gaye’s twist on the national anthem
(1983): While the Eastern conference won the All-Star match-up in 1983, Marin
Gaye’s simple twist on the national anthem will be long remembered. Smoothened
vocals resting on a simple synthesiser track, Gaye outdid almost everything
else, including the game, on that day. The performance was both magical and
tragic, as that was the last time Gaye was to be seen in the basketball
championship amongst many other places as he was shot dead the next year.

2.     
Ejection of Red Auerbach (1967): Auerbach made
history as the only coach to be ejected from an All-Star contest for arguing with
officials in 1967. The man suffered the same fat yet again in 1984 while
coaching an ‘old timers’ squad.

3.     
The 22-minute strike (1964): The 1964 All-Star games
was a somewhat historic one, as this marked the first time NBA stars were
allowed a spot in the negotiating table with the team owners. Led by Tommy
Heinsohn, the players protested their condition of not being able to get a
place for negotiation, daily pay, regular training personnel or any diet plan. Ensuing
chaos saw many team-owners threatening to remove the respective players from
their squads. Ultimately the strike worked, as players were allowed to have a
place in the table with the owners, largely due to the intervention by
Commissioner Kennedy Walters.

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4.     
Gerald Green’s birthday-gone-sour: By the dint
of fan votes, Dwight Howard won the 2008 dunk contest, despite Gerald Green of
the Boston Celtics scoring an insane birthday-cake dunk, leaping into the air
and blowing a candle while he was at it. Green’s disappointment was immense, and
his was supposedly ruined.