TORONTO – It was a gruesome injury witnessed by the basketball world when Indiana’s Paul George did hideous damage to his right leg with Team USA in the summer of 2014. It cost him most of last season.
But he is as good as ever. And he came within one point of All-Star history Sunday. George scored 41 points, one shy of Wilt Chamberlain’s 1962 All-Star Game record. So George settled for the All-Star Game record of nine 3-pointers.
“It’s really special. You know, I had a hard-fought summer, hard-fought rehab year. It was just a very upward climb. It took every day and really every moment of rehab to get through it,” George said. “There were a lot of days where I felt like I was down and out, but just stayed with it.
“For me to be here just being back as an All-Star was special. But to be able to put on a show and have fun and enjoy this moment, get back to playing how I played pre-injury is special. I’ve just been blessed. I’m very thankful and very grateful,” said George, who shot 16-of-26 overall and 9-of-19 on 3s.
Warning flags may have gone up throughout the NBA this weekend.
The Rising Stars Game MVP was Zach LaVine of Minnesota while another young star, Andrew Wiggins of Minnesota, enjoyed a monster game. LaVine also defended his dunk title. And the skills competition surprisingly was won by a big man, Karl-Anthony Towns of Minnesota.
Have you spotted a trend yet?
“Timberwolves were well-represented. Shows where we’re going,” LaVine said.
The Knicks will get to see all of this firsthand Saturday when they journey to play in Minnesota.
“We’ve got some of the best future talent in the world. For us to be together on the same team is a blessing,” Towns said.
As Towns said, the Timberwolves’ future is “amazingly bright.” And part of that future is being shaped by an old guy who knows all about being a young star in the league and what it takes to win: Kevin Garnett.
“Just how to be a professional in this game on and off the court. Just to do my best to lead, and that’s the biggest thing,” Towns said, explaining the lessons he has learned from Garnett. “He teaches all of us how to lead and I want to be a leader for this team. So I’m trying to learn as many steps as I can, because you never know how many days Kevin has left to play.”
Minnesota may be the team of the future, but the team of the present remains the Warriors. And the defending champs are gearing up for a season that goes a long way. They learned a lot of that last season.
“Not only is it about staying physically fresh, you’ve got to stay mentally fresh,” said Klay Thompson, who beat Steph Curry in the 3-point contest. “You’ve got to keep that hunger and edge. We plan on playing for a long time, all the way until June. It’s a long season, especially coming off the run we had last year.
“You’ve got to put off all the fun to the offseason. You’ve just got to focus on the task at hand, and that’s trying to win another trophy. You can’t do it on your own. You have to depend a lot on your teammates, and that’s why we have the depth we do.”
And that depth can scare the stuffings out of opponents.
“They’re a great team. Everybody can make shots, 1-through-15. Their second unit can kill you. Their first unit definitely can,” said Wizards All-Star John Wall. “It’s a team that just plays so freely and with flow.”
Kobe Bryant played in his 15th All-Star Game, tied with Tim Duncan for second most all time. … Bryant recorded one steal to break a first-place tie with Michael Jordan for most steals in All-Star Game history. Bryant has 38 steals and Jordan has 37.
LeBron James (13 points) passed Bryant (10 points) to become the all-time scoring leader in All-Star Game history. James has 291 points and Bryant has 290. James was asked what it meant to him.
“It absolutely means nothing,” James said.