Greek Freak Wins Kobe Bryant MVP AwardPhoto: Special to the NY Beacon

 By Derrel Jazz Johnson 

In Atlanta, Team LeBron James dominated Team Kevin Durant 170-150 in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game. Giannis Antetokounmpo leading all scorers with 35 points, good enough to earn him the Kia Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player Award. “Obviously, I’m extremely happy at just having the award with the name of Kobe Bryant in my house,” he said after the game. “It’s a great feeling. I wanted to win the one last year really bad and I had a chance to win because I felt like I wanted to have the trophy in my house. This year I wasn’t even thinking about winning it, I was just thinking about having fun, and I had the opportunity to play well. My team played great and I was able to just win it and to have the trophy with the name of Kobe Bryant, it’s amazing, and I know he would be happy. Yeah, I know he’d be happy.” 

Kyrie Irving led the local teams with 24 points, while James Harden added 21, and Julius Randle 4 points, all for the losing team. But instead of talking about the game, Irving wanted to talk about the charitable efforts of the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, which raised millions of dollars for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). “I’m just grateful to be able to be on this platform to share it with the HBCU colleges,” Irving said. “A lot of my brothers and sisters, a lot of my relatives out here — and I don’t take that for granted. So, a lot more work to be done in the community to shed light on the HCBUs and a lot of the students, a lot of our younger generation that will eventually be the leaders of our world. They start in places like HBCUs. We’ve just got to continue to stay the path, stay committed to the work. That’s most important. Then the kids will — they’ll follow up for us. Just keep on giving them support. So, it’s pretty cool.” 

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Harden was asked about the addition of Blake Griffin to the Brooklyn Nets. “I’m sure (Blake Griffin) wants to win,” Harden surmised. “If he passed up more money to obviously stay in Detroit, he wants to win, and he wants to have an opportunity to play meaningful minutes. I’m assuming that’s one of the reasons why he came. Obviously, we know the athletic and high-jumping Blake, but I think as of these last couple of years, he’s knocking down the three-ball a little bit better, ball-handling is a lot better, and he can be a great contribution to this team. 

Though Obi Toppin was the runner-up in the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest, which took place at halftime, (Anfernee Simons of Portland won), the experience was a memorable one for the New York Knicks rookie. “I always said LeBron was one guy that if I saw him, I’m going to be like, wow,” Toppin expressed. “As soon as I saw (LeBron James), he looked at me, came up to me and he was like, ‘What’s up, Obi?’ I was like, ‘dang, you know my name?’ That whole experience was good. But obviously everybody, every player who’s here is a great player. They got here for a reason. Just being here with all these guys is amazing.” 

Domantis Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers won the Taco Bell Skills Contest and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors won the Mountain Dew Three-Point Contest, nailing the final money ball to earn the victory. Though the COVID-19 Pandemic forced the entire All-Star experience into one day, it was still quite enjoyable. Hopefully, things will be back to normal when the 2022 NBA All-Star Game hits Cleveland.