GFerg
02-20-06, 09:52 AM
1995 McDonalds All American High School Basketball Game
The year was 1995 and the country was in a transitional period. MJ had just returned from his hiatus, O.J. was on trial, and Coolio’s "Gangsta’s Paradise" was hot for a minute. Then it happened. Twenty-two young cats from across the country converged on St. Louis for one memorable weekend to create the greatest collection of high school talent ever seen.
Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Stephon Marbury, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antawn Jamison, Robert "Tractor" Traylor, Jelani McCoy, Wayne Turner, Shammgod Wells and Naismith Prep Player of the Year Ron Mercer – at the time, the most-hyped player in the game – were some of the prep superstars invited to St. Louis that first weekend in April.
Before the game, though, each coach had all week to practice and get a feel for his players. "I remember standing underneath one of the baskets," recalls West coach David Luechtefeld, "and Ryan Robertson stole the ball back at center court and was coming at the basket I was standing under. I thought no one was close enough to stop the bucket – it looked like an unopposed lay-up. I watched him put it up on the top of the box and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, someone caught the ball! I said to myself, these are different kids. Who was it? It was Vince Carter."
Later that week, Carter made a name for himself and further showcased his athletic prowess when he took the Slam Jam slam dunk competition behind three ridiculous dunks garnering 50s in the finals.
We worked our contacts and called in a few favors to get ourselves a copy of the actual game broadcast. It was well worth the effort. The 18th annual McD’s game was broadcast live that Sunday on CBS, hosted by Bill Raftery and Verne Lundquist in front of a Kiel Center crowd of 16,201. The fans were ready for lots of scoring, fast breaks and dunks, and they got all of the above. The starting lineup for the East was Carter, Marbury, Abdur-Rahim, Mercer and Sam Okey. The West boasted Garnett, Robertson, Albert White, Derek Hood, and Kris Clack, sporting Billups’ jersey with tape across the name since Clack’s jersey - along with Pierce’s and Taymon Domzalski’s - was stolen from the locker room the night before. Chauncey couldn’t play anyway, as he was sidelined with a shoulder injury.
Garnett and Abdur-Rahim jumped. The East got the ball and scored first - which might have been their only lead of the afternoon. In the first five minutes, Clack had three monster dunks, including a phat two-hand flush on a fastbreak and Mercer was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Garnett was swatting everything in sight, including a couple on Abdur-Rahim and even one from his future teammate, Marbury. The last block prompted this remark from an announcer: "Put your No. 2 pencils away, we’ve got plenty of erasers here today." Classic.
While Mercer might’ve had the biggest name and the most hype, Garnett stole the show and went on to win the John R. Wooden MVP Award behind 18 points, 11 rebounds, four dimes and four blocks. Not to mention he had four dunks and nailed his only three-point attempt. Garnett garnered support from Pierce, who notched a game-high 28 points on 11-for-14 shooting off the bench wearing McCoy’s uniform. When the two were out there at the same time, the commentators jokingly asked, "Who’s the Real McCoy?" Pierce’s 28 were just two shy of the all-time game record set more than a decade earlier by none other than Michael Jordan. In all, eight players for the West reached double digits. The East was paced by Mercer’s 19 points and Marbury’s 11 points and a record-tying 10 assists. The defenses were equal in the end - equally generous - as the West beat the East, 126-115.
"I had heard a lot about Garnett before the game", recalls Luechtefeld. "The thing about Garnett is that even in practice he played very, very hard. He’s all business once he got out on the floor. Off the court and in practice he clowned around a lot, but once he got out on the floor, he really played harder than a lot of the other kids. Really, the kid that played better than I [expected], after practice, was Paul Pierce. When I saw him play, I never thought he had a chance in the NBA and I was really wrong about him."
While the game had been amazing, its aftermath was monumental for the game of basketball. Most of the players were committed to college programs. Marbury was going to follow Kenny Anderson to Georgia Tech, even though Derrick Coleman tried to sway him towards Syracuse. Mercer was deciding between Miami, Tennessee and Kentucky. And then there was KG - undecided and toying with the idea of making the jump. "I haven’t decided yet where I’m going," Garnett told the Associated Press after the game. "I don’t know what my next step will be, except I want to step off this floor and into a shower."
Well, you know the rest. When Garnett announced his intentions to forgo college and make the jump to the pros, the move was both surprising and highly controversial. Following Darryl Dawkins, no high schoolers had jumped to the NBA for twenty years. After that, there was no looking back.
"I’ve coached all the All-Star games, but the McDonald’s game is an exception," recalls East coach Steve Smith. "You can only do it once - they spread it around. I’m glad they picked me that year - it will be a game Ill never forget."
