Kevin Durant scored 36 points as Team West held on to beat Team East 152-149 in the 61st NBA All-Star game on a night when Kobe Bryant broke Michael Jordan’s career points record.
Durant, who was named most valuable player of the game, shot 14 of 25 from the field and finished with seven rebounds and three assists for the West at the Amway Center arena.
“This is a dream come true,” Durant said. “These guys fed me the ball. I am glad to be taking this trophy [MVP] back to Oklahoma City.”
Photo: AFP
“I am happy I got MVP. Everything has been fun this weekend. I am glad we came out on top,” Durant said.
The three-time all-star Durant got offensive support from teammates Blake Griffin, who had 22 points and eight rebounds, and Bryant who finished with 27 points to surpass Jordan for the most career all-star points.
Four-time all-star MVP Bryant vaulted past Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before getting the record-setting points. He passed Jordan’s previous mark of 262 points by finishing off a dunk in the third quarter.
Bryant was making his 14th straight all-star appearance, which tied him with Jerry West, Karl Malone and former Laker teammate Shaquille O’Neal for the most consecutive all-star berths in league history.
In last year’s showcase in Los Angeles, hometown hero Bryant scored 37 points in the West’s 148-143 win over the East at Staples Center arena.
Eight-time all-star LeBron James finished with 36 points, seven assists and six three pointers for the East, who rallied in the fourth to make a game of it on Sunday.
The West had a commanding 88-69 point lead at the half and led 124-112 at the end of the third but the East, behind the three-point shooting of James, who made six of eight attempts from beyond the arc, battled back.
Deron Williams and Dwyane Wade both missed three-point attempts in the final seconds that could have given the East a lead or sent the game into overtime.
“They beat us up all game and we wanted to make a game out of it,” James said of the late rally.
James was the MVP of the 2006 and 2008 all-star games and he was playing alongside Miami Heat teammate Wade, who was MVP in 2010. Wade finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the East.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite