LeBron James wins All-Star Game MVP after topping Team Stephen, 148-145, in competitive matchup

LOS ANGELES – This time, there wasn’t a player lying on the court instead of defending. There weren’t as many open lanes for a free-for-all dunk-fest as last year’s debacle.

In a lot of ways, Sunday’s 148-145 victory for Team LeBron was still a loosey-goosey All-Star exhibition. But it was competitive in the second half – especially down the stretch – and ended when DeMar DeRozan couldn’t get off a potential tying 3-pointer because of a swarming defense.

LeBron James won his third All-Star MVP after scoring 29 points with nine rebounds and eight assists. He also hit the go-ahead bucket with 35 seconds remaining, coincidentally off an assist from former Cavs teammate Kyrie Irving.

James led all scorers and DeRozan paced Team Stephen 21 points.

The lack of competitiveness in 2017 – when the East and West combined for 374 points – prompted the league and the players union to make some changes and add an incentive of $100,000 for each winning player. Losing players get $25,000 each. In addition, the winning team gets $350,000 donated to the charity of the captain’s choice – $200,000 more than the loser.

Still, James dumped on the idea that the new format – which also included a draft to determine the rosters – created a greater desire to win.

“It’s more important that I get every one of my guys back healthy,” he told TNT during the second quarter. “We can get some good conditioning with this game.”

Steph Curry, who last year laid down on the court instead of trying to contest a dunk, furthered that notion Sunday when he was spotted on the bench eating popcorn.

But both the team captains ratcheted up the intensity in the final minutes, when the sides treated each possession like it was the regular season and LeBron celebrated the victory by leaping in the air.

Despite their very messy separation in Cleveland over the summer, James and Irving were teammates Sunday in the All-Star Game (by LeBron’s choice) and were acting real chummy in the lead-up to their first night on the same squad since the 2017 NBA Finals.

Everything went smoothly on the court as well, with James throwing his first pass of the night to Irving and the pair combining for 17 assists.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Irving said about being with James again.

James drafted Irving on his team as part of the new All-Star format despite knowing that point guard requested a trade from the Cavs because, among other reasons, he no longer wanted to play with James.

Irving was dealt to a conference rival – the Celtics – and apparently James isn’t harboring ill-will. It’s unclear when James picked Irving but it wasn’t his first choice because that was Durant.

“If (Irving) was available, I was taking him,” James said.

This could all be just posturing to diffuse any potential awkwardness, or maybe James, in particular, now realizes what he lost. The Cavs have already started four different point guards this season. Irving wanted out of Cleveland so badly he threatened to have knee surgery if he wasn’t traded, according to Cleveland.com.

Instead of fueling a rivalry, James turned nostalgic when asked to about being teammates with Irving again.

“Those thoughts still go into my head of how great it was to break the drought in our city, over 50-plus years,” James said. “The both of us had magical Finals runs, so it’s always special.”

James also drafted Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook – a pair that endured its own ugly divorce but were being friendly again in L.A.

It was a sharp contrast from a year earlier at the All-Star Game, when Durant and Westbrook weren’t on speaking terms and refusing to answer questions about their past. On Saturday, Durant blamed himself for creating the hostility.

“I feel like I just made (the drama with Westbrook) a thing when it shouldn’t have been,” Durant said Saturday. “It’s cool to kind of get past that and appreciate these guys for who they are, what they do. It’s all love at the end of the day.”

Westbrook, who was going for his third All-Star MVP in four years, acknowledged that he and Durant are now at least cordial. On Sunday, they were on the court together in a victory, like old times.

“I was telling some of the guys that this was, for me, myself, Russ, K.D., A.D. (Anthony Davis) and LeBron, it’s probably one of the best fives I’ve ever been on the court with,” Irving said.

“Just the talent is, wow, man. And you see how big of fans we are with one another and we’re all on the floor together, it’s pretty awesome.”