Watch the 70th NBA All-Star Game, along with the Dunk Contest, 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge live from 11.30pm on Sky Sports Arena this Sunday
Sunday 7 March 2021 20:35, UK
Two-time NBA champion and Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas is a man who knows a thing or two about the All-Star Game.
Ahead of the marquee event in the NBA's regular season calendar, Heatcheck analyst Mo Mooncey caught up with the great point guard to discuss all things All-Star.
Thomas, who was selected for the showpiece game for 12 straight seasons and won All-Star MVP honours twice (1984 and 1986), explained that what he enjoys most about the occasion is seeing the players given complete freedom to express themselves.
"I'm always excited to see the players' creativity when they're not being coached or under extreme pressure," Thomas said.
"We see them try to do things they don't get to do in a regular season game. We got to see how competitive (they were) at the end last year in Chicago.
On Thursday night both LeBron James and Kevin Durant drafted their rosters for the game, with Giannis going first overall to Team LeBron.
Thomas, unsurprisingly given his determined playing style and success in the league despite standing at 'only' 6ft 1in, would have gone for two smaller guards with the first picks.
"I tend to lean towards the little guys so I'll give you my first two picks. Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving. Then I go from there."
Durant did at least select his Brooklyn Nets team-mate Irving number two overall, with Thomas touching upon the behind-the-scenes relationships between players that tend to come to the fore during the All-Star period.
"We also get a chance to peek behind the lines, to see who is really friendly with each other, who has a relationship with each other. You really don't know until you see them away from the court.
"I don't think anyone of us really knew how close Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were until they ended up in Brooklyn, but we first caught a glimpse of it at the All-Star Game."
As for his first All-Star Game, Thomas distinctly remembers the nerves of the occasion, leading to a rather embarrassing moment at the free-throw line.
"My first All-Star Game was in New Jersey. I'll never forget. I went to the foul line. I wasn't nervous before the start of the game but I got fouled, went to the foul line and for whatever reason, panic came over my body."
"I was like 'Oh s**t! I'm in the All-Star Game!'. I'll never forget I was standing there and I looked over and you know, Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) was on the line. George Gervin was out there. All the players that you admired and looked up to were there, standing at the foul line.
"I go to shoot... and I shoot an air ball. That was a memorable moment"
But, as he elucidates, the All-Star locker rooms were a place of great mutual respect between players, whatever bitter rivalries were taking place in the postseason at the time.
"Walking into the locker room and seeing how the Celtics and the 76ers were towards each other, because during that time in the 80s... Dr J (Julius Erving) and (Larry) Bird. Philadelphia and Boston, they were going at it every year. Six, seven-game series. One of them going to the championship.
"You saw how competitive they were. Then, being in the locker room with them, and seeing the respect they had for each other, the Celtics and 76ers, was eye-opening and mindblowing.
"Even though they competed hard and played hard against each other, and even had physical fights, but the respect that Dr J and Bird had for each other, and Moses (Malone), (Robert) Parish and (Kevin) McHale, it was pretty awesome to see and be a part of and witness the respect they were showing each other."
Then the all-important question: What would Isiah Thomas' dream Dunk Contest line-up be?
"Dr J. Michael Jordan. Vince Carter. Zach LaVine."
"I saw Zach LaVine do a dunk in Toronto, and if people can just go back and watch what he did, when he took off from the foul line and put it behind his back... he was just gliding in the air. That was the best dunk contest I've ever seen.
"The creativeness. Just how beautiful LaVine's dunks were. To me it was breath-taking.
"I don't know who'd I'd pick but Vince Carter and Zach LaVine would give the two old heads a run for their money."
Watch the 70th NBA All-Star Game, along with the Dunk Contest, 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge live from 11.30pm on Sky Sports Arena this Sunday
