2013 NBA All-Star Game: led by Kevin Durant and Chris Paul, West wins, 143-138

Box Score

In the 2013 NBA All-Star Game, the West defeated the East, 143-138. The West was led by the game's MVP Chris Paul, who played the kind of game that an MVP is supposed to. Either the MVP should be scoring a lot more points than everybody else, or he should be the one setting everyone else up for all those points. Paul in fact did both - he scored 20 points, handed out 15 assists, and 'lob city' was in full effect for the duration.

The Thunder's duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both played well. Durant finished with a game-high 30 points on 13-24 shooting, in a game that was reminiscent of Team USA. Durant further solidified the claim that he is the best scorer on the planet. The West was helped out by Russell Westbrook off the bench, who played his normal super-aggressive style of basketball and finished with 14 points on 7-13 shooting, including 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

Houston hometown hero and first time All-Star James Harden acquitted himself well, scoring 15 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He and Westbrook keyed a good 3rd quarter surge that gave the West a momentary 10 point lead, 119-109. The run was punctuated by the image at the top of this post, where Westbrook set up Harden for a 3-pointer and then the duo, teammates for 3 years but now conference rivals, did the triple-drag together, forcing Thunder fans to painfully reminisce of what once was and what might have been in an alternate NBA reality.

From there on out, Durant helped keep the West at arm's length from the East. Coupled with some clutch CP3 play and some surprising defense from old man Kobe, the West held on for the competitive win.

Kobe's teammates' reaction to the reigning champ getting stuffed: