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Tuesday 18 February 2020

Kawhi Leonard wins first Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP award

By ANDREW SELIGMAN ard to make his presence seven votes. LeBron James
CHICAGO (AP) — Kawhi felt. got three and Chicago
Leonard made it look ef- The Los Angeles Clippers product Anthony Davis
fortless, nailing one 3-point- star has two NBA finals MVP and Chris Paul received
er after another and nearly trophies after helping San one apiece.
matching an All-Star Game Antonio and Toronto win All that's missing for Leon-
record. championships. ard now is the league's reg-
The tough part came af- He was picked for his fourth ular season MVP award.
terward. Finding the right All-Star team and put on "My mindset is always just
words to express how he quite a display from the pe- to try to make my team the
felt after becoming the first rimeter, knocking down 8 best team at the end of the
Kobe Bryant MVP award of 14 3-pointers. regular season," Leonard
winner wasn't so easy. Had he made one more, said. "And if I'm fortunate
Leonard scored 30 points he would have matched enough to win a regular
and hit eight 3-pointers to Paul George's All-Star re- season MVP, then I'll be
lead Team LeBron to a 157- Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers holds up his NBA All- cord set in 2016. And he happy with it. I always just
155 victory over Team Gi- Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP Award after the NBA All-Star bas- appeared to be well on his want to win championships.
annis on Sunday night. ketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020, in Chicago. way to breaking it after a I'm not really concerned
He was presented the MVP Associated Press scorching start. with the personal goal. So I
trophy that the league re- Leonard hit one just sec- always want to play to win
named after Bryant on Sat- am for it. Able to put that delighted the home crowd onds into the game. He championships."
urday, three weeks after trophy in my room, in my by beating Dominique made all four 3s in the first Leonard could have
the Lakers great and his trophy room, and just be Wilkins in a classic slam quarter — the only shots he signed with the Lakers
13-year-old daughter Gi- able to see Kobe's name dunk contest and scoring took while scoring 12 points. and teamed with LeBron
anna were among the nine on there, it just means a lot 40 points to take MVP hon- Leonard was 7 of 10 in the James and Anthony Davis
people killed when their to me. He's a big inspiration ors in the game. first half, only to cool off a with Frank Vogel coaching
helicopter crashed near in my life. He did a lot for There were all sorts of trib- bit after that. He missed them after leading Toronto
Los Angeles. me." utes to Bryant, his daugh- a step-back 3 that could to the championship last
"It's very special," Leonard Bryant had a huge pres- ter and late NBA Commis- have won it with his team season. Instead, it was a
said. "Like I said, I had a re- ence over the first All-Star sioner Emeritus David Stern. up 154-153, but was the one-night-only affair, with
lationship with him. Words festivities in Chicago since But once the game started, runaway winner for the Vogel on the sideline for
can't explain how happy I 1988, when Michael Jordan it didn't take long for Leon- game's MVP honors with Team LeBron.q