Sports: Durant named MVP after leading Team LeBron to comeback victory over Team Giannis in NBA All-Star Game.
In Steph’s hometown, MVP Durant, Thompson help Team LeBron rally past Team Giannis
CHARLOTTE, N.C. >> Stephen Curry received the first glimpse on what life may be like playing without Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.
“Team LeBron” finished with a 178-164 victory over “Team Giannis” in Sunday’s All-Star game, as his Warriors teammates played a key part in spoiling Curry’s homecoming. After Team Giannis led by 13 at halftime and as many as 18 points, Team James went on a second-half surge that featured Durant and Thompson.
Durant had 31 points while shooting efficiently from the field (10 of 15), from 3 (6 of 9) and from the freethrow line (5 of 5) to win his second All-Star MVP after also winning it in 2012. Durant became the fifth Warriors’ All-Star MVP, including Paul Arizin (1952), Wilt Chamberlain (1960) and Rick Barry (1967).
“It’s all sweet to me. It’s hard to rank,” Durant said. “Everything is special. But it was cool to be out there with the best players in the game. Keep trying to rack them up, I guess.”
Thompson added 20 points while shooting 7 of 16 from the field and 6 of 12 from long in 22 minutes off
the bench in his fifth consecutive All-Star stint. Meanwhile, Curry did not offer a kind of performance that left an an undeniable impression at Charlotte Christian, Davidson and the Warriors.
He had 17 points while shooting 6 of 23 from the field and 4 of 17 from 3. Curry added nine rebounds, seven assists and ended the game bouncing the ball on the ground and finishing with a reverse dunk. But that also punctuated another struggling All-Star performance. Curry entered Sunday’s game a surprising trend with sluggish All-Star stints in which he shot a combined 32 of 78 (41 percent) in first five appearances.
With Durant and Thompson teaming up with LeBron James (19 points), that naturally brought up questions on whether James selected those players partly to recruit them when they become free agents next summer.
Durant has insisted he has not decided, though plenty in NBA circles believe he will sign with the New York Knicks for a bigger role and business portfolio. Thompson has often insisted he has not reason to leave the Warriors because of his three NBA titles, team-oriented culture and talent around him. Instead, Durant and Thompson let their play do the talking.
“He’s hitting back shot after shot. That’s the most important thing,” Damian Lillard said of Durant. “From being around him, you just see that he’s a regular dude. You hear people saying ‘he’s sensitive’ and those types of things. He comes off pretty genuine to me.”
Even if Curry did not shoot well, he still found reasons to feel joyful during his return here.
When he heard his name in starting lineup introductions. When he defended against his Warriors teammates Durant and Thompson, both of which resulted in misses. When he threw a hard bounce pass for a lob that only teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo could execute.
Later, Thompson nailed a 3-pointer over Curry. Then Curry sank a 3 after Thompson fouled him and sent him flying to his seats.
“From the time he checked in, we were going back and forth. I wanted to guard him every chance I got and vice versa,” Curry said. “I feel like any possession I would touch the ball, I would shoot no matter what. That fell in my favor. He feel asleep for a second.”
Afterwards, Thompson joked that Curry should have been called for a technical.
“That was so fun to see,” Durant said. “Those guys are always joking around and seeing who can make the most shots. Their chemistry together is second to none. We know we’re going to talk about those two plays for the next couple of days. It was cool to Steph stepping up and knocking down that shot over Klay because he’s always talking trash to him.”
Most of the attention centered, though, on Durant and winning an AllStar MVP six years after collecting his first one.
“The first time is always sweeter,” Durant said. “I didn’t come in these games expecting to do anything. It just kind of happened.”
In the “First in Flight” city, players showed up Sunday ready to launch. Team LeBron attempted 90 3-pointers (hitting 35), and the teams combined for 168 tries from deep.
Durant helped put the game away for Team LeBron with a 3-pointer with two minutes left for a 171160 lead. Kyrie Irving made a leaning floater and Durant hit 15-footer from the wing to seal it.
Just before Durant’s closing stretch, ames shook off 76ers forward Joel Embiid for a corner 3, and on the next trip, pounded home a one-handed slam on a lob from Irving that extended Team LeBron’s lead to 168158.
Trading long-distance daggers and mixing the occasional lob off the glass, Durant connected on a pair of 3-pointers from the right side to give Team LeBron on 161-153 lead at the fiveminute mark in the fourth as shots started to fall short and handles were less certain.
76ers guard Ben Simmons gave Team LeBron the lead 132-131 with 36 seconds left in the quarter, closing what had been a 95-82 deficit at halftime. Team Giannis led by 20 in the third.
Played above the rim in spurts, the game threatened to become a fullfledged 3-Point Contest. The first half consisted of 81 3-point attempts — 29 successful — between the teams.
Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 20 in the first half, en route to a gamehigh 38.