Jayson Tatum says it was a surreal feeling to create history with the most points ever in the NBA All-Star Game after posting 55 in Team Giannis' victory on Sunday.
Tatum surpassed Anthony Davis' 52-point record from 2017, scoring 55 points on 22-of-31 shooting from the field, making 10-of-18 from three-point range.
The Boston Celtics forward posted 27 points in the third quarter, which was also an All-Star Game record, and became the second player behind Stephen Curry to make 10 three-pointers in the contest.
"I really didn’t know [about the record]," Tatum said. "I didn’t know what the record was. I found out midway through the fourth quarter.
"Dame [Lillard] was like 'yo, the record is 52, you've got 49'. It kinda hit me, breaking history in the moment."
Tatum, in his fourth All-Star selection, won the game's Kobe Bryant MVP award for the first time, which was a source of great joy for the 24-year-old.
"It means the world," Tatum said. "Kobe was my idol, my favourite player, the reason why I fell in love with the game.
"I was in the first All-Star Game when they named the MVP after him and ever since I had my eyes on wining it one day. I'm finally glad I got one."
One of the highlights of the contest when Tatum taking on Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown in a series of one-on-one battles.
Brown actually top scored for Team LeBron, hitting 35 points off the bench on 16-of-27 shooting with 14 rebounds.
"That was cool," Tatum said. "It was normal for us, it was just millions of people watching. We been playing one-on-one so many times. It was special."