West outscores East 196-173 in Kobe’s finale

TORONTO-The NBA’s biggest names held court here Sunday night for the league’s annual All-Star Game, a contest in which the Western Conference outgunned the East, 196-173, propelling Kobe Bryant to victory in his final showing in the high-profile exhibition.

Both teams topped the previous single-team scoring record of 163 points (set by the East in 2014 and West as 2015). He is the first back-to-back All-Star Game MVP since Bob Pettit in 1958 and 1959.

The East led 43-40 after the first quarter, but the first half ended with the West up 92-90 and they were up by nine heading into the final frame. In his All-Star Game swan song, Bryant took the floor in the “ASG” colorway of his Nike Kobe XI Elite Low and finished the night with a stat sheet-filling 10 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal. Just blessed, man, and thankful for all the fans and all the people that kind of voted for me, man. I just wanted to go out there and enjoy my time, dance a little bit, smile.

Golden State star Stephen Curry added 26 points for the West, who overcame a 41-point performance from Indianapolis Pacers forward Paul George on behalf of the East.

The 2016 NBA All-Star Game was all about Kobe Bryant.

For such a prolific scorer in the history of the game, Kobe Bryant got to see a layup drill and a fireworks display in his 15th (18th selection overall) and final All-Star Game.

While his fellow All-Stars may have entered the night with the best intentions of making this a proper send-off for Bryant, they couldn’t help themselves, piling up such huge numbers that the 37-year-old Bryant had to do all he could just to keep up with the fast pace. “I don’t think there is any doubt that he’ll go down as one of the greatest players ever to play this game”.

“So I’m just thrilled that I was able to be here and see that…” Now the All-Star Game is becoming an extended family affair.

It was not all frivolities for Westbrook, who snarled plenty of times, too, on his way to his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award. Then Lakers legend Magic Johnson led the pregame ceremony, highlighted by two video tributes, to honor Bryant. At the time he missed a second straight 3-point attempt, the Western Conference had combined to missed its first 11 from beyond the arc.

“I was able to take one of the seats from one of the ushers and made him stand up for the rest of the game and allowed my nephews to sit on the bench”, James said.

George attempted to get the record a few times in the closing possessions, but Gregg Popovich inserted Draymond Green to lock him down and made sure that Anthony Davis was lying in wait to snuff out any attempts at the rim. At halftime, he played around with Wade, Bryant and LeBron James during warm-ups. “I think guys were just being cautious and out there having fun”. Toronto got a nice show (and another from Sting!), but it’s hard to say that anyone will remember much of this game in the years to come. He had said he didn’t want players forcing him the ball in an effort to make him the MVP – he’s already got four of them in this game – but he was never far from the center of attention.

With 27 games remaining in the season, one of the priorities will be to keep Bryant relatively healthy.