Gregory Shamus
The Pacers went one for two with their All-Star worthy players as Paul George earned the nod but David West did not.
The Indiana Pacers will have Paul George representing them as the 12th player in franchise history to play in the All-Star game. Fellow forward David West also deserved a spot in the game at Houston but was left off of the reserve roster which is probably a good thing.
Mark Montieth mentioned that West would rather spend the All-Star break resting and spending time with his family, but regardless, West has been every bit as important to the Pacers this year as PG. The perfect illustration of this was the team's recent win over Houston. Paul George was spectacular, winning his matchup with James Harden while scoring 31 points in the process.
But the Pacers don't win that game without West dominating the fours Houston threw at him in the middle of the game. The Pacers seemed to have control of the game in the first half, but Houston worked their way back early in the third quarter to cut the lead to three points. West went to work to fend off the Houston run scoring nine of his 20 points in the third quarter as the Pacers eventually resumed control of the game and a double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter.
West's style of play may not draw the attention required to create All-Star buzz but it goes a long way in helping the Pacers win games.
West is among a group of players that could be considered snubbed by the ASG process but they can only name so many players. Here's the list of reserves for each conference:
Eastern Conference
- Paul George - Pacers
- Chris Bosh - Heat
- Tyson Chandler - Knicks
- Luol Deng - Bulls
- Joakim Noah - Bulls
- Jrue Holiday - Sixers
- Kyrie Irving - Cavaliers
- LaMarcus Aldridge - Trail Blazers
- Tim Duncan - Spurs
- James Harden - Rockets
- David Lee - Warriors
- Tony Parker - Spurs
- Zach Randolph - Grizzlies
- Russell Westbrook - Thunder
- Pacers' Paul George named reserve for Eastern Conference All-Star team | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com
- George Saw All-Star Berth Coming | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE INDIANA PACERS
- All-Star George Has Bright Future | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE INDIANA PACERS
- Spurs' Duncan, Heat's Bosh headline 2013 All-Star reserves | NBA.com
- NBA All-Star snubs: Mark Jackson makes the Stephen Curry case - SBNation.com
- NBA announces All-Star Game reserves | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo! Sports
- James Harden, Kyrie Irving among six first-time All-Stars picked as reserves | The Point Forward - SI.com
- The Lakers' thrashed reputations: a ranking - SBNation.com
- NBA players react strongly to All-Star reserve selections on twitter
- The REAL NBA All-Star Game snubs - SBNation.com
There are 7 Comments. Load Now.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.