The conferences simply took turns playing the Harlem Globetrotters, and the Air Canada Centre fans seemed to lose interest as the game carried on.
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The chant started just before the introduction of the final Eastern or Western Conference starter Sunday night.
Kobe Bryant made the biggest stop of his farewell tour on Sunday as he played the last NBA All-Star Game of a remarkable career in which he established himself as arguably the best player of his generation.
WEST: Bryant 4-11 1-2 10, Leonard 8-15 0-0 17, Durant 11-18 0-0 23, Westbrook 12-23 0-0 31, Curry 10-18 0-0 26, Thompson 3-11 0-0 9, Harden 8-14 0-0 23, Davis 12-13 0-0 24, Paul 5-7 0-0 14, Aldridge 2-8 0-0 4, Green 2-6 0-0 4, Cousins 5-5 0-0 11. He wowed the crowd with a crafty reverse layup off the backboard in the fourth quarter.
Before the game, Warriors star Stephen Curry told Bryant that he planned to accumulate a ton of assists by feeding the ball to Bryant as often as possible. “So it was a lot of fun for me”. It’s everything I dreamed of.
The tipoff between Bryant and James wasn’t the only matchup between the game’s standard bearers. “Hopefully I can have some more weekends like this”.
Westbrook, who was chosen the most valuable player (MVP) in last year’s event, repeated that achievement this year to become the MVP for the second year in a row with 31 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. The West also made 41 field goals to ink another record, and had 28 assists to tie the existing record, in a single half.
Paul George wanted that MVP award, but Gregg Popovich didn’t want him breaking any records.
“Man, I’m happy that I’ve been along for a small piece of the ride of his journey”, said James, whose 13 points for the East took him to 291 in career All-Star Games – one more than Bryant atop the all-time list. All those things are just fun. “You embrace all those moments”.
The place went berserk as some Bryant accomplishments were read off. Bryant received proper adoration from the crowd. Somebody actually played defense, even for a play? “I don’t think there is any doubt that he’ll go down as one of the greatest players ever to play this game”. “I’m just thankful to be able to play the game of basketball and be in a game like this is something that…” Among the records set by the West was the most number of points in a quarter with 53 and at the half with 92.
Nine players from the West scored in double figures with five getting at least 23 in the game.
Just 18 months earlier, during the summer of 2014, George suffered a compound fracture of his lower right leg during a USA Basketball scrimmage.
Of course, the game has no impact on the Thunder’s regular season, nor on the team’s quest for a title.
“It’s really special”, the Indiana Pacers forward said. Then obviously the curtain call at the end that you knew was coming, but you didn’t know what part of the game.
“It was ust a very upward climb”, George said.
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Mic’d Up From pregame chats with James and Vin Diesel to in-game kisses from his daughter, some of Bryant’s more personal moments were captured by TNT.
