NBA All-Star Game 2022: Stephen Curry Wins MVP as Team LeBron Beats Team Durant

The Team LeBron dynasty continues.

Team LeBron defeated Team Durant 163-160 in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. LeBron James is now 5-0 as a captain in the All-Star Game since the format changed to two captains selecting their teams from a player pool.

The King can thank Stephen Curry for the latest victory, as the Golden State Warriors guard put on an absolute show on the way to 50 points behind 16 made three-pointers for the game's MVP.

Still, it was LeBron who fittingly hit the game-winning shot.

James' team defeated Kevin Durant's squad last year as well. The King also has two victories over Giannis Antetokounmpo and one win over Curry in previous editions of the All-Star Game when the Milwaukee Bucks and Warriors stars were captains.

---

Notable Player Stats

• Stephen Curry, Team LeBron: 50 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 2 BLK, 16-of-27 3PT
• Giannis Antetokounmpo, Team LeBron: 30 PTS, 12 REB, 6 AST, 3 STL
• LeBron James, Team LeBron: 24 PTS, 8 AST, 6 REB, 3 STL
• Joel Embiid, Team Durant: 36 PTS, 10 REB, 4 AST
• Devin Booker, Team Durant: 20 PTS, 5 REB, 4 STL, 2 AST

---

The teams were playing for more than just bragging rights with Team LeBron suiting up for the Kent State I Promise Scholars Program and Team Durant playing for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.

Each of the first three quarters started with a 0-0 score, and the winner of that quarter earned $100,000 for its organization. The winning team also earned an additional $150,000 on top of the $150,000 that went to each organization at the start of the game.

The fourth quarter was different, though, with the game clock turned off and a final target score of 24 points more than the leading team's cumulative score to honor Kobe Bryant. Whichever team reached the target score was the game-winner.

LeBron's side earned the first $100,000 with a 47-45 victory in the first quarter behind a combination of Curry three-pointers, Giannis dunks, Nikola Jokic assists and Luka Doncic triples.

It was enough to outlast Joel Embiid pouring in the points, a 360 dunk from Zach LaVine, a monster jam from Ja Morant and Devin Booker getting into the lane for Team Durant.

The pressure was on Team Durant to win for charity in the second quarter, and that task got all the more difficult when Curry caught fire. He was draining shots from well beyond the arc and even drilled four in a row at one point on his way to six triples in the quarter alone and a record eight three-pointers in the half.

Darius Garland also got hot in front of the home fans, but Team Durant responded with Booker going to work, Morant flying through the air, LaMelo Ball doing a little bit of everything, Trae Young dishing out assists and Embiid maintaining the momentum on the way to a 49-46 second-quarter win.

From there, the long NBA 75th Anniversary Team celebration at halftime did nothing to cool off Curry.

The Warriors star went into takeover mode in the third quarter with rainbow three after rainbow three. He even attempted a half-court shot as the ultimate heat check after setting the NBA record for triples in a single All-Star Game.

Yet Embiid carried Team Durant for extended stretches during the third quarter to weather the Curry storm. Throw in some late plays from Ball, and Team Durant earned a tie and split the charity money in the quarter even with Curry and Antetokounmpo dominating.

A tie also meant Team Durant was ahead by a single point heading to the fourth quarter and the Elam Ending with the target score of 163. The intensity was immediately dialed up as Curry continued to launch from deep, Antetokounmpo swatted Bucks teammate Khris Middleton and Embiid started to enforce his will on the low blocks.

Curry actually went cold for a stretch, but DeMar DeRozan hit a mid-range jumper to pull within two points of the target score.

From there, LaVine dunked and hit a three to make it 161-160, but James did what he's done so many times in Cleveland and hit the biggest shot of the game to win it.