Looking to make it four straight and five of the last six over their Eastern foes, the Western Conference All-Stars head into the 2014 NBA All-Star Game feeling extremely confident about winning the usually high-scoring exhibition event. Earning a 143-138 victory last season at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Kevin Durant and the West hope to hold down an East roster that features loads of talent, including two-time All-Star MVP LeBron James. Durant is having the best season of his career in 2014, averaging over 31 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists per clip while guiding the Oklahoma City Thunder to a league best 43-12.
Though winning a championship is obviously the primary goal of the former University of Texas standout, Durant said recently that winning his first NBA MVP would be a true honor. “It would mean a lot,” said Durant when asked about the idea of claiming top honor among the league's best players. “I mean, you can't never – MVP in this league – you can't ever downgrade that. Whoever you are, no matter how many you've won, you can't downgrade that. Of course, the ultimate prize is to win the championship But as far as the regular-season accolades, I think it's right up there at the top. It would be cool, but its out of my control. The only thing I can control is how I play and everything else out there, that'll fall in line.”
Set to take place on Sunday, February 16 in New Orleans, the 2014 NBA All-Star Game will serve as another competitive contest, even if it is just an 'exhibition' game. Though he remains one of the premier scorers in the league, New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony said recently that it will surely be fun to watch LeBron James and Kevin Durant clash at this year's event because the two possess the best individual talent in the NBA. “As far as Durant, he's a hell of a scorer, great scorer, gets better every year in all facets of his game,” Anthony, who is currently second in scoring, said earlier this week.
“Never seen somebody his height shoot the ball the way he's capable of shooting the ball,” he continued. “Then you look on the flip side with LeBron, you have somebody who's so powerful and athletic, can do so many things, can change a game in so many different ways throughout the course of a game. So going against those two guys, it's a totally different mindset, game plan, focus that you have have to have because it's coming at you from a lot of different ways.”
2014 NBA All-Star Game: DATE, TIME & VIEWING INFO
DATE: Sunday, February 16
TIME: 8:00pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: TNT
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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