Curry 'from a different planet'

LOS ANGELES • Somebody forgot to tell Stephen Curry that the three-point contest was on Saturday as the Golden State Warriors superstar put on a shooting clinic to lead Team LeBron to victory in the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game on Sunday.

LeBron James sank the game-winning basket as his side edged Team Durant 163-160, giving him his fifth straight All-Star win as captain.

But Curry was the brightest shooting star, winning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award with a 50-point showing that included a record 16 threes in front of a crowd of 19,400 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

The All-Star Game was preceded by the three-point shooting contest on Saturday, a competition Curry won in Chicago last year. Karl-Anthony Towns won this year's contest, which Curry did not enter.

The Warriors point guard finished just two shy of Anthony Davis' single-game scoring record of 52 points but shattered Paul George's previous mark of nine threes in 2016.

"I tried, I tried," said Curry of flirting with the single-game scoring record, set by Los Angeles Lakers' Davis in 2017. "When I get going, the energy picks up. It is pretty special being back in Ohio.

"This trophy has a very special meaning, honouring Kobe and Gigi, and everyone that was lost two years ago, so (I'm) very humbled," the 33-year-old added, referring to the MVP trophy named after Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who died with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash on Jan 26, 2020.

Curry - who like James is a native of Akron, Ohio - was booed during the introductions because of the three titles he won over the Cleveland Cavaliers with the Warriors.

But he received nothing but praise from James.

Said the 37-year-old Lakers star: "This guy is from a different planet. He literally has an automatic sniper connected to his arm, and when he lets it go, not only himself, but everybody on the floor, in the stands, on TV, on their phones, whatever you are watching on, you think it's going in every time...

"To be out there and watch that kid from Akron as well shoot the ball the way he shot it, it was unbelievable. It was pretty cool."

Last season's NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Curry's teammate for the night added: "When you see a guy like Steph knocking down shots like that, you don't want to lose the game."

Despite Curry's heroics, it was James who sealed the triumph as he nailed the winning shot with a fadeaway jumper to elevate his team to the target score of 163.

"It's crazy that the game-winning shot was a fadeaway and it was inspired by MJ (Michael Jordan)," James said. "I didn't want to waste that opportunity because we aren't in the same building a lot."

He was playing in his 18th All-Star game, which ties him with Bryant and moves him one shy of the record held by Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

James was one of two captains, the other being injured Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant, who did not attend the game because of the death of his grandmother earlier on Sunday.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE