LOS ANGELES -- As LeBron James fielded questions from the press corps at Staples Center on Sunday night, he was asked about his favorite moments from All-Star weekend.The Miami star answered by talking about charity, describing how richly he was rewarded for taking part in a number of good-will efforts in the days leading up to the game itself. Yet after the West had won 148-143, it was the MVP voters who had been in the giving spirit. At James' expense.
Despite his triple-double (29 points on 10-of-18 shooting, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists), James lost out to the Lakers' hometown hero, Kobe Bryant (37 points on 14-of-26 shooting, 14 rebounds and three assists) for the game's top award. The voting is done with media members accounting for nine votes and the fan votes accounting for three more. The triple-double was only the second in All-Star game history -- and the first since Michael Jordan turned the trick in 1997.
"I just tried to showcase my talent on both ends of the floor -- defending, rebounding, scoring," James said. "We came up short. And you know for me, I'm all about winning, so (I'm) just a little disappointed in our game. Disappointed that we didn't win."
James hasn't been disappointing in the games that count, though, and he is in prime position to capture a third straight MVP honor with the way the Heat have turned their season around. After the 9-8 start that sparked so many doom and gloom predictions from South Beach and beyond, Miami has won 32 of 39 games and is currently tied with Boston for the Eastern Conference lead.
Yet James, whose Heat play at Sacramento on Tuesday, isn't content because of a recent stretch in which the Heat have gone 11-6 leading into the break.
"For the last third of the season, we have to understand that we cannot afford to take a step backwards and we have to keep moving forward," James said. "We have to continue to get better, because there are teams out there that's better than us right now."
All-Star MVP voting aside, however, no one was better than him on this Staples Center stage.
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