{"id":2291,"date":"2012-02-26T22:27:05","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T03:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=2291"},"modified":"2012-02-26T22:27:05","modified_gmt":"2012-02-27T03:27:05","slug":"kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Durant steals thunder at NBA All-Star Game, takes home MVP honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
2012 NBA All-Star MVP Kevin Durant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kevin Durant was the only Western Conference starter not from one of Los Angeles’ two teams, but that didn’t stop the Oklahoma City Thunder phenom from making his presence felt at the 2012 All-Star Game in Orlando tonight.<\/p>\n

In his third All-Star appearance, Durant scored 36 points and added seven rebounds and three assists to lead the West to a 152-149 victory over an Eastern Conference squad that was powered by Miami Heat tandem LeBron James (36 points) and Dwyane Wade who scored only the third triple-double in All-Star history (24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).<\/p>\n

Also making big contributions to the West was Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (27 points), Durant’s OKC teammate Russell Westbrook (21 points) and Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (22 points, eight rebounds). Durant’s efforts earned him his first career All-Star MVP Award. But don’t expect that honor or any other success he obtains to deter him from keeping humility a the forefront of his mind.<\/p>\n

“In the Bible, (it says) the Lord exalts humility,” Durant told Inspiring Athletes prior to the 2010-11 season. “When people tell me I\u2019m great, I (remind myself that I) can always be better. I always work on what I have now. I\u2019ve just got to be thankful to the Lord for what the gifts He\u2019s given me. My gift back to Him is to always be humble and to always try to work as hard as I can.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Durant will be featured in a forthcoming book called Glory of the Games <\/em>which releases on April 1st through Cross Training Publishers and includes commentary from several Olympic athletes such as Shannon Miller, Josh Davis, Tamika Catchings, Ryan Hall, Chris Byrd, Bobby Jones, Dave Johnson, Ruth Riley, Michael Chang and Jarome Iginla. Stay tuned to Inspiring Athletes for more details and check out the links below for previous Beliefnet posts about Durant and other NBA All-Stars.<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant interview<\/a><\/p>\n

Dwyane Wade interview<\/a><\/p>\n

Dwight Howard interview<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with your friends! Kevin Durant was the only Western Conference starter not from one of Los Angeles’ two teams, but that didn’t stop the Oklahoma City Thunder phenom from making his presence felt at the 2012 All-Star Game in Orlando tonight. In his third All-Star appearance, Durant scored 36 points and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[356,387,617,3,4],"tags":[947,43,67,63,34,66,64,902,69,68,37,35,103,948],"class_list":["post-2291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awards","category-basketball","category-book-release","category-christian-athletes","category-sports-news","tag-2012-nba-all-star-game","tag-blake-griffin","tag-dwight-howard","tag-dwyane-wade","tag-kevin-durant","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-miami-heat","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-orlando-magic","tag-russell-westbrook"],"yoast_head":"\nKevin Durant steals thunder at NBA All-Star Game, takes home MVP honors - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kevin Durant steals thunder at NBA All-Star Game, takes home MVP honors - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share with your friends! Kevin Durant was the only Western Conference starter not from one of Los Angeles’ two teams, but that didn’t stop the Oklahoma City Thunder phenom from making his presence felt at the 2012 All-Star Game in Orlando tonight. In his third All-Star appearance, Durant scored 36 points and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-27T03:27:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2012\/02\/KevinDurant_mug-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chad Bonham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kevin Durant steals thunder at NBA All-Star Game, takes home MVP honors - Inspiring Athletes","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kevin Durant steals thunder at NBA All-Star Game, takes home MVP honors - Inspiring Athletes","og_description":"Click “Like” to share with your friends! Kevin Durant was the only Western Conference starter not from one of Los Angeles’ two teams, but that didn’t stop the Oklahoma City Thunder phenom from making his presence felt at the 2012 All-Star Game in Orlando tonight. In his third All-Star appearance, Durant scored 36 points and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html","og_site_name":"Inspiring Athletes","article_published_time":"2012-02-27T03:27:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2012\/02\/KevinDurant_mug-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Chad Bonham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html","name":"Kevin Durant steals thunder at NBA All-Star Game, takes home MVP honors - Inspiring Athletes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2012\/02\/KevinDurant_mug-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2012-02-27T03:27:05+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-27T03:27:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2012\/02\/KevinDurant_mug-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2012\/02\/KevinDurant_mug-150x150.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2012\/02\/kevin-durant-steals-thunder-at-nba-all-star-game-takes-home-mvp-honors.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kevin Durant steals thunder at NBA All-Star Game, takes home MVP honors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/","name":"Inspiring Athletes","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Chad Bonham","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1","name":"Chad Bonham","description":"Chad has been working in mass media for over 20 years. Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2291"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2306,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291\/revisions\/2306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}