1981 NBA All-Star Game

Result

MVP: Tiny Archibald

Box score

MVP: Nate 'Tiny' Archibald. Note: the East starter labeled 'Earvin Johnson' here is Magic Johnson, credited under his given name in the original box score.

Bench (10+ points): Robert Parish (16), Micheal Ray Richardson (11), Bobby Jones (11), Mike Mitchell (14)

Bench (10+ points): Jamaal Wilkes (15), Dennis Johnson (19)

Game context

The 1981 All-Star Game, the 31st edition, was played February 1 at the Coliseum at Richfield in Richfield, Ohio, the first and — as it turned out — only time the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the event at that suburban arena (the team's later All-Star hosting duties, in 1997 and 2022, came at downtown Cleveland venues). A crowd of 20,239 watched Billy Cunningham's Eastern Conference team narrowly defeat John MacLeod's Western Conference squad, 123-120. Boston Celtics guard Nate \"Tiny\" Archibald was named MVP despite a modest individual scoring line — nine points on 4-of-7 shooting — built instead around his all-around floor game, contributing a team-high nine assists and five rebounds off the bench in a East backcourt that also saw Julius Erving lead the way with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting. The Eastern Conference outscored the West 38-30 and 36-30 in the second and third quarters to take control of the game, leading 61-58 at the half and 97-88 through three quarters, before the West rallied with a 32-26 fourth quarter that narrowed but could not erase the deficit. Robert Parish came off the East bench to score 16 points and grab 10 rebounds, while Eddie Johnson of Atlanta added 16 points in a starting role. For the West, Seattle's Paul Westphal led all scorers with 19 points, and Phoenix guard Dennis Johnson matched that total off the bench, going 5-of-8 from the floor and a perfect 9-of-10 at the line. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar added 15 points and six rebounds, and Jamaal Wilkes chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds in reserve. Larry Bird, in just his second All-Star appearance, had a quiet night offensively (two points on 1-of-5 shooting) but grabbed four rebounds and dished three assists. A minor roster wrinkle affected the East ahead of tip-off: Atlanta forward Dan Roundfield was forced to withdraw with a right calf injury and was replaced by Cleveland's own Mike Mitchell, who rewarded the home crowd with 14 points off the bench in his lone career All-Star appearance. The 1981 game, close and competitive from start to finish, exemplified the tightly contested nature of the early-1980s All-Star Games, several of which — including this one and the two that would follow it in 1982 and 1984 — were decided by single-digit margins or overtime. Shooting splits told part of the story: the West's 46-of-90 mark from the floor (.511) and 28-of-33 at the line (.848) were both more efficient than the East's 49-of-103 (.476) and 25-of-32 (.781), yet Cleveland's crowd got to watch its home team's East squad win anyway on the strength of its second- and third-quarter surge. Bird, still just in his second NBA season, had an uncharacteristically quiet shooting night, going 1-of-5 for two points, a reminder that even future Hall of Famers had rough outings on this stage.

Sources

• Basketball-Reference — NBA All-Star Game History
• Basketball-Reference — NBA & ABA All-Star Game MVP (Kobe Bryant Trophy)
• Wikipedia — 1981 NBA All-Star Game
• Basketball-Reference — 1981 NBA All-Star Game Box Score