NBA All-Star game 2010 results: East outlasts West 141-139

(MVP D-Wade's 28 points gives East the 2 point win)

On Sunday night, the largest crowd ever to witness a basketball game, let alone the All-Star game was on hand in Dallas. The Dallas Cowboy Stadium held 90,000 plus as they watched the 2010 NBA All-Star game. The previous record for a basketball game was back in 2003 with over 78,000 watching Michigan St. battle Kentucky at Ford Field. For an NBA All-Star game, 44,735 packed into the Houston Astrodome in 1989. And to further illustrate the large scale nature of the stadium, an 11,000-plus foot HDTV Jumbotron hung over the court to show the action. The court was set around the 50-yard line and raised up about 30 inches so the coaches and bench players could sit below it on the sides.

Intros were flashy, but nothing like Shaq dancing with the Jabberwockeez at a previous All-star affair. This time around, pop R*B star Usher did a mini-concert on a stage behind the court, then lowered into the set with his dance crew, before each squad was introduced. As guessed, the Mavs Jason Kidd and then Dirk Nowitski received the biggest applause of the bunch, although Kobe and Lebron didn't do so bad.

In the first quarter, the East shot 53% from the floor and closed out with a 37-34 lead. There weren't any particular flashy plays for a surprise start to the game, with both squads seeming to play some tight defense early on. It almost seemed like the absence of AI and Kobe may have made things a bit dry in the earlygoing, as the 90,000 plus crowd didn't seem to wake up much.

In the second half there were plenty more dunks and "ahhh" moments from the crowd, including some fancy passes and breakaways. At halftime, the East had jumped out in front by a score of 76-69 behind double digit scoring from Lebron (11), Howard (11), Wade and Bosh (10 each). Meanwhile, the Western squad was lead by Carmelo Anthony's 17 points with 8 rebounds, as well as 10 points from Kevin Durant off the bench. Hometown favorite Dirk Nowitski had 8 points despite some flat shooting early on. Steve Nash provided his own leadership in the form of 7 assists for the West.

Halftime performances made the Who's Superbowl 44 gig pale in comparison as a sexy Shakira opened with her She Wolf hit in a cage. Kenny Smith called it "sensory overload". Her performance was followed by Miss Alicia Keys who did a medley of hits including a version of "Empire State of Mind" using All-Star in place of "New York".

Dwight Howard's rebound followed by taking it all the way down the court for a one-handed jam, highlighted the third quarter as the East continued with their double digit lead. Lebron had two impressive reverse slams to get the crowd oohing and ahhing heading into a commercial break. At the 7 minute mark, the East was up by 11, after Amare Stoudemire's tip-in. Carmelo Anthony continued his hot-scoring streak to get up to 25 points in the third. TNT's Craig Sager spoke to Kobe Bryant on the sidelines who was out due to his ankle injury. Kobe mentioned it was disappointing to be just watching, and Craig Sager joked how a woman said to Kobe she had payed 8g's for his seat at the All-Star game, then was thrown out. It's unknown exactly what that incident was about. Kevin Durant's 3-point shot as time expired brought the West to within 10. The East lead 118-109.

The West closed the gap significantly in the fourth, as it was as close as 1 point. Down just two points at the final minute, "Mr Big Shot" Chauncey Billups tied it at 137 a piece with his fallaway jumpshot. Lebron lost the ball on the next possession but it went off Melo as Stan Van Gundy called a time out to draw up a play. James missed a catch-and-shoot opportunity, and his possible new teammate Amare Stoudemire fielded the rebound. Thinking the West was down by 2, Derron Williams made a big mistake fouling Dwyane Wade, putting the Heat star at the line with 12.7 to go. Wade hit both to put the East back ahead by 2. Howard fouled Nowitski on the West's play out of a timeout, putting the hometown hero at the line. The 90% shooter tied things up with 7.7 left, making for an exciting potential finish to the game.

In the closing seconds, Chris Bosh was tripped up on the inbounds play, sending him to the line. The Raptors star hit both, and once again the East was up 2. With 5 seconds left, the West gave the ball to Carmelo Anthony for an attempted 3 at the buzzer. Guarded by D-Wade, Melo's shot drew iron and bounced off the rim. The Eastern Conference takes the game 141-139, with the MVP trophy handed out by Commissioner David Stern to Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat. Wade's 28 points and 11 rebounds helped the East win the game, and gave the star his first ever All-Star MVP award.

A massive crowd of over 108,000 witnessed tonight's close game in Dallas to set a new attendance record for a basketball game. David Stern noted it was a new Guiness Book of World Records record. They really did it BIG in Dallas, TX for All-Star Sunday night...

See more 2010 NBA All-Star game coverage at NBA.com

E! True Hollywood Story Basketball Wives

A recently broadcast episode of E!'s True Hollywood Story "Basketball Wives" showcased what it's like to be the wife of a NBA star these days. Various NBA players and basketball wives were featured in the inside look at professional basketball relationships. Included on the show were Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson, Dwyane Wade, Charlie Bell, Jason Maxiell and Kiki Vandeweghe among others.

Milwaukee Bucks star Charlie Bell and his wife Kenya were just one of the couples spotlighted on the show. The couple first met in college, when a shy Charlie Bell kept calling Kenya and finally got his first date with her. The two stuck together since then. They discussed the ups and downs of Charlie getting signed one minute, then cut or traded the next. It went from the good life right back to not knowing how they were going to pay for life. They talked about having a nice apartment fully furnished and then before they knew it having to use food stamps to get food. Bell was traded between the Suns and Dallas Mavs, and eventually signed with a team over in Italy. His wife discussed how she had made the decision to marry Charlie for better or worse so she decided to make the move to Europe with him.

