Fansided

The five best NBA All-Star Game performances ever

By Luke Norris

Kobe Bryant (L) of the L.A. Lakers playing for the West team, scores as East Team's LeBron James of the Miami Heat tries to block during the All-Stars Game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 20, 2011. The game won by the West team 148-143 is the 60th NBA All-Star Game showdown between the Eastern and Western conference superstars. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
Kobe Bryant (L) of the L.A. Lakers playing for the West team, scores as East Team's LeBron James of the Miami Heat tries to block during the All-Stars Game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 20, 2011. The game won by the West team 148-143 is the 60th NBA All-Star Game showdown between the Eastern and Western conference superstars. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) /
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ABA Basketball: Portrait of Virginia Squires Rick Barry (24) in his old San Francisco Warriors uniform holding NBA ball. VA 8/15/1970 CREDIT: Fred Kaplan (Photo by Fred Kaplan /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: X15144 )
ABA Basketball: Portrait of Virginia Squires Rick Barry (24) in his old San Francisco Warriors uniform holding NBA ball. VA 8/15/1970 CREDIT: Fred Kaplan (Photo by Fred Kaplan /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: X15144 ) /

4. Rick Barry — 1967

When the NBA revealed its 50 greatest players at halftime of the 1997 game, it was obviously a who’s who of legends. Well, that’s exactly what the 1967 NBA All-Star Game was, as a dozen of the players named on that list participated in this game. The Western Conference featured five of them in Rick Barry, Lenny Wilkins, Dave DeBusschere, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. That’s a pretty impressive group but even with the talent they had on that team, they were expected to be destroyed by the East, who had seven of the top 50 on their squad with Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, Willis Reed, Jerry Lucas and Hal Greer. Wow.

Just the combination of Chamberlain and Russell would be enough to frighten anyone and there was no way that the smaller Western Conference team was expected to compete. But nobody told Rick Barry, who put on a show in front of his hometown crowd in San Francisco with a dizzying performance. The only performance that may have been better on that day was that of Eastern Conference head coach Red Auerbach, who somehow managed to get himself ejected from an All-Star Game. Classic. But I digress.

Barry, who was just in his second year in the league at that time, hit 16 of his 27 shots and six of his eight free throws (the most surprising stat of the night might be that he missed two free throws) en route to 38 points and the MVP in a surprising 135-120 win at the Cow Palace.

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