Kobe Bryant took Michael Jordan’s record, then nearly lost the game to LeBron James as the West held off a furious East comeback to win the NBA All-Star game 152-149 on Sunday night.

Bryant scored 27 points, moving past Jordan as the career scoring leader in the game. Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant had 36, and Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook finished with 21.

“With all these great players on the floor, you never know what will happen,” Durant said. “Guys making big shots, and they cut it down to one. We were up 18.”

James and the East cut a 21-point deficit to one in the closing seconds, but weren’t able to move in front. James had 36 points and fellow Heat star Dwyane Wade finished with a triple-double.

Blake Griffin scored 22 points for the West, which rang up 89 points in the first half, setting an All-Star record. But he won the game with his defence, picking off James’ pass when the East had a chance to tie in the final seconds.

“I can’t turn the ball over like that,” James said. “I let my team down, but overall it was a great weekend.”

Griffin then hit one free throw with 1.1 seconds left, and Wade was off on a 3-point attempt from the corner. He finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, joining Jordan and James as the only players with All-Star game triple-doubles.

With Durant named MVP, Bryant is tied for the All-Star record with his four. But he got a bigger mark in his 13th All-Star game.

He broke Jordan’s record of 262 points on a dunk with 4:57 left in the third quarter and now has 271 for his career. He entered with 244 and passed Oscar Robertson (246 points) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (251) earlier in the game.