The Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference in the 2013 NBA All-Star Game. The West has now won the last three editions and even with superstar LeBron James in their arsenal, the East couldn't quite recover for this one.
The All-Star MVP Award deservedly went to the Clippers' Chris Paul, who had an excellent all-round game of 20 points, 15 assists and 4 steals. He was also involved in the majority of the West's standout plays, and found his Clippers team-mate Blake Griffin for repeated highlight dunks.
Chris Bosh will probably be the only NBA All-Star in history to fire up three air-balls and get nut-megged twice, in a disastrous All-Star Game for him. Of the seven first-time All-Stars, the Pacers' Paul George and home man James Harden caught the eye. Especially enticing was second-time All-Star Kyrie Irving, who followed up his hot form of the previous two days with another impressive outing, showing his speed and three-point shooting ability.
This certainly wasn't the best or most exciting All-Star Game in history; it would take a helluva lot to trump the 1990 classic (David Robinson & Reggie Miller's first All-Star Game) and 1987 overtime thrilla (when Tom Chambers ruled the house). I thought the play overall could have been more competitive and even in the fourth quarter, it didn't get much dreamatic as the West always seemed to stay one step ahead of their Eastern counterparts.
Perhaps the most interesting story of the night was the Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James show, which took place deep into the 4th quarter. With the two matching up against each other, Bryant seemed to take particular intensity in stopping James and managed to do so for the most part, even blocking two of James' shots (now when have you ever seen James getting blocked). There was some trash-talkin' going on and birthday boy Michael Jordan's recent comments about comparing the two may well have been the catalyst for this particular contest.
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