Minnesota’s Moore wins 3rd MVP award
MINNEAPOLIS — Lynx star Maya Moore said she’s routinely asked if she has room for all of the awards she’s won in her basketball career. She’ll have to make space for another trophy after her performance on Saturday.
Moore won her third straight All-Star MVP award to lead Team Parker past Team Delle Donne 119-112 in the WNBA AllStar Game.
“Thank you for your concern for my storage space,” Moore deadpanned after she was asked the question again after she scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out six assists to win the MVP award on her home court.
“It’s crazy, it really is, to just be fortunate enough to continue to be in positions to win, to be playing well, to be healthy,” said Moore, who joined Lisa Leslie as the only three-time MVP of the game and became the all-time scoring leader in All-Star history, passing Tamika Catchings’ mark of 108 points.
Allie Quigley of the Chicago Sky also scored 18 points and Skylar DigginsSmith of the Dallas Wings added 17 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists for Team Parker.
Team Delle Donne’s Kristi Toliver of the Washington Mystics led all scorers with 23 points, including 7-for-11 shooting on 3-pointers. Rookie A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces added 18 points.
Toliver made five 3s in the final 5 minutes of the game as Team Delle Donne came back from a 14-point deficit. But Moore drilled a 3-pointer of her own with 1:26 to play, pushing Team Parker’s lead to six and all but sewing up the MVP.
Eschewing the traditional East-vs.-West format for the first time, the league let captains Elena Delle Donne of the Mystics and Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks choose up sides from a pool of the top players in All-Star voting.
That allowed for the rosters to be heavily dominated (16 of the 22 players) by the Western Conference, which is home for six of the top seven teams in the league standings.
“You’re not going to make a bad pick,” Parker said of the process.
“Everybody who’s out here is here for a reason, so it was just about having fun and playing with players you haven’t ever played with.”