The year was 1995 and the country was in a transitional period. MJ had just returned from his hiatus, O.J. was on trial, and Coolio’s "Gangsta’s Paradise" was hot for a minute. Then it happened. Twenty-two young cats from across the country converged on St. Louis for one memorable weekend to create the greatest collection of high school talent ever seen.
Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Stephon Marbury, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antawn Jamison, Robert "Tractor" Traylor, Jelani McCoy, Wayne Turner, Shammgod Wells and Naismith Prep Player of the Year Ron Mercer – at the time, the most-hyped player in the game – were some of the prep superstars invited to St. Louis that first weekend in April.
Before the game, though, each coach had all week to practice and get a feel for his players. "I remember standing underneath one of the baskets," recalls West coach David Luechtefeld, "and Ryan Robertson stole the ball back at center court and was coming at the basket I was standing under. I thought no one was close enough to stop the bucket – it looked like an unopposed lay-up. I watched him put it up on the top of the box and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, someone caught the ball! I said to myself, these are different kids. Who was it? It was Vince Carter."
Later that week, Carter made a name for himself and further showcased his athletic prowess when he took the Slam Jam slam dunk competition behind three ridiculous dunks garnering 50s in the finals.
We worked our contacts and called in a few favors to get ourselves a copy of the actual game broadcast. It was well worth the effort. The 18th annual McD’s game was broadcast live that Sunday on CBS, hosted by Bill Raftery and Verne Lundquist in front of a Kiel Center crowd of 16,201. The fans were ready for lots of scoring, fast breaks and dunks, and they got all of the above. The starting lineup for the East was Carter, Marbury, Abdur-Rahim, Mercer and Sam Okey. The West boasted Garnett, Robertson, Albert White, Derek Hood, and Kris Clack, sporting Billups’ jersey with tape across the name since Clack’s jersey - along with Pierce’s and Taymon Domzalski’s - was stolen from the locker room the night before. Chauncey couldn’t play anyway, as he was sidelined with a shoulder injury.
Garnett and Abdur-Rahim jumped. The East got the ball and scored first - which might have been their only lead of the afternoon. In the first five minutes, Clack had three monster dunks, including a phat two-hand flush on a fastbreak and Mercer was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Garnett was swatting everything in sight, including a couple on Abdur-Rahim and even one from his future teammate, Marbury. The last block prompted this remark from an announcer: "Put your No. 2 pencils away, we’ve got plenty of erasers here today." Classic.
While Mercer might’ve had the biggest name and the most hype, Garnett stole the show and went on to win the John R. Wooden MVP Award behind 18 points, 11 rebounds, four dimes and four blocks. Not to mention he had four dunks and nailed his only three-point attempt. Garnett garnered support from Pierce, who notched a game-high 28 points on 11-for-14 shooting off the bench wearing McCoy’s uniform. When the two were out there at the same time, the commentators jokingly asked, "Who’s the Real McCoy?" Pierce’s 28 were just two shy of the all-time game record set more than a decade earlier by none other than Michael Jordan. In all, eight players for the West reached double digits. The East was paced by Mercer’s 19 points and Marbury’s 11 points and a record-tying 10 assists. The defenses were equal in the end - equally generous - as the West beat the East, 126-115.
"I had heard a lot about Garnett before the game", recalls Luechtefeld. "The thing about Garnett is that even in practice he played very, very hard. He’s all business once he got out on the floor. Off the court and in practice he clowned around a lot, but once he got out on the floor, he really played harder than a lot of the other kids. Really, the kid that played better than I [expected], after practice, was Paul Pierce. When I saw him play, I never thought he had a chance in the NBA and I was really wrong about him."
While the game had been amazing, its aftermath was monumental for the game of basketball. Most of the players were committed to college programs. Marbury was going to follow Kenny Anderson to Georgia Tech, even though Derrick Coleman tried to sway him towards Syracuse. Mercer was deciding between Miami, Tennessee and Kentucky. And then there was KG - undecided and toying with the idea of making the jump. "I haven’t decided yet where I’m going," Garnett told the Associated Press after the game. "I don’t know what my next step will be, except I want to step off this floor and into a shower."
Well, you know the rest. When Garnett announced his intentions to forgo college and make the jump to the pros, the move was both surprising and highly controversial. Following Darryl Dawkins, no high schoolers had jumped to the NBA for twenty years. After that, there was no looking back.
"I’ve coached all the All-Star games, but the McDonald’s game is an exception," recalls East coach Steve Smith. "You can only do it once - they spread it around. I’m glad they picked me that year - it will be a game Ill never forget."