SAN FRANCISCO – Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving walked into the postgame interview room proudly clutching the NBA All-Star game
championship trophy Sunday night at Chase Center.
No, Irving didn’t win the game’s Most Valuable Player award. That honor went to Golden State guard Stephen Curry after Shaq’s OGs defeated Chuck’s Global Stars, 41-25.
However, Irving was just as happy to have the championship game trophy in his hands as he was in 2014 when he actually captured the All-Star game MVP trophy.
“This is the first time I’m taking some hardware home other than winning the All-Star game MVP,” said Irving, who finished with seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in eight minutes. “I asked the guys if I could take it home. This is going on my mantel.
“I feel like we really earned this, and we had fun. I felt almost like the last run of the Mohegans of this generation.”
Shaq’s OGs consisted of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns, James Harden of the Los Angeles Clippers, Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks, Irving and Curry. LeBron James also was on that 
team, but he announced on Sunday that he wasn’t going to play due to lingering discomfort in his left foot and ankle.
The Global Stars included Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Houston’s Alperen Sengun, Indiana’s Pascal Siakam, New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama and Atlanta’s Trae Young.
Under the new All-Star game format, Shaq’s OGs defeated Candace’s Rising Stars in the semifinals, 42-35, as Irving collected four points, three rebounds and two assists. That Rising Stars’ team included Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs, Ryan Dunn of the Phoenix Suns, Zach Edey of the Memphis Grizzlies, Keyonte George of the Utah Jazz, Dalton Knecht of the Los Angeles Lakers, Amen Thompson of the Houston Rockets, Jaylen Wells of the Memphis Grizzlies and Trayce Jackson-Davis of the Golden State Warriors.
In the other semifinals game, the Global Stars beat Kenny’s Young Stars, 41-32, behind 12 points from Gilgeous-Alexander. The Young Stars included Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks, Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies, Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat and Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Right out of the gate in the championship game, the OGs darted out to an impressive 11-0 lead – behind eight points from Tatum — and cruised to the finish line. That, according to Irving, was the plan.
“We did not want to waste time with those young guys,” Irving said. “You know how special those guys are.
“When you start playing around with them, they’ll take advantage of you.”
Irving’s highlight came when he tossed the ball off the backcourt and dunked it, much to the delight of the crowd
“Man, I still got bounce,” he said. “I told you, I’m getting more athletic in my 30s. In the All-Star game, a few of the players — my predecessors before me – threw it off the glass. So, I thought I’d join the ranks with them.”
Tatum led the OGs with 15 points and four rebounds, and Curry added 12 points and four boards and was 4-of-8 from three-point land. Curry was in a groove as he drained a half court shot and added two more three-pointers down the stretch.
“It’s easy to feed the hot guy,” Irving said of Curry. “Once he hit his first three, basically every time we’re looking for him and you could see it. When he’s in his hometown and playing in front of his home crowd, we all know what that mean as his peer. We’re not going to get in the way of that.
“I think that’s what this weekend was about. Just picking each other up and celebrating the good things about basketball, but also being very competitive with each other, which after this weekend it starts again.”
The players were rolling up their sleeves and actually playing some solid defense. The lack of defense had been a sore spot in years past. Irving was even playing defense – in the backcourt.
“I told (OGs coach) Kenny Atkinson, just put me on the best player out there,” Irving said. “I’ll pick up full court. I’m trying to win. I don’t know if you guys know the bonus, but it’s a nice little hefty bonus that’ll pay for a few things this weekend, so, I’m grateful, man.”
Irving also was grateful that his 9-year-old daughter, Azurie Elizabeth, was on hand for all of the weekend’s festivities.
“She had a lot of fun, man,” Irving said. “I’m ready to start my break now. I had all these obligations and stuff like that and it’s been enjoyable, but I’m ready to spend some time with my family and my kid.”
And ready to soak in all that came with winning the championship under this new round-robin format, which Irving gave two thumbs up.
“I think the NBA did the best they could and still make it competitive,” he said. “You’ve got to keep everybody on the floor.
“There were a lot of commercial breaks, a lot of things going on, engaging with the fans, engaging with former players. I enjoyed myself. It was a quick weekend. We got the W and we represented for the OG’s.”
Representing the older players in the league successfully was at the forefront of the statement Irving and his teammates wanted to make.
“This was earned, not given,” Irving said. “What you’re looking at is the All-Star game champions — Shaq OGs. I feel like we’re representing for all the OGs around the world. They say that you don’t get better in your 30s, but I think our generations is proving otherwise.
“Great weekend, great fan engagement, great new format. Applauses all the way around for everybody making this a great weekend.”
BRIEFLY: Of the 24 players selected to this year’s All-Star game, 10 of them who were All-Stars in 2014 when Irving was named the game’s Most Valuable Player are still in the NBA today. Among them were Anthony Davis, now a member of the Dallas Mavericks, who was playing for New Orleans in 
2014 and scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shots in just 10 minutes in the ’14 mid-season classic that was played in New Orleans . . . NBA commissioner Adam Silver gave high marks to the 4th annual NBA HBCU Classic. In this year’s game played Saturday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Tuskegee defeated Morehouse, 68-55. “We’re incredibly proud of the HBCU Classic,” Silver said. “We’ve been doing that for a number of years now. It’s different schools coming in every year, just highlighting what’s happening in basketball at HBCUs. Again, we’re excited about that. We love our relationship with the HBCUs. So, we’re pleased about how that’s going.” In the three previous NBA HBCU Classics played during All-Star Weekend, Howard nipped Morgan State, 68-66, in 2022, Grambling beat Southern 69-64, in 2023, and Winston-Salem knocked off Virginia Union, 64-47, in last year’s game . . . The celebrities on hand for Sunday’s game include H.E.R., Kevin Hart, Too Short, Saweetie, En Vogue, Guy Ferri, Bayley , . . The line of the night goes to TNT studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal, who asked actor Kevin Hart: “Can you tell the folks where to get that training bra tank top?” . . . A youngster won $100,000 after he hit a half court shot. The youngster had to hit one half court shot before Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard buried three half court shots. Well, Lillard hit a pair of half court shots and the youngster eventually banked in a half court shot — and the crowd went wild.
X: @DwainPrice
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