Brittney Griner returns to the WNBA All-Star Game

LAS VEGAS –

Brittney Griner made an emphatic and emotional return to the WNBA’s mid-season showcase event.

She scored her team’s first six points, set up two dunks, and finished Saturday night with 18 points in the league’s All-Star Game.

The sold-out audience roared as Griner was introduced, and clearly moved by the ovation, she patted her heart with her right hand. There’s no question that Griner, a year after being forcibly absent from this event, was the star of the show.

“I didn’t think I’d be here today,” Griner said. “Everyone who sent the letters and the love meant a lot to me.”

Griner led Team Stewart, led by New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, to a 143-127 over Team Wilson, led by the Aces’ A’ja Wilson.

Jewell Loyd of Team Stewart of the Seattle Storm broke the All-Star Game scoring record with 31 points, setting the target on a Griner pass. Maya Moore and Kelsey Plum each held the previous record with 30 points. Loyd earned MVP honors for the game.

Plum even tied her own record with 30 points, one of four Aces competing for Team Wilson, who received loud ovations from the home crowd during pregame introductions.

Griner was detained in Russia around this time last year on drug charges, sparking international outrage that she was being wrongfully detained. The WNBA named her an honorary starter, with every player wearing her number 42 jersey in the second half of last year’s game.

This time, Griner was actually in the starting lineup – the only one with that jersey number – overshadowing almost everything that happened on the field.

Team Stewart made Griner the centerpiece from the start. She delivered a dunk with 3:50 left in the first quarter on an outlet pass from Stewart. Griner also had a dunk just 25 seconds into the second half.

“I called my knees and talked to them and gave them a little pep talk,” Griner, 32, said of her dunks.

Griner challenged Team Wilson point guard Chelsea Gray of the Aces at one point in the first quarter, but Gray drove past the Phoenix Mercury’s nine-time All-Star and fell in a reverse layup from high off the glass.

At the first media timeout, Griner was shown on the video board sitting on the couch with the words “WELCOME BACK BRITTNEY GRINER” on the screen below her face.

Griner was one of the players who wore microphones during the game and after missing a three-pointer, joked that she “got something in my eye”.

The game was played with a 20-second shot clock instead of the usual 24, two four-point spots on each side of the field were added, and there were no free throws. The teams hit 12 four-point shots combined.

New York representative Sabrina Ionescu, representing Team Stewart, made all three of her attempts in the first half from four ranges, replicating her extraordinary shot from the previous day. Ionescu set a WNBA and NBA record with 37 points out of a possible 40 in the 3-point game. She finished with 18 points.

Sue Bird, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles were among the ex-WNBA players in attendance, and Fowles wore Napheesa Collier’s Minnesota Lynx jersey.

Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and Dwyane Wade were among those watching NBA tapes. Wade buys an ownership interest in the Chicago Sky.