Over and Back: 1997 All-Star Game and NBA 50 Greatest rewatch

CLEVELAND, OH – FEBRUARY 9: Scottie Pippen #33 of the Chicago Bulls dunks during the 1997 All-Star Game on February 9, 1997 at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1997 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast’s annual holiday special takes us back to the 1997 NBA All-Star Game and NBA 50 Greatest Players presentation.

It’s that time of year again for the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast Holiday Special! This year we once again welcome Curtis Harris (@ProHoopsHistory) and Reinis Lācis (@LamarMatic) for a classic game rewatch as we check out the 1997 NBA All-Star Game and the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players presentation.

We have two options if you want to watch along this year, you can watch view our live stream (https://youtu.be/K2DY9JeXcxA) or watch via this upload (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrpmoGt_s0o — skip ahead to 38:53 and wait for us to tell you to hit play)

Topics on this year’s show include the NBA butchering their actual anniversary year, players that deserved to be in the Top 50 but weren’t, how an NBA 75 list may look and how would the NBA approach such a list. We also delve into the actual 1997 NBA All-Star Game including Gary Payton and Michael Jordan’s first-quarter battle, Chris Gatling’s horrendous shooting night, Eddie Jones’ standout performance, Latrell Sprewell somehow scoring a bunch of points without anybody noticing, Joe Dumar’s gold watch NBA All-Star berth, Kevin Garnett as the second-youngest All-Star ever, the multitude of injury replacements in this game, the 1990s East/West disparity, which players were definitely betting on the game and much more.