Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called an angry timeout, and Parker suddenly found himself nose-to-nose with his head coach - close enough to count the hairs in Popovich's silvery beard - while getting a high-decibel reminder about his shortcomings.

Parker listened intently, nodded his head, and smiled. Then he responded with the offensive aggression that has made him a Western Conference All-Star for the third time in his career.

"I reacted just like he wanted," Parker said. "After the game, I told him, 'After eight years, Pop, I still react to that. You should do it more often.'"

Parker understands the positive role Popovich's negative feedback has played in his development. Parker has grown into a point guard whose play keeps him in the All-Star mix every season. Today's game at the US Airways Center will be Parker's third All-Star contest in four seasons. He believes it would be his fourth straight appearance had he not missed 14 games because of an injury early last year.

At age 26, it is clear that Parker has established himself as one of the premier point guards in the game. He has earned the respect of the coaches who have voted for him as an All-Star reserve and opposition guards who have to contend with his basket of skills.

"Chris Paul, Tony Parker and Deron Williams, they're all so fast," says Denver's All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups, back in the Western Conference after six seasons with the Pistons. "And you know what they say: Speed kills.

"Guys that are fast and can handle the ball like those guys are dangerous."

Billups recalls playing against Parker for the first time, when he was still with Minnesota and Parker was a 19-year-old rookie whose pro experience had been entirely in the French league.

"He was quiet and timid a little bit, but you could see the skill level there," Billups said. "Now, he's a perennial All-Star and a Finals MVP. He's done just about everything a point guard can do, and he's still young. He's going to continue to do it. He's become a great player."

Tim Duncan, Parker's perennial All-Star teammate, remembers his first opinion of Parker, too.

"Put it this way: It was not very high," Duncan said. "He was super-young and the only thing he had going for him was he was incredibly quick. But he was all about proving himself."

Before he could prove himself to the rest of the NBA, he had to prove himself to Popovich. The Spurs coach recognized something special in his 19-year-old draftee, and challenged him, often at ear-splitting level, to respond to the challenge.

What Popovich quickly discovered was a player whose fortitude matched his physical gifts.

"Tony gets credit for living through it," Popovich said of a tough love approach intended to discern Parker's emotional constitution. "It was the only way to find the answer as to whether he was going to have the chutzpah to be a hell of a player in the league.

"When a coach gives you the ball immediately when you're 19, I better find out quickly if I'm making the right choice or not."

Parker, it turns out, was anxious to be tested.

"First of all," he said, "in Europe we have a lot of coaches who scream. So, when Pop got on me, I thought, 'He wants to make me better,' and I knew that was good for me.

"Sometimes it was hard. I would ask myself, 'What does he want from me?' But I never thought it was bad for me. I know my personality. Sometimes I get a little nonchalant, so I knew it was good for me."

As Parker's confidence grew, he became one of the league's most aggressive point guards at the offensive end because Popovich demanded it.

Once that aspect of his game was well established, Parker set about filling the biggest hole in his game: perimeter shooting. Now he is one of the league's most accurate shooters among guards, at 49.4 percent, and has the green light to fire away, from anywhere, at any time.

Parker had a 55-point game this season and is on pace for a career-high scoring average. But he believes his best years are still to come.

"In 10 years," he said, "I don't want to look back and say 2009 was my best year. I feel I can play a lot better and I can definitely have a bigger impact than now."

His goal in today's All-Star Game: Just have fun.

"In the regular season you have goals, because you want to help your team," he said. "Here, I just want to enjoy the experience with the guys and see them in a different atmosphere, because there's no pressure."

Pressure, Parker knows, is a coach who wants you to play at your very highest level.