Filed under: Clippers, Lakers, NBA All-Star Game
LOS ANGELES -- It was clear early in the 2011 NBA All-Star Game that Kobe Bryant was looking to make sure that no one else would come into his home building and steal the show. Not only was it clear to the fans, but the players noticed, too.
"You could tell he started out from the start -- he wanted the MVP," Amar'e Stoudemire said afterward. "He was not passing the ball, at all."
Bryant opened the game with 11 first-quarter points, and ended up with 37 and 14 rebounds as his Western Conference squad pulled out a 148-143 victory over the East. The performance earned him MVP honors, which marked the fourth time in his career that Bryant has taken home the game's trophy.
Bryant tried to deny that he might have been gunning for the MVP.
"No, not really," Bryant said, when asked if that might have been the case. "I really wanted to come out and play hard, though. I feel like we have a sense of responsibility and we are voted in for what we do during the season, which is play hard ... (The fans) want to see us go at it and see us compete and that's what I try to do and that's what I try to tell my teammates to do."
The fact that Bryant chose to take the scoring into his own hands wasn't surprising -- that is, after all, how he plays the game. But his aggressiveness in attacking the rim was certainly something different, and his multiple slam dunks -- including one where he narrowly avoided a chase-down block from LeBron James -- were certainly a pleasant surprise.
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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2011/02/21/kobe-bryant-wins-2011-nba-all-star-game-mvp/
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