Sam Smith Contributor

NEW ORLEANS - You know, maybe he is the one like Mike after all.

Because Kobe Bryant, who sat out all but the first few minutes of Sunday's NBA All-Star game with his pinky finger injury, stumbled into NBA nirvana pretty quickly, before he was quite good enough to realize how tough it was, when Bryant was just 21 and a Shaquille O'Neal teammate.

For LeBron James, who was the star of stars Sunday night in the East's 134-128 All-Star game win here, it's taking a lot longer despite his general acceptance and personal accomplishments.

James is now the NBA's all-time All-Star game scoring average leader at 24.7 per game, more than four points ahead of Oscar Roberston and with Michael Jordan fourth at 20.2, though, yes they did play in far more games. But James, 23, in his fifth NBA season, now has been named MVP in two of the last three All-Star games.

"LeBron is a freight train when he goes to that basket," remarked West coach Byron Scott. "He's so big and so strong and so quick and powerful. It's hard to stop him when he gets that momentum going."

Sort of the irresistible force Jordan was, scoring 63 points in a playoff game against the Boston Celtics even as his team was in the middle of being swept in the 1986 first round series.

"He's so powerful," East coach Doc Rivers marveled of James. "Does everything."

And then the rest of them play for the championship.

James was the best of them Sunday, getting 27 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks in a heck of an All-Star game for the NBA and a terrific weekend for the home city.

Much abused since Hurricane Katrina, the city came up with a slam dunk weekend devoid of any ugly incidents and more fitting the playful spirit of the city.

Likewise, in the back and forth final quarter of lead changes, big shots and did-you-see-that plays, the NBA swept away the nastiness and ennui of its Las Vegas All-Star weekend last year and came with a skillful and scintillating stretch run by both teams.

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"The East was talking about how bad the West beat them last year and they said we're not going to have that anymore," said Ray Allen, who was the game's high scorer with 28 as a late injury replacement.

Allen skipped the 3-point shooting contest, but reclaimed his title as the game's best marksman with a fourth quarter three jamboree, a trio of threes in a little more than a minute to keep the West from stealing the game after the East led by 13 after three quarters.

"The fourth quarter was crazy," said Chris Paul, the local favorite with 16 points and 14 assists who was gunning for MVP. "We took the lead a few times, but Ray Allen was unbelievable in the way he shot the ball."

And then there was James, doing just about everything else and hitting a pair of threes as well.

His twisting reverse layup gave the East a two-point lead with about 4:30 left, a time with the East going small. So with Amare Stoudemire defended by Dwight Howard, James was on Tim Duncan, who had two points in the fourth quarter. After Allen's third three tied the game at 125 with 1:36 left, the last tie, James stole a pass from Dirk Nowitzki and drove and fiercely dunked the ball, something of the final crusher before a Dwyane Wade layup. He then blocked Nowitzki to effectively seal the East's revenge win.

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