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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Western 163, Eastern 158
When: 8:00 PM ET, Sunday, February 15, 2015
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Officials: #9 Derrick Stafford, #65 Sean Wright, #26 Pat Fraher
Attendance: 17198

Western 163, Eastern 158: Russell Westbrook scored 27 first-half points - an All-Star Game record - and finished with 41 to lead the Western Conference to a victory in the highest-scoring edition of the mid-season event at Madison Square Garden.

Westbrook, who was named MVP, was 16-of-28 from the floor and made 5-of-9 3-pointers while falling one point shy of Wilt Chamberlain's all-time record for the game. James Harden finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the West while Chris Paul had 12 points and 15 assists.

LeBron James scored 30 points to lead the East and moved into second place on the all-time scoring list in the All-Star Game. Kyle Korver had 21 points on seven 3-pointers - one shy of matching Carmelo Anthony's record - and John Wall finished with 19 points and seven assists for the East, which had nine players into double figures.

Korver's seventh 3-pointer with nine minutes to go put the East up 132-129, but Damian Lillard and Westbrook answered with triples of their own as part of an 8-0 burst and Tim Duncan's dunk with 6:43 left put the West on top 144-138. Kyrie Irving, the 2014 MVP, scored five straight points to create another deadlock before Harden was good from long range and Paul hit a pair of jumpers to give the West a 155-148 advantage with under three minutes to go.

Westbrook re-entered with 2:38 left and promptly buried another 3-pointer to make it 158-149 and Harden drilled another from beyond the arc with 1:23 left for a 161-153 advantage. Anthony answered with a 3 and the East got the ball back but missed three straight times from long distance before Pau Gasol's layup cut the deficit to three points with 2.8 seconds on the clock. Westbrook made a pair of free throws to ice it and become the third All-Star to eclipse the 40-point mark.

Harden had 13 points and Westbrook 12 in the first quarter to help offset 15 by James and guide the West to a 47-36 lead after one quarter, and Westbrook opened the second with three 3-pointers in a span of 31 seconds to make it a 20-point gap. First-time All-Star Jimmy Butler had three dunks in a short span to spark a comeback for the East, which got slams from Kyle Lowry and Gasol and a layup by James to pull within 79-72 late in the half.

Irving's 3-pointer with 24.9 seconds before halftime capped an 8-0 spurt by the East to cut the deficit to 83-82 and James' first basket of the third quarter - a reverse slam on an underhand feed from Lowry - gave his team its first lead since midway through the first. Westbrook hit his head on the backboard finishing an alley-oop late in the period and added two more slams in the next minute before three Atlanta Hawks scored in the final 61 seconds to forge a tie at 122 entering the fourth.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
Westbrook's 27 first-half points snapped the record of 24 shared by Glen Rice (1997) and Irving (2014). ... The first half featured 71 3-point attempts and two fouls between the two teams. ... PF LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 points, PG Stephen Curry had 15 and C DeMarcus Cousins 14 for the West, while Anthony and PG Jeff Teague had 14 apiece for the East. ... Los Angeles Lakers G Kobe Bryant, who made the West squad but is injured, remains atop the All-Star scoring leaderboard with 280 points - two ahead of James, who moved past Michael Jordan.
Top Game Performances
 
Western   Eastern
Russell Westbrook 41 Scoring LeBron James 30
Chris Paul 15 Assists Kyle Lowry 8
Marc Gasol 10 Rebounds Pau Gasol 12
Russell Westbrook 4 Free Throws Made LeBron James 4
Russell Westbrook 3 Steals Kyle Lowry 4
N/A Blocks Carmelo Anthony 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Western 163 48.9 25-65 8-9 42 70 0 14 22
Eastern 158 50.0 23-68 5-6 40 55 2 18 18