AIR CANADA CENTRE, TORONTO, ON — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the 65th NBA All-Star Game, where three Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, represented the Western Conference All-Stars.
The East took a 92-90 halftime lead.
3rd Quarter – Steph Gets Another Jam
Curry started the second half on a good note, hitting a three from the left wing as Dwyane Wade got hung up with Kyle Lowry, leaving Steph open.
Curry added a razzle-dazzle behind-the-back lefty pass from the left high pinch to Kawhi Leonard on the right wing, but Leonard missed the trey attempt.
AFter a Paul George three, giving him a game-high 21 points, Curry pulled up from 30 feet over Lowry and drained the deep triple, using a reverse-between-the-legs dribble:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
The Chef got a heat-check as George missed another attempt from downtown, Curry got his fourth rebound, then crossed halfcourt and launched from about 35 feet again, but the shot went in and out. George answered with another three of his own.
Curry’s next three was an unorthodox launch from the right corner that started as a save from Russell Westbrook’s missed three-pointer from going out of bounds, but Steph airballed it and the ball caromed off an Eastern player, the West to inbound from the baseline.
Kevin Durant got the inbound, found Curry on the right wing and, with the lane wide open, Steph stepped to the baseline and got another jam to make it 113-102, West:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Westbrook made three more threes, made his trademark gunslinger gesture, and East head coach Tyronne Lue called a timeout as the West pulled out to a 118-102 lead with 7:51 to go. Westbrook had 19 points to Curry’s 17, but George led all scorers with 24.
After the timeout, George hit another three, his seventh of the night on 13 tries, then got a dunk and West head coach Gregg Popovich called timeout with 5:37 remaining and the West now leading just 123-115.
Popovich inserted his second team consisting of Chris Paul, Klay Thompson, James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Anthony Davis.
Thompson had a left corner three go in and out, then got a putback of a missed trey by Chris Paul blocked out of bounds by Al Horford.
Horford made a bucket at the buzzer and the West maintained a 145-136 lead after the third period.
4th Quarter – Splash Brothers Hit 5 Threes
Klay started the fourth frame on a high note, drilling a catch-and-shoot (Paul’s 14th assist), but Thompson had his next three roll out then, after Green checked in with 10:47 to play, Pau Gasol scored an easy layup, Paul inbounded quickly and found Klay from the right top open in transition for his third triple on nine tries.
Green missed a pop-out-on-screen three from the top, enabled by DeMarcus Cousins’ screen, but Curry checked back in with 7:34 remaining for Paul, as Popovich gave a nod to Golden State and put all three Warriors on the floor together.
On the inbound, Steph upfaked Isaiah Thomas, side-stepped backwards for a triple from the right wing, and the West had a 166-145 lead.
Green caught a lob from Cousins and scored next to a non-defending Andre Drummond, giving Green 4 points on 2-for-6 field to go along with 5 rebounds and zero assists.
Curry dished out his fifth assist to Harden on the right wing for three, then at the next timeout with the West up, 173-151 and 5:39 left, Popovich re-inserted the starters.
Klay finished with 9 points on 3-for-11 field, 3-for-10 downtown, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Curry had two deep missed threes sandwiched around an open right triple, but Westbrook continued to add to his massive totals with another three to give him 28 points on 11-for-20 field and 6-for-15 downtown.
Kobe checked out with 1:06 remaining after hugging all of the players, the crowd was on its feet and a “Kobe” chant was started.
Draymond Green checked in to guard George who had 41 points – just 1 point shy of the All Star Game record that is held by Wilt. Gregg Popovich was at it again.
In the final minute, Curry had this magnificent pass to Westbrook who hit the three…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…then with 5 seconds left in the game, Stephen Curry shot from half court and of course, he splashed it in. The West ran out victors by 22 points.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Final Score: 196-173 Western Conference
Westbrook won the MVP to go back-to-back.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