The E! Hollywood Story "Basketball Wives" also offers an in-depth look at the Siohvaughn Funches Dwyane Wade story and has insight on other relationships including those of Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson. The show is next scheduled to air at 12 AM EST on E! right after All-Star Saturday should be wrapping up.

Siohvaughn Funches Dwyane Wade & Gabrielle Union + E! story

Dwyane Wade & Siouvaughn Funches

A recent E! Hollywood Story show called "Basketball Wives" discusses NBA couples and has brought the spotlight onto the Siohvaughn Funches Dwyane Wade marriage-deterioration. They were among one of the several NBA Player wives pairings on our Love & Basketball wives list published a while back. However, things in their marriage took a turn for the worse as Wade filed for divorce from his high school sweetheart. In fact the divorce came about in late 2007 after the birth of their second child. During the grueling divorce proceedings, Wade's estranged wife has even gone as far as to accuse D-Wade of giving her herpes and abandoning their two children Zaire Blessing Dwyane Wade and Zion Malachi Airamis Wade. This prompted a huge lawsuit with Wade suing his former wife and two of her lawyers over the accusations he claimed were false.

BREAKING: Siohvaugn Funches-Wade arrested!

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E! ran one of its inside look shows about what it's like to be married to an NBA superstar, with Siouvaughn Wade and her mother both appearing on the show. Siouvaughn said she started to lose her identity and became more like "Dwyane's wife". She even said it felt like she & Dwyane forgot God and their marriage vows. Their marriage remained rocky into 2007 when they had Zion, their second son. That's about when the divorce proceedings started up in November 2007. Siouvaughn Funches headed back to Illinois with her two children. A friend of Funches said that she would receive calls from one of the children crying for his father. The E! report says that Wade says he wants to do what's best for his children in this situation.


(image source: NY Times)

Rumors have been ongoing that since divorcing Siohvaugh Funches Dwyane Wade started dating Hollywood actress Gabrielle Union. Gabrielle appeared in a recent issue of Jet magazine and discussed dating a younger man. The couple was seen in the spotlight heading to Miami beach for a stroll back in December of 2009, and has been seen together on several other occasions during which Union's publicist tried to block out camera shots.

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Jason Kidd & Hope Dworaczyk Playboy model girlfriend

Since his divorce with Joumana, things aren't going so bad for Jason Kidd in 2008-2009. In the tradition of Beyonce's "Upgrade" song, Kidd seems to have found himself a nice new girlfriend. According to news reports and Wikipedia, Jason Kidd and Hope Dworaczyk are now a couple who stand tall together. Dworaczyk is a Playboy model who's nearly as tall as Kidd, as she stands 5'10. She's stated before that she doesn't get approached much, but that could be due to the fact that 1) she's a gorgeous model and 2) she's really tall.



Dworaczyk appeared as the April 2009 Playmate on the Playboy magazine cover in April of 2009, with actor comedian Seth Rogen. Originally born in Texas, Hope's 25 years old, with measurements listed at 34C-23-35 and a weight of 125 lbs. In the above photos you not only see her towering size and assets, but also her painted on Dallas Mavericks Jason Kidd jersey. Not too bad!

According to Hope's Wikipedia entry, she got advice from her grandmother about whether or not to pose nude for Playboy magazine. Hope's grandma told her that if she were her age, she'd pose for Playboy if she had the opportunity. That was all the advice Hope needed and in April 2009 she posed naked for the men's magazine.

Apparently, Jason Kidd & Hope Dworaczyk had dated before. News broke in early 2008 that Hope was expecting a child with Jason Kidd. Hope claimed that these were merely tabloid trash rumors, because they never had a child together. The couple currently shares a penthouse apartment in the Dallas area, after relocating from New York-New Jersey, however Hope does runway modeling gigs all around the world. Kidd travels a lot too, to other cities, and occasionally on the court.

Andrew Bynum and Rihanna Together?

Let the rumor mills and gossiping start, Andrew Bynum and singer Rihanna were recently spotted out on the town together in California. Bynum and Rihanna were reportedly seen sharing an intimate dinner at Mastro's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills on this past Friday. According to what a source told X17 online: "The twosome was "very couple-y, sitting real close to each other in the car" after leaving the venue".

This is the same Rihanna who several weeks ago had forgiven her boyfriend of 4 months, Chris Brown, who beat her up in his car right before the Grammy's on February 8th. 19-year old Brown recently plead not guilt to the charges of felony assault and making criminal threats. The couple had chosen to take some time off away from each other to reflect on the relationship. Apparently Brown and Rihanna are seeing other people now. The couple had reconciled weeks ago, but there's also been recent reports that Chris Brown was seen visiting a tattoo parlour with Girlicious singer Natalie Mejia. Mejia hasn't said they're an official couple but has said things are going well lately between them.

This is also the same Andrew Bynum who plays center for the Los Angeles Lakers, who had been rehabbing a knee injury for months and was also seen at Playboy Mansion party carrying a playmate around on his shoulders. Life is good for the young Lakers star, who really isn't a star on the basketball court like he seems to be out in Hollywood.

(Story source: AceShowbiz.com)