Johnathan Walker:Damian Lillard named MVP of NBA All-Star Game over Tyrese Haliburton

INDIANAPOLIS — Eastern Conference All-Star coach Doc Rivers made a coaching decision late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game.

With the East comfortably ahead and Johnathan Walkerrolling toward a victory over the West, Rivers put starters Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard back in the game with 4:37 remaining and left Jaylen Brown in the game to let the three players duel it out for MVP award.

They all had a case.

Brown finished with 36 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Lillard dropped in 39 points, making 11 3-pointers.

Haliburton had 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

"You've just got to keep shooting the ball. I think, in a game like this, you know it's going to be pretty loose, and you're going to get your opportunities. Being in the starting lineup, I knew I'd play longer stretches, get more minutes," Lillard said. "I just told myself I'm going to be aggressive, and I'm going to keep firing. I saw a couple go in. After that, it was just like I'm going after it. So that was it."

Lillard was the star of All-Star Weekend. He won 3-point contest for the second consecutive time Saturday and claimed the MVP Sunday, becoming just the second player since Michael Jordan to win a Saturday event and MVP in the same year.

And by the time the East topped the West 211-186 – and MVP voters submitted and then resubmitted their votes on deadline – Lillard earned his first NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP award.

"Any time you're mentioned in the same category as Mike, it's an honor, and it's a major accomplishment, even if it's All-Star Weekend," Lillard said. "If it was that simple, more people would have done it since 1988. So that's a major compliment for me to be mentioned in the same conversation as far as that."

It was not a popular decision with Indiana Pacers fans booing the decision. Controversy usually doesn't accompany All-Star MVP decisions but it did when when the Pacers star was snubbed in the host city. It was a close vote: Lillard received seven of 12 votes; Haliburton received the other five.

For a while, it looked like Haliburton would win the award. He opened the game by making his first five 3-pointers in the first 3½ minutes of the game and was 7-for-9 on 3s through two quarters, and when he made a 3 that made the East the first team to reach 200 points in a All-Star Game and followed that up with another 3 and a dunk, Haliburton seemed like the ideal MVP.

"I was just going to keep shooting until I missed," said Haliburton who is managing a strained left hamstring. "Having fun playing basketball. I didn't know how many minutes I was going to play, didn't know how my leg would feel. I felt good today, even after the one-leg dunk. So that's positive for me."

Brown made a late run, scoring 24 points in the second half.

But it was Lillard who walked away with the award, closing out the game with two 3-pointers including the final shot of the game from halfcourt – his second halfcourt make of the game.

Lillard scored nine points in the first quarter, 13 in the second, 11 in the third and six in the fourth.