West edge the East 143-138 in the 2013 NBA All-Star Game

This was some game we were treated to.

The West narrowly edged the East 143-138, with Chris Paul leading the way for the West with 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting with 15 assists and 4 steals. Paul was the deserved MVP in this one. The first play of the game set the tone. Chris Paul penetrating in and dishing it off for Blake Griffin. The second bucket of the game came off the same duo, another dish from Paul to Griffin resulting in a slam.

And that was a recurring theme for the night, with Paul getting his team-mates involved. ”You just want to play fast. I like to throw the lob. I like to see guys hit 3s,” Paul said. ”When we’re out on the court with all that fire-power, why wouldn’t you want to make passes? You’ve got KD filling one of the lanes, you’ve got Blake, Kobe on the wing. There’s nothing like it.’‘

Kobe Bryant tried to do the same, he had 8 assists to go with his 9 points. But he only attempted 9 shots. Westbrook, Parker, Griffin, Paul, Harden and Durant all attempted more shots than Kobe.

As I mentioned yesterday, the West had a lot more fire-power inside. They pummelled the East in the paint, scoring 88 of their 143 points in the restricted area. The East only had 66 points in the paint but did end up having an advantage on the glass, as they out-rebounded the West 56 to 45. The big man for the East, Kevin Garnett, had said that this will probably be his last All-Star game, because of the high level of competition in the league, and he does not see himself as a lock to be selected to play next year. He only played six minutes today and was scoreless.

The East were led by Carmelo Anthony, who had 26 points with 12 rebounds and 3 assists. Wade chipped in with 21 points on an efficient 10 of 13 shooting with 7 assists. Paul George of the Pacers had a good showing in his first All-Star game with 17 points and 4 assists. Kyrie Irving added 15 points with 4 assists in his debut.

Refreshingly, the West only attempted 10 free throws. No one wants to watch an All-Star game devolve into a free throw shooting contest. The East took 21 attempts from the line. For the West, Durant was the high point man with 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Blake Griffin added 19 points with 3 boards and 3 assists. Russell Westbrook added 14 off the bench. Parker had 13 and Harden added 15. Aldridge was the only player of the West who was scoreless in this game. Duncan played just 8 minutes and had 2 points.

”I think we played really good defense at the end of the game as a team,” Durant said. ”Kobe was really going with the ball. It’s tough to stop LeBron, but he did his best. He was able to block a few of his shots. But CP did a really good job of keeping us in the game.”

What a lot of people will be talking about is the blocks Kobe inflicted on LeBron. While Kobe did block LeBron twice, LeBron’s team has defeated Kobe’s twice this season. James did not bring his A-game out today though, as he shot 7 of 18 for 19 points and had 5 assists with his 3 rebounds.

”It was all in good spirit, man. It was just two guys that love to compete, love to go at it. So I had a lot of fun,” James said. He had said that he wouldn’t want to compete in the dunk contest if he could not assure himself of a win. He lost this one, so maybe he shouldn’t play in the All-Star game either? I just want to see him in the All-Star game, and the rationalizations he’s offering to not compete don’t hold up.

Kevin Durant is entering the history books. He had 30 points today, which lifted his All-Star scoring total to 115 points. For any player in his first four All-Star games, that’s an all time high. Here’s how that list stacks up:

Player- Points
Kevin Durant- 115
LeBron James- 97
Elgin Baylor- 96
Oscar Robertson- 96
Wilt Chamberlain- 94
David Thompson- 94

Kobe missed the chance to win the All-Star game MVP award for the fifth time. Had he won it, he would have been the fifth player to have done so. You can bet that its an honour he has marked on his bucket list. Although he did not come out gunning in this one, there’s always next year for him. The recap of this game will be shown on Sony SIX on Tuesday at 5:30 PM, in case you missed it. Here are the game highlights: