Harden helps Lebron win
League’s leading scorer lost amid constant highlight reel
Rockets star James Harden has 12 points but gives up the spotlight to teammate Kevin Durant, who pours in 31 to help Team LeBron win Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game over Team Giannis.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There was little defense, almost no James Harden one-on-one moves and no apparent objections.
Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer, played a small role, taking only 3-point shots and mostly moving the ball, especially down the stretch when Kevin Durant led a Team LeBron surge to top Team Giannis 178-164 on Sunday night at Spectrum Center.
But Harden slipped in one characteristic move before the buzzer, flashing a series of rapid-fire crossover dribbles in front of Stephen Curry before hitting a last stepback 3-pointer to apply an exclamation point to the Team LeBron victory.
“That’s how I was feeling,” Harden said of taking a more low-keyed approach to the game on his way to 12 points. “There were other guys that were getting off and playing well.When my opportunities came and I took my shots and did what I’m supposed to do. It’s always a great experience to part of the
All-Star Weekend. At the end of the game, last minute of the game, I had to get in my bag a little bit.”
Still, he was happy to make way for Durant’s late burst, giving him 31 points and his second All-Star Most Valuable Player honor.
“It’s all sweet to me. It’s hard to rank,” Durant said. “Everything is special. Keep trying to rack them up, I guess.”
Nowitzki’s farewell
In many ways, however, the game mostly offered the usual barrage of highlights along with a successful sendoff for and celebration of Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade.
Both had their moments their way. Nearly as soon as Nowitzki — who was determined to cherish every moment of the weekend — got on the floor, he swished a 3-pointer. Moments later, he moved to the other wing and nailed another 3.
When he put in a third 3-pointer in three attempts from the top of the circle, he checked out for the final time, having squeezed everything he could have wished from his four minutes.
“That was obviously awesome,” Nowitzki said. “I wanted to just play a few minutes and hoist up a 3 and that’s exactly what happened. I think all that is going to be emotional once I sit back and get some time to think. It was fun and the whole week was great. I’m going to soak it all in. I think I’m going to get more emotional later.”
Little could have been a more fitting farewell — unless it was Wade going out with a pair of alley-oops, one sent off the backboard from LeBron James and another delivered by James to Wade.
“I got the moments I wanted,” Wade said. “I feel like the whole weekend has been that way. You visualize something and you hope it goes that way. It definitely has. It went way beyond the moments that I visualized and that’s all I needed.”
George mimics Harden
Harden never seemed to chase his own moments, at least not until his final shot. After a 1-of-7 first half, Harden made his first attempt of the second half and would add two in a 4-of-13 shooting night.
Along the way, Oklahoma City’s Paul George gave Harden his own medicine, with a series of Harden-style crossover dribbles before sinking a step-back 3 in front of him.
The better showdown came in the fourth quarter when Curry nailed a 3-pointer through a Klay Thompson foul, getting up to point at his Warriors teammate, moments after Thompson pointed at Curry after his own 3.
“That was so fun to see,” Durant said. “We know we’re going to talk about those two plays for the next couple of days.”
Curry had conspired with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the highlight of the night, bouncing an alley-oop high above the rim for Antetokounmpo to swoop in for a one-handed spike on his way to a game-high 38 points and what seemed destined to bring him the first All-Star MVP won by an international player.
“I had my name on that MVP until the third quarter, and they got hot and took it away from me,” Antetokounmpo said.
It was not the final bounce pass Curry would use to set up the dunk, ending the night by bouncing the ball to himself for a two-handed slam that had the hometown crowd roaring. By then, however, Team LeBron had owned the final six minutes to leave with the victory.
“We won, so that’s all that matters,” Harden said. “We kind of struggled at the beginning of the game. But second half, we turned it up offensively and defensively. Pretty cool to get a win.”