2014 nba all star game recap (Photo: Warriors.com Twitter account)
SMOOTHIE KING CENTER, NEW ORLEANS, LA — The Golden State Warriors‘ All-Star representative Stephen Curry struggled shooting all night long, going 4-for-14 from the field and just 2-for-11 from deep. Nonetheless, he still managed to record a double-double, garnering 12 points and 11 assists.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Check out our Sights & Sounds post from the All-Star Game!]Curry, although not his usual shooting self, was still effective. He was able to facilitate at a high level. However, there was a lack of touches, most notably late in the game when Chris Paul had Curry wide open on the wing on two possessions. Both ended up as turnovers for Paul.
For the West, Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin both had 38 points, just 4 points away from Wilt Chamberlain‘s All-Star Game record of 42.
For the other two West starters, Kevin Love had 13 points and 9 rebounds, while James Harden, the starting sub for the injured Kobe Bryant, had 8 points and 5 assists.
Paul led all bench players with 13 points and 11 assists. Not too far behind Paul was the host city’s representative, Anthony Davis, with 10 points in just 10 minutes of play.
Damian Lillard tallied 9 points in 9 minutes in his debut in the All-Star Game. Lastly, Dwight Howard had a very solid 13 minutes, scoring 8 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, to go along with 3 assists.
Now for the East, Kyrie Irving took home MVP with 31 points, 24 in the 2nd half, and 14 assists. Carmelo Anthony added in 30 while hitting 8 threes, which set an All Star Game record.
LeBron James came away with 22 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds. For the other two East starters, Paul George had 18/5/5 and Dwyane Wade 10 points in limited minutes.
Leading the way off the Eastern Conference bench, John Wall had 12 points to go along with 5 rebounds. Demar DeRozan, Joakim Noah, and Roy Hibbert all had 8 points off the bench.
Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group:
His status as a premier NBA star, which a Warriors player hasn’t been since Chris Mullin, is now official.
.
“I feel like I belong for sure,” Curry said after the East’s 163-155 victory. “To be out there and get up and down and compete with the best in the NBA, it kind of just put the stamp on that.”
.
Curry finished with 12 points and 11 assists in just shy of 28 minutes. His biggest impact came with his dribbling and passing, throwing lobs to Blake Griffin and weaving through the defense to set up easy shots. He drew his biggest reaction of the night with a crafty between-the-legs dribble to lose a defender.
.
But the skill that made him the second-highest vote-getter in the Western Conference wasn’t clicking. Curry followed up his disappointing first-round exit in Saturday’s Three-Point Shootout with another rough shooting performance Sunday.
.
He made 2 of 11 from 3-point range and missed 10 of his 14 shots in all.
.
“We were glad he went (2) for 11,” Indiana star Paul George said. “If he’d made two or three more of those, we might have lost.”
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle
After all of the talk about Stephen Curry’s sweet jump shot this week, the Warriors’ point guard decided to display a decidedly different talent in the highest-scoring All-Star Game in history.
.
The sharp-shooter had 11 assists in helping Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin score 38 apiece for the Western Conference, but it was all overshadowed by Carmelo Anthony’s record-setting eight three-pointers in the Eastern Conference’s 163-155 victory Sunday at the Smoothie King Center.
.
In the very week that President Barack Obama said Curry was the best shooter he has ever seen and Durant deemed the single-season three-point champion the best shooter in the world, Curry surprisingly missed nine of his first 10 shots from distance.
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
“It was fun, man, everything I’d hoped for and more,” Curry said. “There’s a lot of talent on that floor, a well put-together show, from start to finish. But, obviously, we didn’t win and I’d like to shoot the ball a little better.
.
“But, all in all, my first go-round, I felt pretty comfortable out there.”
……
Curry’s first basket came on a 3-pointer with 1:29 left in the half. Of the 23 players who scored – Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki was scoreless in eight minutes – Curry was the last to get on the board.
.
“When I started off the game 0-for-4, I wanted to get back out there and get some looks,” he said.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
