There was a lot of scoring in the 73rd NBA All-Star at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Sunday as the East dominated the West and won 211-186.
The 211 points are an All-Star record.
Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard, who scored a team-high 39 points, including 11/23 from deep, was named All-Star MVP for the first time in his career. Lillard, who was an All-Star starter for the first time in his career, won the three-point shooting contest on Saturday for the second consecutive year, and he followed it up with an electrifying performance on Sunday night.
The eight-time All-Star became the first player in NBA history to win All-Star MVP and the three-point shooting contest in the same weekend, and the first player since Michael Jordan to win an event on Saturday and the MVP on Sunday.
“Any time you’re mentioned in the same category as Mike, it’s an honor, and it’s a major accomplishment, even if it’s All-Star Weekend,” Lillard said. “If it was that simple, more people would have done it since 1988. So that’s a major compliment for me to be mentioned in the same conversation as far as that…
“I did come into the weekend when I knew I was going to do the 3-Point, I was like, I’m going to try to win. I’m not going to be casual and cool about it. I’m going to try to win again. And I’m going to come into the All-Star Game, my first start; I know I’m going to be on the floor a lot. I’m a vet in the game at this point. Why not go and try to get an MVP?”
Lillard was on fire, and on two occasions, he showed why he’s called “Logo Lillard” when he made two half-court jump shots, one in the third and another in the fourth.
“The first one, I was super, super loose,” he said. “Then the last one, I was actually kind of stiff. So I just had to shoot it a little bit higher. I got two of them in.”
This wasn’t the most exciting or competitive All-Star game, but the shooting was amazing, and leading the way was Lillard.
Leave a Reply