East Wins; James Named MVP

NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) - A little Cajun spice rubbed off on LeBron James and the Eastern Conference. In an ode to the host city's famous cuisine, James played with some extra bite and collected 27 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as the East surprised the Western Conference, 134-128, at New Orleans Arena on Sunday night.

It was a remarkable performance by James, who threw down one of his now-famous thunder dunks in crunch time en route to his second Most Valuable Player Award at this event. Ray Allen had 28 points - including five 3-pointers - for the East, which nearly blew a 13-point second-half lead but held off the furious comeback by the West in the waning seconds. "We did a good job of executing in the fourth quarter," James said. "Ray hit some big shots, some of the biggest shots of the game, and he kept it flowing. You know, we put the finishing touch on it, and it was a dunk."

After hometown hero Chris Paul's 3-pointer tied the game at 125-125 with 1:35 left, James answered with his signature high-rising slam on the other end, slicing through several defenders. "The game was tied. I didn't want to settle for a jump shot," James said. "I wanted to be aggressive and try to get to the hole to get the layup. And when I saw those bigs coming, I didn't want to lay the ball up. "They would have definitely made a play and tried to block it, so I was able to go strong and able to dunk it through." Dwyane Wade and Allen added consecutive layups to give the East a six-point lead it would not relinquish.