Damian Lillard Wins NBA All-Star Game MVP, Dazzles Fans as East Beats LeBron, West | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images
For the first time since 2014, the Eastern Conference was victorious in the All-Star Game.
The NBA returned to the traditional East against West format after six straight years of team captains drafting rosters regardless of conference affiliation, and the Eastern Conference delivered with a 211-186 victory on Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home of the Indiana Pacers.
Game MVP Damian Lillard (39 points and six assists) and Tyrese Haliburton (32 points, seven rebounds and six assists) spearheaded the winning effort, but it wasn’t just the backcourt that delivered. Jaylen Brown (36 points) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (23 points) also helped the offense eclipse the 200-point mark.
Karl-Anthony Towns did what he could with 50 points for the West, but the East broke a slump after losing six of the last seven All-Star Games from 2011 through 2017 before the format switched.
As the MVP, Lillard drew plenty of love on social media even if the Indiana crowd wanted Haliburton to take home the award:
As expected, there was little to no defense being played out of the gate as the league’s best players put on a show with dunks, fast breaks and three-pointers. Fittingly, it was Pacers hometown hero Haliburton who caught fire in the early going, connecting on five triples in the first quarter alone.
He played to the crowd by moving further away from the basket as he kept launching, but he was far from the only one racking up the points as the two teams combined for 100 points in the first quarter. Still, the most memorable early moment might of been Stephen Curry blocking a Paolo Banchero dunk attempt.
The East rode that offensive explosion and jumped out to a commanding 15-point halftime lead, but the middle of the game was more about the highlights than the score.
And those highlights included Trae Young dribbling through Kevin Durant’s legs, LeBron James dialing back the clock for multiple soaring dunks, Antetokounmpo throwing down slams, Curry and Lillard launching from well beyond the arc, and Luka Dončić defending his shot selection:
The highlights didn’t stop in the second half with Lillard pulling up from half court after Dončić missed a dunk and Haliburton breaking out an elbow pass:
Despite all the highlights, the outcome of the game was never truly in doubt during the second half. With little defense being played, the Western Conference never put together enough of a run to seriously threaten as the East wrapped up the win even though Towns put on his own personal dunk contest in the fourth quarter.
Maybe the West will get back in the win column when next year’s All-Star Game is at Chase Center, the home of the Golden State Warriors.
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