Curry wins 3point contest, then scores 28
Warriors point guard helps Team LeBron top Team Durant 170150 in midseason exhibition game.
As NBA superstars questioned the league’s decision to hold an AllStar Game amid a pandemic, Warriors guard Stephen Curry tried to avoid a buzzworthy sound bite by leaning on five simple words: “It is what it is.”
Few who watched him give that restrained response doubted that Curry was less than enthused about playing an exhibition during a global health crisis. But if his repeated giggles and schoolyard moves were any indicator Sunday night, Curry got over his mild frustrations in time to enjoy his seventh career AllStar appearance as he helped Team LeBron to a 170150 win over Team Durant at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
In a game that had its format overhauled
last year to bring a measure of competition to a nostakes showcase, Curry played as if he were on the blacktop at recess, delivering dazzling dribbling displays and deep 3pointers that were outlandish even by his standards. Fresh off claiming his second 3point contest crown in seven tries, he scored 22 of his 28 points in the first half as Team LeBron won each of the first three quarters to raise $450,000 for Historically Black Colleges.”
Damian Lillard sealed the blowout with a 40footer that he punctuated with his signature wristtap celebration. Giannis Antetokounmpo paced all scorers with 35 points on 16for16 shooting — including a bankedin 3pointer — to earn MVP honors.
Though both teams’ play was choppy, Curry helped bring fun to a game that was missing a handful of bigname players to injury or coronavirus contact tracing. Less than three minutes in, he crossed midcourt, laced a dribble behind his back and hit Nikola Jokic with a onehanded, nolook pass for a dunk. A couple of minutes later, after letting go of a 3pointer in the corner, Curry — straightfaced — did a 180degree turn before ball met net.
Toward the end of that first quarter, he caught a pass at the midcourt logo and, with no defender within several feet of him, drained the 34footer. It was one of a few such displays of longrange mastery from Curry, who, in the waning seconds of the second quarter, followed up a 43footer from Lillard with a 43footer of his own.
The fun wasn’t limited to the perimeter, as Curry and Chris Paul improbably set up each other for alleyoop dunks on backtoback possessions shortly before halftime. When not making the type of plays that conventional wisdom would suggest have no place in an organized basketball game, Curry was laughing and joking with teammates.
Curry, on the same roster as James for the first time in his career, watched with glee pregame as James did his famous chalk toss. Early in the second quarter, Curry got so excited seeing Paul, listed at 6foot, win the jumpball tipoff that he jumped out of his seat and hollered.
Such enthusiasm helped make up for the notable absences, the mostly empty seats and a few makeshift details of a rescheduled event. Team LeBron wore yellow and Team Durant wore blue, for example, as a nod to the Pacers — the exhibition’s original hosts before it got moved to Atlanta.
Before tipoff, Indiana center Domantas Sabonis defeated Nikola Vucevic to win the skills challenge title and Curry outdueled Utah guard Mike Conley Jr. by one point in the final round of the 3point contest. At halftime, Portland guard Anfernee Simons defeated Indiana guard Cassius Stanley and New York forward Obi Toppin to win the slamdunk contest.
Curry, for his part, liked that the festivities were condensed to one night.
“The prior (AllStar) experiences were more exhausting,” he said. “Having everything in one night was kind of cool.”