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Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — It was Dame time all NBA All-Star Weekend long.
The Milwaukee Bucks‘ Damian Lillard was named the Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP on Sunday after scoring 39 points with 11 3-pointers to lead the Eastern Conference to a 211-186 win over the West.
He joined Michael Jordan in 1988 as the only other player in league history to win a Saturday night event and be named MVP in the same All-Star Weekend.
Lillard won the 3-point contest, edging the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ Karl-Anthony Towns and the Atlanta Hawks‘ Trae Young in the final round. Jordan won the dunk contest in 1988.
“Anytime you’re mentioned in the same category as Mike, it’s an honor and a major accomplishment,” Lillard said. “Even if it’s All-Star Weekend, because if it was that simple, more people would’ve done it since 1988, so that’s a major accomplishment for me to be mentioned in the same conversation as far as that.
“I did come into the weekend — I knew I was doing the 3-point, and I came to win. I didn’t come to be casual and be cool about it … I’m gonna come into the All-Star Game, my first start, I’m gonna be on the floor a lot, and I’m a vet in this game at this point, so why not try to go get an MVP since I’ve been here enough. … I would just say it was just something that I put my mind on, and that’s what my intentions were this weekend, and I was able to do it.”
Lillard, in his first season with the Bucks, became the fifth player to win All-Star Game MVP in his first season with a new team, excluding rookies.
He also became the 20th player to win All-Star MVP while playing for his coach during that season; Milwaukee’s Doc Rivers coached the East team, which put up the most points in the game’s 73-year history. The previous mark: 196 by the West in 2016.
Lillard said the East wanted the record.
“I saw a couple go in and after that it was just like, ‘I’m going after it.’ That was it.”
Damian Lillard
“Everybody was asking what the record was,” Lillard said. “We found out and went after it.”
And Lillard ended it in style — a 44-footer to close the scoring.
The Phoenix Suns‘ Kevin Durant said he was watching Lillard from the West bench while sitting with the LA Clippers‘ Kawhi Leonard. “We were in awe,” Durant said.
“You just gotta keep shooting the ball. In a game like this, you know it’s gonna be pretty loose, you gonna get your opportunities,” Lillard said. “Being in the starting lineup, I knew I’d play longer stretches, get more minutes, and I just told myself I’m gonna be aggressive and I’m gonna keep firing.
“I saw a couple go in and after that it was just like, ‘I’m going after it.’ That was it.”
The Boston Celtics‘ Jaylen Brown had 36 points for the East, while Tyrese Haliburton from the hometown Indiana Pacers finished with 32. Lillard’s MVP announcement was met with boos from the Indianapolis crowd, who wanted to see Haliburton take home the trophy.
“I was just going to keep shooting until I missed … just having fun, playing basketball,” Haliburton said. “I didn’t know how many minutes I was going to play, didn’t know how my leg would feel, but I felt good today, even after the one-legged dunk, so that’s positive for me.
“It wasn’t high intensity at all, but it feels good that I felt good and hopefully I can continue that moving forward.”
Towns scored 50 points for the West in just 28 minutes. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder scored 31 points for the West.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.