Westbrook slam the highlight of all-offence all-star game

Watch as Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combine to score at the NBA All-Star Game.

NEW ORLEANS — In one simple-yet-beautiful basketball play, a whole weekend of intrigue – hell, nearly a full year’s worth – was set aside for at least a moment.

All weekend long the question was when or if the cold war between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant would or could thaw under the warmth of the all-star spotlight. The former teammates had reportedly not spoken since Durant left Oklahoma City to sign with the Warriors as a free agent this past summer.

In two games between Golden State and the Thunder this year they hadn’t acknowledged each other aside from a brief on-court spat in their last meeting.

At various media availabilities here on Friday and Saturday they seemed to be very consciously pretending not to notice each other, like exes who met on the job manoeuvring around each other at work after the break-up.

And even on Sunday night, Western Conference head coach Steve Kerr only played the pair of former teammates together for just over a minute. But in their brief time together they were able to conjure up some magic as Westbrook fed Durant who in turn flipped it back to Westbrook for the alley-oop.

A timeout followed and the Western Conference bench erupted like a bunch of high school kids.

“The reaction was more entertaining than anything,” said Raptors all-star starter DeMar DeRozan, who was – in theory – guarding Durant on the play. “To watch their bench react. It was crazy. You could kind of see the monkey leave the room; the elephant leave the room. It was just fun. Everyone had fun with it.”

Well, everyone except Westbrook, who seems the grudge-nurturing type.

“Yeah, he threw a lob,” said Westbrook after the game. “That’s all that happened. Just threw a lob. It’s basketball. That’s it.”

Is it really basketball though?

The Western Conference won the game, 192-182. It was the highest scoring all-star game in history and that’s with each team shooting just 35 per cent from three, albeit on 122 attempts. Some better shooting from beyond the arc and the 200-point barrier would have been crossed.

Hometown hero Anthony Davis was the game’s MVP, blowing past Wilt Chamberlain’s all-star game scoring record of 42 with a 52-point night of his own. Chamberlain’s record had stood since 1962. Davis broke it by dunking 24 times, none of them contested.

“It was amazing. That’s what I wanted to do,” said Davis. “I stressed that, I think more than enough, to the guys in the locker-room before the game that I wanted to get the MVP for this crowd, for this city, and I ended up doing it. Them guys did a great job of just finding me, giving me the basketball. They wanted me to score 50. Every time, Kawhi [Leonard] was like ‘six more points.’ Or James [Harden] was like, ‘I’m going to pass you the ball.’

“Them guys did a great job allowing me to do this. I want to thank all of them. This definitely means a lot to me.”

The Raptors contingent acquitted themselves respectably. DeRozan relished being an all-star starter for the first time and scored 16 points while adding six assists.

His highlight?

“Probably just going out there and starting with everybody, being introduced as a starter,” he said. “Just being back here, that’s definitely the highlight.”

Lowry scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half. He’s headed to the Caribbean for a quick vacation but enjoyed his pit stop in New Orleans.

“I love being out there with the guys, West, East, everyone,” he said. “I love having the USA guys out here, it made it a lot more fun, a lot more down to earth. Having fun with Kemba [Walker] and Giannis [Antetokounmpo] having their first opportunity to play was great.

The question is how much fun is too much fun.

Events in New Orleans seem to suggest that the all-star game may never resemble anything that looks like basketball ever again.

At one point in the third quarter, Steph Curry was the last man back for the Western Conference and found himself as the final line of defence between his basket and an oncoming Antetokounmpo, who had just about put him in the basket on a put-back dunk moments earlier.

Rather than be a victim again Curry opted to lie down, face down, in the middle of the lane, as the Milwaukee Bucks star soared over him for a yet another dunk. Literally, defence was taken to a new low.

“I mean, I think that in the past, at least generally in the fourth quarter, guys have picked it up, that’s what I was expecting,” said Kerr. “It didn’t happen tonight. I would like to see it more competitive. I’m not sure how to do it. It’s up to the players really.

“As a coach in the all-star game, you ever seen that movie Weekend at Bernie’s? They might as well just bring a couple dead bodies on the sidelines. We’re not doing anything up there. Just prop us up.

“But I think it would be good. It would be good to possibly incentivize the guys somehow. I don’t know if you can maybe get their charities involved or winner-take-all type thing, but I think it’s possible to play a lot harder without taking a charge.

“We know what silly is out there, if you’re undercutting guys, but it’s almost gone too far the other way where there’s just no resistance at all. I think there’s a happy medium in there somewhere.”

Presumably, but New Orleans during Mardi Gras has never been a place for moderation.

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