Thursday, February 14, 2008

All-Star Memories

With Kevin Durant and Jeff Green due to make some All-Star memories this weekend, I took the time to ask them before they left about their favorite memories of watching All-Star Weekend in the past.

Green had a hard time picking a favorite memory.

"I guess watching (Michael) Jordan in his last All-Star Game (in 2003) or when Tracy McGrady threw it off the glass," he said. "There's a lot of highlights that happen throughout every All-Star year - I can't just name one."

As far as All-Star Saturday Night, he remembered a local favorite.

"Watching Nate Robinson dunk was kinda interesting," said Green. "I've never seen a guy his height get up the way he does. That's probably one that sticks out in my mind."

Durant remembered back to 2001, when the All-Star Game came to his native Washington, D.C.

"I think my favorite of all time is when they played in D.C. and Stephon Marbury hit the game-winner when he was with the Nets," Durant said. "I went to the Jam Session as a little kid. I was in seventh grade. I remember back then it was phenomenal. I had the best time of my life. I remember I was in the car going home, listening to the All-Star Game. Stephon Marbury hit the shot at the buzzer and my brother and I just went crazy. It felt like it was a championship game. It's something that stuck out with me and I'll always remember the rest of my life."

So what would the 12-year-old Kevin Durant have said if you would have told him that, years later, he would be part of the festivities of All-Star Weekend?

"If you told me back then I would be in the Rookie Game or I would be in the NBA, I would have looked at you like you were crazy," he said. "It's all a blessing. It's something that I've worked for and I've got to continue to work. Hopefully someday I'll be an All-Star; I've got to continue to work."