INDIANAPOLIS -- A little halfway through the first quarter of the 73^rd All-Star Game, Damian Lillard dribbled the ball up the court and angled to the famous white Jerry West silhouette laid against the red and blue background that makes up the NBA logo.

He slowed subtlety, but familiarly.

Sure enough, Damian Lillard pulled up from the logo. Fittingly, it found nothing but net from 30 feet.

It was Lillard’s first basket of his eighth All-Star Game – but his first start – and it was as iconic of a shot as one of the game’s game-changers could make. Dubbed “Logo Lillard” for his propensity to knock shots down from various logos around the league, the Milwaukee Bucks point guard stole the show in winning the All-Star Game MVP by scoring 39 points in the Eastern Conference’s 211-186 victory over the Western Conference on Sunday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

"You've just got to keep shooting the ball," he said. "I think, in a game like this, you know it's going to be pretty loose, and you're going to get your opportunities. Being in the starting lineup, I knew I'd play longer stretches, get more minutes. I just told myself I'm going to be aggressive, and I'm going to keep firing. I saw a couple go in. After that, it was just like I'm going after it. So that was it."

He punctuated his first logo triple by pulling up from the Indianapolis-themed logo on the other end of the court in the first half – a gold ball laid into a gold star. That was measured from 32 feet.

Then he hit one from 34.

And with just under seven minutes to go in the third quarter he decided to pull up from halfcourt and knocked it down from 41 feet. The crowd erupted and he lifted his arms in triumph. He topped that by slow walking a 44-footer in the final seconds.

"The first one, I was super, super loose," he said. "Then the last one, I was actually kind of stiff. So I just had to shoot it a little bit higher. I got two of 'em in."

Earlier on the weekend Lillard said it was an honor to be voted in as a starter for the first time, as he recognized the fact that he’s not having a his typically dominant offensive season in his first in Milwaukee.

He showed his appreciation for the stage first on Saturday by winning his second straight three-point contest, becoming the first player to claim the title in back-to-back seasons in 15 years. And then on Sunday he stole the show from Oshkosh native and hometown favorite Tyrese Haliburton.

Lillard received seven of the 12 media votes while Haliburton received the other five. Lillard received two of the three fan votes, with Haliburton getting the other.

"It was incredible," Antetokounmpo said of his teammate's showing. "I think he stayed hot from the Saturday event event that he had (in the three-point contest). You could tell he was going for it. All we had to do as a team was give him the ball and he just did what he does best – make a lot of threes. How many did he make? Eleven? He totally deserved it. All we had to do was just play hard and try to get a win for him."

Lillard went 11 for 23 from behind the three-point line, making them from 27 (3), 28 (2), 29, 30, 32, 34, 41 and 44 feet.

"Me and Kawhi (Leonard) was in awe of them shooting from the three-point line like it was a free throw," Suns all-star Kevin Durant said. "That's strength, power, muscle memory. That's someone who works extremely hard every day on their craft to be able to do that without flinching. It was just normal and natural motion. Those are supreme athletes, and it's good we get to celebrate them on weekends like that. Pretty cool he gets to bring the All-Star MVP back to his hometown and back to his family."

Aside from his deep threes, he mixed in some other staples. One was a step-back on Kevin Durant. He knocked down a step-back midrange jumper on LeBron James. And for good measure the one-time slam dunk contest participant added a smooth finger roll when he was chased off the three-point line.

The elder statesman of the Eastern Conference team at 33 years old (he’ll be 34 in July), Lillard was an influence on his younger all-star counterparts as he and Stephen Curry helped revolutionize the game with accurate deep ball shooting.

"He's been doing it for his whole career," Curry said of Lillard. "I know I got off to a head start. But you can stretch your imagination. I think Atlanta two years ago where I think he won – like maybe two feet (beyond) the three-point line to win the game in that Elam ending thing. It's always fun to stretch the limits of where he could shoot. He's been doing it a long time."

It is Lillard’s first all-star game MVP, and he joins teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo (2021) as the only Bucks players to win that award. Lillard was the second Bucks player to win the three-point contest, joining Ray Allen (2001).

He is also the first all-star since Michael Jordan to win a Saturday night skills competition and an MVP in the same year. Jordan won the slam dunk contest.

"Any time you're mentioned in the same category as Mike, it's an honor, and it's a major accomplishment, even if it's All-Star Weekend," Lillard said. "If it was that simple, more people would have done it since 1988. So that's a major compliment for me to be mentioned in the same conversation as far as that."

He noted that it's been a tough year to date for him and added, "I did come into the weekend when I knew I was going to do the three-point, I was like I'm going to try to win. I'm not going to be casual and cool about it. I'm going to try to win again. And I know in the All-Star, I'm a starter, and I'm going to be on the floor a lot. I'm a vet in the game at this point. Why not go and try to get an MVP?"

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard named NBA all-star game MVP