MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NY — This is a continuation of the first quarter recap of the 64th NBA All-Star Game (#NBAAllStarNYC). The Golden State Warriors‘ Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson started the game and Curry tallied 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists while Thompson missed all 4 of his shots, but still tallied 3 assists.
2ND QUARTER: Steph Gets Dirk An Alley-Oop
Curry and Thompson sat on the bench as the West grew their lead to 71-51. Russell Westbrook tallied 23 points in eight-and-a-half minutes to spark the momentum. With 5:38 remaining in the first half, the #SplashBrothers returned to action with James Harden, Dirk Nowitzki and DeMarcus Cousins.
The East had all five of their starters back in.
Curry immediately missed a right elbow three, then Thompson also missed, this time from the right corner after hesitating on the shot and LeBron James lurking, conceding the jumper but maintaining a posture as if he could jump out at Klay like a cat.
However, Steph got the offensive rebound, his team-leading sixth of the game — Pau Gasol led the game with seven — and, as Klay cut from the baseline on which he just missed, Steph’s between-the-legs pass hit an East player’s leg and it was a turnover.
Thompson later recorded an easy assist in the midst of the game’s porous defense, with DeMarcus Cousins converting on the fastbreak layup to make it 73-61, West, with 4:33 to go in the half.
Klay still couldn’t get anything going, missing yet another three-pointer from the left elbow after getting the offensive rebound of a Curry one-legged three-point attempt, after Curry had gotten a steal. Curry added an assist, alley-ooping to Nowitzki.
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But Thompson finally got on the statboard as he dribbled around the non-chalant James for a layup to make it 77-66, West, with 2:58 to play in the half.
Curry was at times sloppy with the ball-handling, adding another one after Dirk inbounded the ball and Steph turned around to see John Wall right there ready to defend him in the backcourt.
Klay would miss again from the right elbow, wide-open on a swing pass from James Harden, but Curry was there once again for his 7th rebound of the game. On his tippy-toes, he tapped the ball a couple times and quickly laid it in before the defense could react.
Curry later tried yet another one-legged shot, no good, and committed his game-leading 5th turnover while trying to throw a fly pass early on the basket-made inbound and Harden the receiver, intercepted by James without too much effort.
Meanwhile, the East climbed back from as much as a twenty-point deficit, ending the second quarter on a 10-2 run, to close to just a West lead of 83-82. Westbrook led all scorers with 27 points, but Curry had a nice stat-line and was toying with a potential triple-double: 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists. Thompson scored just 2 points, but also added 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
Curry needed 6 assists and 3 rebounds to join Michael Jordan as the only players to ever notch a triple-double in the All-Star Game.
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