Women's National Basketball Association All-Star Game

Encyclopedia : W : WO : WOM : Women's National Basketball Association All-Star Game

The Women's National Basketball Association All-Star Game, commonly referred to as the WNBA All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game played between the best players of the Eastern and Western Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Structure

Each conference is represented by a team of 12 players who are currently having the best seasons performance-wise around the league. The starters are determined by fans voting through both paper and internet ballots. The rest of the players are selected by league personnel including head coaches as well as media personalities. At the end of the game, an all-star game Most Valuable Player (MVP) is named, as decided by a panel of media members.

The 2005 WNBA All-Star Game was played on July 9 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The game was the highest scoring All-Star Game of all time, with the two teams combining to score a total of 221 points. Late in the game, when victory by the West was assured of, the game became a virtual slam dunk contest. After a failed attempt by Deanna Nolan, Lisa Leslie made the first slam dunk in WNBA All-Star Game history. Sheryl Swoopes was named Most Valuable Player of the game for the first time in her career, one season after contemplating retirement. She shared the award with her son Jordan.

The 2006 WNBA All-Star Game was played on July 12th at the New York Liberty's home court, Madison Square Garden. The Eastern Confrence won their first ever All-Star game 98-82.

Controversy

This does not cite its .
You can Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations.

Despite that the WNBA All-Star Game is regarded as a showcase for the league's best talent, there has been some controversies and complaints from various fans.

Ballot Box Stuffing - In some years, there have been complaints over alleged use of fans "ballot stuffing" in favor of hometown players whose statistics probably do not merit them of being in the All-Star Game. One such example took place in the 2005 game which involved Swin Cash of the Detroit Shock. Despite having missed most of the season due to injuries, Cash still received enough votes from Shock fans to be named into the starting lineup of the game. Many fans felt the spot would have been better served for Connecticut Sun guard Lindsay Whalen that year.

Locations - On various newsgroups and internet message boards on women's basketball, some fans have complained that the WNBA All-Star Game has been too often hosted by teams in the Eastern Conference, and particularly the New York Liberty, instead of awarding the game to some of its Western Conference teams. So far, the only Western Conference team to have hosted the game was the Phoenix Mercury in 2000.

History

In 2004, the game was not played in its usual format due to the WNBA players competing in the 2004 Summer Olympics. That year, the U.S. Senior National Women's Basketball team defeated a team of WNBA All-Stars 74-58 at Radio City Music Hall.

WNBA All-Star Game
Game Date Results Hosting Team Arena MVP Western Conference Coach Eastern Conference Coach
July 14, 1999 West 79, East 61 New York Liberty Madison Square Garden Lisa Leslie Van Chancellor Linda Hill-MacDonald
July 17, 2000 West 73, East 61 Phoenix Mercury America West Arena Tina Thompson Van Chancellor Richie Adubato
July 16, 2001 West 80, East 72 Orlando Miracle TD Waterhouse Centre Lisa Leslie Van Chancellor Richie Adubato
July 15, 2002 West 81, East 76 Washington Mystics MCI Center Lisa Leslie Michael Cooper Anne Donovan
July 12, 2003 West 84, East 75 New York Liberty Madison Square Garden Nikki Teasley Michael Cooper Richie Adubato
August 5, 2004 USA 74, WNBA 58 New York Liberty Radio City Music Hall Yolanda Griffith Van Chancellor Bill Laimbeer
July 9, 2005 West 122, East 99 Connecticut Sun Mohegan Sun Arena Sheryl Swoopes Anne Donovan Mike Thibault
July 12, 2006 East 98, West 82 New York Liberty Madison Square Garden Katie Douglas John Whisenant Mike Thibault

**WNBA All-Star Game**
Game Date	Results	Hosting Team	Arena	MVP	Western Conference Coach	Eastern Conference Coach
July 14, 1999	West 79, East 61	New York Liberty	Madison Square Garden	Lisa Leslie	Van Chancellor	Linda Hill-MacDonald
July 17, 2000	West 73, East 61	Phoenix Mercury	America West Arena	Tina Thompson	Van Chancellor	Richie Adubato
July 16, 2001	West 80, East 72	Orlando Miracle	TD Waterhouse Centre	Lisa Leslie	Van Chancellor	Richie Adubato
July 15, 2002	West 81, East 76	Washington Mystics	MCI Center	Lisa Leslie	Michael Cooper	Anne Donovan
July 12, 2003	West 84, East 75	New York Liberty	Madison Square Garden	Nikki Teasley	Michael Cooper	Richie Adubato
August 5, 2004	USA 74, WNBA 58	New York Liberty	Radio City Music Hall	Yolanda Griffith	Van Chancellor	Bill Laimbeer
July 9, 2005	West 122, East 99	Connecticut Sun	Mohegan Sun Arena	Sheryl Swoopes	Anne Donovan	Mike Thibault
July 12, 2006	East 98, West 82	New York Liberty	Madison Square Garden	Katie Douglas	John Whisenant	Mike Thibault

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.