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Halftime at the NBA All Star Game: Popovich smiles, Leonard shines

Kawhi leads Western Conference scorers at All-Star Break half

By Kyle Spishock
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The All-Star game festivities began with a Cirque du Soleil performance rivaling those seen at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Backed by led projectors, a befuddled kid watched acrobatics dancing in a symbolic metaphor of Canadian culture. At the close, the wide-eyed boy lifted a glowing orb Tron-style and the crowd lost their marbles. The reaction is likely that of the Toronto crowd watching Kawhi Leonard's performance so far.

After being selected a Western Conference Starters with 782,339 votes, Leonard is currently the highest scorer on the Western conference with 13 points on 6/9 shooting. In the highest scoring half in All-Star history, the stars of the hardwood completely disregarded all defensive schemes, and opted instead for a high profile scoring extravaganza. The West leads the East 92-90.

Western Conference squad coach Gregg Popovich seems to be enjoying himself. Besides actually smiling on camera, the Spurs coach was spotted giving DeMarcus Cousins the clipboard in a timeout to draw up a play.

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