1968 NBA All-Star Game

Result

MVP: Hal Greer

Box score

Bench (10+ points): John Havlicek (26), Dick Barnett (15), Hal Greer (21)

Bench (10+ points): Bill Bridges (15), Archie Clark (17)

Game context

The 1968 All-Star Game, played January 23 at the original Madison Square Garden — the last All-Star Game held there before the historic arena closed and the event moved to the new MSG IV — drew a large crowd of 18,422 for a comfortable 144-124 East win. The game's venue itself carried a footnote of logistical trivia: it had originally been slated for the newer Madison Square Garden, then still under construction, but delays forced a relocation back to the old building, making this the first NBA All-Star Game ever moved from its originally planned venue. Philadelphia 76ers guard Hal Greer was the story of the game, coming off the bench to shoot a perfect 8-for-8 from the field for 21 points in just 17 minutes, one of the most efficient scoring performances the event had yet produced and enough to earn him the MVP award over several bigger names on the floor. John Havlicek gave the East further scoring punch with 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting (plus 8 free throws made) and 4 assists in 22 minutes, while Oscar Robertson, playing for the East as a member of the Cincinnati Royals, added an efficient 18 points (.778 shooting) and 5 assists. The West got 22 points from Elgin Baylor and 17 from Jerry West, but neither could keep pace with the East's depth and shooting efficiency across the board; the East led throughout, building on a 37-25 first quarter and pulling further away with a 43-33 fourth. Greer's Eastern-champion Philadelphia 76ers and the West's finalist Los Angeles Lakers from the prior season supplied the game's coaches, Alex Hannum (Philadelphia) for the East and Bill Sharman (who had by then moved to coaching the San Francisco Warriors) for the West, continuing the practice of drawing coaching assignments from the prior year's Finals participants. The game came amid a particularly turbulent and consequential period in American history — played about two and a half months before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. that April and against the backdrop of the ongoing Vietnam War — a broader context that would soon touch the NBA directly through increasing player activism and, within a few years, high-profile boycotts and social commentary at league events, even as this particular All-Star Game itself unfolded as a straightforward showcase of the league's deepening talent pool. Greer's efficient scoring burst that day came in the same season in which his 76ers, the defending champions from 1967, were working to defend their title against an increasingly formidable Celtics team still built around the aging but still-dominant Bill Russell.

Sources

• Basketball-Reference — NBA All-Star Game History
• Basketball-Reference — NBA & ABA All-Star Game MVP (Kobe Bryant Trophy)
• Wikipedia — 1968 NBA All-Star Game