This post was originally going to be about when the game actually got serious. But depending on how you look at it, this one never got serious, or was like that from some point in the first quarter. There was that moment, very early on, when Kobe hit an ultra-methodical fadeaway. And then going the other way, Wade did something fairly similar. Not sure if they actually don't like each other, but those are the two keenest killer instincts in the league right now. When it happened, I thought it was two competitors getting locked in.
Another candidate: Shaq's decision to come back in the game. He'd made a big deal of surrendering most of his minutes to rightful heir Dwight Howard. And then there he was, displacing Dwight after Young Thunder made like O'Neal in his Orlando days. My best guess was that he saw the East getting trounced, and suddenly felt like they could use his leadership. Or at least wanted to be the one who led them back.
Of course, that was not to be, in part because of the winner of this award. Garnett's vicious block on Wade in the middle of the secon quarter said this: we've got a lead, and we're keeping it. This might have been an exhibition game, but no way was Wade/James/Arenas going to get hot and cakewalk his conference back into this one. There were only a handful of defensive plays in this game that were anything other than polite or incidental. This one, though, set the tone for the West's win in the same way that their offensive fireworks did.
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His block came after D-Wade fouled him too. And when KG was at the line Wade kep saying all ball and laughing. Well the next time Wade drove against KG the ball ended three rows up.