NBA ALL-STAR GAME

LA rivals steal show, lift West

Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul had 20 points and 15 assists to earn MVP honors in the Western Conference’s 143-138 victory over the Eastern Conference on Sunday.
Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul had 20 points and 15 assists to earn MVP honors in the Western Conference’s 143-138 victory over the Eastern Conference on Sunday.

— Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Kobe Bryant turned this All-Star game into an L.A. story.

Paul had 20 points, 15 assists and won MVP honors, Bryant blocked LeBron James’ comeback attempt, and the Western Conference beat the East 143-138 on Sunday night.

Kevin Durant scored 30 points and Griffin finished with 19, joining his Clippers teammate, Paul, in creating “Lob City” deep in the heart of Texas.

“You just want to play fast. I like to throw the lob. I like to see guys hit threes,” Paul said. “When we’re out on the court with all that firepower, why wouldn’t you want to make passes? You’ve got [Durant] filling one of the lanes, you’ve got Blake, Kobe on the wing. There’s nothing like it.”

James scored 19 points on 7 of 18 from the field, but Bryant blocked two of his shots late. Carmelo Anthony led the East with 26 points and 12 rebounds.

“I think we played really good defense at the end of the game as a team,” Durant said. “Kobe was really going with the ball. It’s tough to stop LeBron, but he did his best. He was able to block a few ofhis shots. But [Paul] did a really good job of keeping us in the game.”

The game’s first dunk came 16 seconds in, with Paul throwing a pass to Griffin as part of the West’s 7-0 start. The West led after each of the first three quarters, though was never ahead by more than eight points through three periods.

They finally pushed it into double figures early in the fourth fueled by former Oklahoma City teammates Russell Westbrook and James Harden, but couldn’t put it away until a late run behind the guys from the city of Los Angeles - who along with Lakers center Dwight Howard gave Los Angeles all but one of the West’s starting spots.

Paul hit two three-pointers, Bryant made a layup, and his block of James led to Durant’s dunk that made it 136-126. Griffin had one last forceful dunk to help close it out, throwing a pass to himself off the backboard and climbing high in his neon green sneakers to slam it home and make it 142-134.

The Bryant-James duel down the stretch was a good one between the two players who are most often compared to Michael Jordan, who turned 50 on Sunday.

“It was all in good spirit, man. It was just two guys that love to compete, love to go at it. So I had a lot of fun,” James said.

Bryant finished with nine points and eight assists. Griffin shot 9 of 11 from the floor and didn’t miss until trying to violently throw one down from a few feet away from the basket.

Indiana’s Paul George scored 17 and Kyrie Irving had 15 for the East.

Not everybody had it so easy. Chris Bosh shot two air balls in the first quarter and was booed, tossed up another in the second, and had Tony Parker dribble the ball through his legs on defense. He was even pulled down the stretch by his own coach, Erik Spoelstra, right after Bryant blew right by him for a layup.

Bosh finished 3 of 9. Wade had 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting, the best performance of the three Heat players in the starting lineup.

Two of Houston’s biggest basketball stars, Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming, who was honored after the first quarter, and Olympic gold medalists Usain Bolt and Gabby Douglas were among the athletes there to watch.

Players wore warmup jackets with patches commemorating their individual and team career accolades during a lengthy pregame that included a performance by recording artist Ne-Yo. They actually warmed up twice, needing to get loose again after watching and being introduced during the elaborate show.

The game capped a weekend of change in Texas, where David Stern presided over his final All-Star game as commissioner and players’ association executive director Billy Hunter was voted out of office - a result he seems likely to contest.

Boston’s Kevin Garnett said before coming to Houston he thought his 15th All-Star selection would be his last, and turned it over to the young guys early.

He played only six minutes of the first half before calling it a night.

Sports, Pages 17 on 02/18/2013

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