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Kobe Bryant's been playing in the All-Star game so long that he's making up who some of his old teammates were ...
"I think the first one, the first All-Star game to me has been the most memorable one," Bryant said Wednesday, thinking back to the 1998 All-Star game at Madison Square Garden, the first of 15 appearances in his 17-year career so far.
Bryant had 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting to lead the West, but Michael Jordan (23 points, eight assists, six rebounds, three steals) was MVP as the East won 135-114.
"Me and KG (Kevin Garnett) being the young kids on the block," Bryant remembered. "Playing with Jordan, (Clyde) Drexler, (Charles) Barkley, (John) Stockton and all those guys."
Bryant's memory is a little shaky. Neither Drexler, Barkley or Stockton were on the 1998 Western Conference All-Star team.
Drexler and Barkley's last All-Star game was in 1997, so Bryant never played with them. Bryant and Stockton were teammates in Stockton's last All-Star game in 2000, however.