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New Orleans • Trey Lyles walked confidently following Friday night's Rising Stars Challenge. He shook a few hands, said hello to a few of his teammates and tried unsuccessfully to contain the smile on his face before he took questions.

Basketball was fun for Lyles at Smoothie King Center. In a 150-141 World Team win over Team USA, the 6-foot-10 forward scored nine points on 4-of-8 shooting. He made one of his four 3-point attempts and handed out a pair of assists. His Jazz teammate Dante Exum played well as the starting point guard, scoring 11 points and wracking up four assists.

For both, it was a chance to showcase their skills in a wide-open style.

"It was fun to get away from the team aspect," Lyles said. "It was fun just to run up and down the floor in a wide-open game and just play."

The season has been difficult for Lyles. No longer is he the rookie with a long leash. His minutes have been sporadic, and his shooting has been an adventure — 37 percent from the field. As a result, Lyles has played just over 13 minutes a night in his last 10 games. He's essentially fallen out of Utah coach Quin Snyder's rotation in the last two games.

That's why the All-Star break, and the respite that's come with it, was a welcome one for the second-year power forward. He knows that he needed a break from the grind of the regular season.

"It was a breath of fresh air tonight," Lyles said. "It was fun to go out and in some ways be my own player and have fun. It was great to be able to take a step away from it all."

Denver's Jamal Murray stole the show and walked away with the MVP trophy. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard scored a game-high 36 points. His nine 3-pointers were the second highest total in the history of the game — behind former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson. Murray shot 13 of 19 from the field, and also handed out 11 assists.

"It was great to see Jamal go out there and play as well as he did," Lyles said. "We all know that everyone in the game is capable of getting hot. He was able to get hot and take advantage of that and knock down a lot of big shots for us."

Lyles has been frustrated, but fundamentally he knows the position he's in. The Jazz are in a different place than they were last season, so as a young player Lyles is behind Derrick Favors, Boris Diaw and even Joe Johnson on the depth chart.

That could explain in part why Lyles hasn't shot the ball efficiently this season. Whenever he goes into a game, he knows he has to make shots and that he doesn't have as much leeway as last season.

But Lyles said he won't pout. He knows that he has to keep working and keep competing. He understands that he has to exhibit patience, and that he's on a winning team that will likely make the playoffs.

Still, for one night, Lyles and Exum were able to forget about it all. Everyone needs a vacation at some point. Theirs, in a basketball sense, came Friday.

"It was fun to see Trey go out and play tonight," Exum said. "He bobbled the ball a bit at the beginning and I was interested to see how that was going to turn out. But he played well, and that was great to see."

Twitter: @tribjazz —

All-Star Weekend

At New Orleans

Saturday's events

12:30 p.m. • NBA D-League All-Star Game (SLC Stars' Joel Bolomboy will participate)

6 p.m. • All-Star Saturday Night (Skills challenge with Gordon Hayward, 3-point contest, slam dunk contest)

Sunday's event

6 p.m. • All-Star Game