In a wild and entertaining NBA All-Star Game, the Western Conference used a flash of defense down the stretch and a bunch of scoring throughout to beat the Eastern Conference, 143-138, in Houston Sunday night.
As you can tell by the score, or simply the fact that it is the All-Star Game, there was not a lot of defensive excellence in the Toyota Center for the 2013 rendition, either.
However, there were a host of amazing passes, spectacular handles, alley-oop passes and a bunch of rim-rattling dunks.
Chris Paul had 20 points, 15 assists and won MVP honours, and Durant scored 30 points. Griffin finished with 19, joining his Clippers teammate, Paul, in creating Lob City deep in the heart of Texas.
Durant's 30 led all scorers, but the East's Carmelo Anthony was not far behind.
The Knicks star hit for 26 points, and he did so with just 14 shots. Much like Durant, Anthony had his shot working, but he was not content to settle for jumpers. He was aggressive all game and wound up 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.
Not everybody had it so easy. Chris Bosh opened the 2013 All-Star game with an air ball. Later in the first quarter, he followed it up with this one:
The game capped a weekend of change in Texas, where David Stern presided over his final All-Star game as commissioner and players’ association executive director Billy Hunter was voted out of office — a result he seems likely to contest.
Boston’s Kevin Garnett said before coming to Houston he thought his 15th All-Star selection would be his last, and turned it over to the young guys early. He played only 6 minutes of the first half before calling it a night.
Boston’s Kevin Garnett said before coming to Houston he thought his 15th All-Star selection would be his last, and turned it over to the young guys early. He played only 6 minutes of the first half before calling it a night.
This game had flashes of genius and moments of terrible play, but it was always entertaining. We couldn't hope for much more from this flashy exhibition.
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