1994 NBA All-Star Game

Result

MVP: Scottie Pippen

Box score

MVP: Scottie Pippen.

Bench (10+ points): Patrick Ewing (20), Mark Price (20), Dominique Wilkins (11)

Bench (10+ points): John Stockton (13), David Robinson (19), Clifford Robinson (10)

Game context

The 1994 All-Star Game, played February 13 at Target Center in Minneapolis — the only time the Timberwolves have hosted the event, and notably a game in which no Minnesota player took part — arrived amid the first full season of the post-Michael Jordan NBA, following Jordan's abrupt retirement from basketball that October to pursue baseball. Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippen stepped into the void as the league's new marquee attraction and delivered on the stage, earning MVP honors with 29 points on 9-of-15 shooting (including five three-pointers), 11 rebounds, and four steals in 31 minutes, leading Lenny Wilkens's Eastern Conference to a 127-118 win over George Karl's Western Conference. The East's balanced attack also got strong efforts from Patrick Ewing (20 points, eight rebounds) and Mark Price (20 points on 8-of-10 shooting) off the bench, while Chicago's B.J. Armstrong added 11 points and rookie Orlando center Shaquille O'Neal, still just 21 years old, struggled offensively in his second All-Star appearance, going just 2-of-12 for eight points despite grabbing 10 rebounds. For the West, Hakeem Olajuwon (19 points, 11 rebounds) and David Robinson (19 points) led the way, while John Stockton dished a game-high 10 assists. A notable roster footnote: Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman started for the Eastern Conference, becoming, per contemporary reporting, the first players in New Jersey Nets franchise history to start in an All-Star Game, a milestone for a franchise that had struggled for recognition since relocating from New York. Injuries reshaped both benches as well — Alonzo Mourning and Charles Barkley were both unable to play, with Charles Oakley and Gary Payton stepping in as their replacements. With Jordan absent from the league entirely that season (he would not return until March 1995), the 1994 game functioned as an early referendum on who would carry the league's biggest stage in his absence, and Pippen's dominant, do-everything performance — anchoring a Bulls team that, remarkably, would go on to win 55 games and reach the second round of the playoffs that spring even without Jordan — offered a clear answer, if only for a single game and a single season, before Jordan's return the following spring reset the league's hierarchy once again. Both teams shot efficiently from the floor — the East finished 48-of-111 (.432) and the West 52-of-114 (.456) — in a game that, despite the absence of the league's biggest recent draw, still produced a competitive, high-scoring affair typical of the era. Patrick Ewing (20 points) and Mark Price (20 points on 8-of-10 shooting) gave the East needed scoring punch off the bench to complement Pippen's MVP performance in the starting lineup.

Sources

• Basketball-Reference — NBA All-Star Game History
• Basketball-Reference — NBA & ABA All-Star Game MVP (Kobe Bryant Trophy)
• Wikipedia — 1994 NBA All-Star Game