Kevin Durant Wins MVP Team LeBron
Kevin Durant Wins MVP as Team LeBron Beats Giannis on Sunday night in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The LeBron James-captained side won this year’s version of the annual event over Team Giannis 178-164 Sunday at the Spectrum Center. James’ squad defeated a team captained by Stephen Curry in last year’s All-Star Game, which was the first with the new conference-less format that makes the top vote-getter from each conference draft the teams.
James finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists, but it was Kevin Durant who took home MVP honors with 31 points and seven boards. They were part of a balanced effort that allowed Team LeBron to overcome a 20-point deficit in the second half. Klay Thompson (20 points), Kawhi Leonard (19 points) and Damian Lillard (18 points) were among the 10 teammates who finished in double figures.
Captain Giannis Antetokounmpo spearheaded his team with 38 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the second-half blitz from Team LeBron.
There were plenty of storylines to choose from in this year’s All-Star Game.
Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade had their moments as late additions in the twilights of their careers, with the former drilling all three of his three-pointers and the latter catching an alley-oop from former Miami Heat teammate James and finding him on another with an off-the-backboard pass.
There was also the dialed-up intensity as Team LeBron came flying back from the 20-point deficit with threes from Thompson and Lillard and James impacting the game in a number of ways as only he can.
However, Team LeBron fully seized control when Durant entered the contest for the final seven minutes and went into pure takeover mode.
He connected on three triples and a mid-range while mixing in a head-turning block during the stretch. His defense picked up, but it was his silky-smooth release on a jumper that is essentially unblockable at 6’9″ that put Team Giannis away as quick as his flick of the wrist on the follow through.
Durant and James set the tone as the two teams started playing to win down the stretch, and the former surely didn’t want to lose to teammate Curry. Curry finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and memorable moments that included a dunk in the final seconds and four-point play on a foul from Thompson.
However, Golden State Warriors bragging rights went to Durant as he sent a chill up the spine of the rest of the league.
He is the perfect scoring machine who gets to play in a lineup that also features Curry and Thompson around him. If that wasn’t clear after two straight NBA Finals MVPs, he drove the point home in crunch time with the league’s best players all sharing the court.
