Steph Curry put on a show in Cleveland, scoring 50 points in the All-Star game. The 3-time champion and top 75 player, was money from 3 point range and shot 16/27 3 pointers. He fell short of the All-Star scoring record of 52 but it was an amazing show nonetheless. The 7-time All-Star led team LeBron to victory and had help from LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo who both had 24 and 30 points respectively.
The All-Star MVP award is a bit special this year as the award has been renamed and remade in honour of the great Kobe Bean Bryant. The award is the first of its kind and will continue to be awarded to the All-Star MVP from this season onwards. The award has been designed with Kobe’s key accomplishments in mind and is a token of appreciation for all that the Black Mamba gave to the game.
The Kobe Bryant trophy is designed with Kobe’s NBA accomplishments in mind. The award has an eight-sided base for Kobe’s No.8 jersey and 18 stars around the trophy to celebrate his 18 All-Star selections. The base height of 2 inches is for the 2002 NBA All-Star MVP that Kobe won. The trophy has 4 levels as well.
Level 1 is 7 inches high for Kobe’s 2007 All-Star MVP award and has 24 stars for Kobe’s No.24 jersey. Level 2 has 10 stars in honour of the All-Star starters and Kobe’s USA basketball No.10 jersey. The level is 9 inches for Kobe’s 2009 All-Star MVP. Level 3 has 5 stars for Kobe’s 5 championships. The 11-inch height is for his 2011 All-Star MVP. The 4th and final level has a single star. The star is to symbolise Kobe’s 2007-2008 MVP award. The 2-inch height of the star is for the 2 Bill-Russell Finals MVPs that Kobe won.
Steph broke Paul George’s record for the most number of threes in an All-Star game (9) and had 16 3 pointers in the game. The 2 time MVP went ballistic and scored 24 points in the 1st quarter and 26 points in the 2nd half. He struggled to break the 52 point record for the most points in an All-Star game because Team Durant tightened up their defence in the 4th quarter, especially on Steph.
By the end of the 3rd quarter, it was a given that Steph was going to be the All-Star MVP. He had 45 points by the end of the quarter. Since players were miked up, there is footage of Steph asking what the scoring record was and he tried to get it but fell short by 2 points. After winning the award Steph told Ernie Johnson of TNT, ‘This trophy has a very special meaning, honouring Kobe and Gigi, everybody that was lost two years ago. I’m very humbled, very blessed and I really appreciate it.’.