2007 NBA All-Star Game

Result

MVP: Kobe Bryant

Box score

Bench (10+ points): Carmelo Anthony (20), Shawn Marion (18), Ray Allen (12), Amar'e Stoudemire (29)

Bench (10+ points): Dwight Howard (20), Joe Johnson (12)

Game context

The 2007 All-Star Game broke new ground geographically: played February 18 at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center, it was the first All-Star Game held in a city without an NBA franchise and the first staged on a college campus, a decision the league made to leverage Las Vegas's entertainment infrastructure even though wagering on the game's outcome was explicitly barred under Nevada law for the weekend. The West dominated from the outset, cruising to a lopsided 153-132 win while setting All-Star records for field goals (69) and assists (52) in the process, a testament to the up-tempo, pass-heavy style that had become the exhibition's norm. Kobe Bryant collected his third career All-Star MVP award with an all-around line of 31 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 steals, a performance that also moved him past Magic Johnson into 10th place on the event's all-time scoring list, one more marker in Bryant's steady accumulation of All-Star scoring records over the course of the decade. The West's supporting cast was equally productive: Amar'e Stoudemire added 29 points and 9 rebounds, while Carmelo Anthony chipped in 20 points and 9 rebounds, giving the conference a balanced, difficult-to-guard frontcourt rotation. For the East, LeBron James led with 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Dwight Howard, still just 21 years old, posted 20 points and 12 rebounds, but the East's effort was not enough to keep pace with a West team that simply had more firepower up and down its roster that year. Dirk Nowitzki made history of his own that weekend, becoming the first European-born player to start an NBA All-Star Game, a milestone that reflected the league's continuing internationalization in the years following the influx of stars like Nowitzki, Nash, Ginóbili, and Yao Ming earlier in the decade. Elsewhere on All-Star Saturday, David Lee turned in one of the most efficient shooting performances in Rookie Challenge history, scoring 30 points on a perfect 14-for-14 from the field, while Jason Kapono won the Three-Point Shootout with 24 points in the final round, tying a record set decades earlier by Mark Price. The Las Vegas experiment, despite the unusual venue and the absence of a local NBA fan base, was generally regarded as a successful showcase of the city's ability to host a major sports spectacle, though the league would not return the All-Star Game itself to a non-NBA city again in the years that followed, treating 2007 as something of a one-off geographic novelty within the broader run of East-West games.

Sources

• Basketball-Reference — NBA All-Star Game History
• Basketball-Reference — NBA & ABA All-Star Game MVP (Kobe Bryant Trophy)