Karl Malone recently grabbed the 11,000th rebound of his illustrious NBA career.
But he's still waiting for his first 2ball rebound. Instead, the NBA's reigning MVP - the 6-9 musclemen - left all the rebounding duties to his 5-foot-4 teammate.The Malone-Tammi Reiss tandem placed second out of eight teams in the first-year event as part of All-Star Saturday Night - and Malone didn't even break a sweat.
2ball, which replaced the slam dunk contest, paired one NBA player with an WNBA player from the same city in a timed shooting event. Players alternated shots from seven spots on the floor with longer shots worth more points. The NBA 3-pointer, for example, was worth eight points while a layup was two.
The Houston team of Clyde Drexler and Cynthia Cooper topped Utah's duo for the title, 73-61, in the two-team final round.
The Jazz/Starzz team had an interesting strategy. Malone, not known for his 3-point shooting, stood out at the 3-point line and lobbed shot after shot. Reiss, meanwhile, did the majority of the work. Since the rules require the players to alternate shots, she did all the rebounding and then would pass to Malone if it was his turn to shoot or dribble out and take a shot herself if it was her turn.
It wasn't because Malone didn't want to run or was fearful of getting hurt, however, that he wasn't winded when the event was over. The Utah team, during practices, found that this was the method by which they scored the most points.
"I don't want all you women's lib people saying, `Look at him. He didn't do anything,' " said Malone. "We had a game plan and we stuck with it. I don't understand why people would have a problem with that."
Reiss, who scored the majority of the team's points in addition to doing the majority of running and rebounding, put it this way: "We tried about three or four different strategies. My best asset is coming off a dribble, jumping into my shot. Karl's best asset is a set shot. So we thought we might as well put him at the highest point total and let him shoot his set shot. It worked best for us."
Thanks to Reiss' hot hand, the strategy gave the Utah duo a second-place check worth $10,000.
Malone was 2-for-7 on his attempts in the first-round for 16 points. Reiss went 6-for-7 from the varying shorter distances for 27 points. But the team received a 10-point bonus for making at least one shot from each of the seven spots on the court for a total of 53 in the first round.
Utah was the only team to earn the 10-point bonus in the first round. The Phoenix team of Steve Nash and Michele Timms would have scored the most points in the opening round - 59 - but they were docked 10 points for not shooting at least once from all seven spots. Houston led after the first round with 54 points.
Only the top two teams advanced. The Utah team went first in the finals and Malone was 3-for-7 from long distance for 24 points. Reiss, once again, went 6-of-7 for 27 points and again the team earned a 10-point bonus for a total of 61. It was a short-lived 2ball record.
Then Drexler and Cooper, the WNBA's first MVP, showed how the game is played. They teamed to score 63 points - which was good enough in itself to win. But they also earned the 10-point bonus to finish with 73 total.
While 2ball may seem like a fringe event, Cooper is a big fan. She even maintained winning 2ball was comparable to winning the first WNBA title.
"This definitely ranks up at the top," Cooper said. "I've never been a part of the NBA All-Star Weekend and to actually be successful during it is definitely a dream come true. We got a chance to rub elbows with the greatest players of the game of basketball. You know, we are just in awe of them."
Malone, meanwhile, knows he shouldn't get used to bombing away from 3-point range.
"That's not my game," he said. "I know my game is inside. I don't mind shooting from out there. It was fun, but I know that come Tuesday night, I'll be right back inside. It was fun while it lasted."