David Villafranca
Salt Lake City (United States), 19 Feb. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s team beat the team led by LeBron James (175-184) this Sunday in the NBA All-Star Championship thanks to a spectacular Jayson Tatum who was named MVP and broke the score record in a 55 point star game
The previous mark was held by Anthony Davis with 52 points in 2017, but Tatum set a new record with a fantastic 10 of 18 from 3-point range and a brutal third period in which he scored 27 (a quarter record in an All-Star).
Tatum, after receiving the Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP award, said it meant “a lot” to him to have reached the points record but maintained that all marks “must be surpassed” and assured that in a few years someone will take away that honor.
The Salt Lake City All-Star left the first loss to LeBron after the All-Star format change in 2018 (5-1 now for the Lakers figure, which in six years he captained).
LeBron, who has foot issues, only played in the first half.
For his part, Antetokounmpo, who had been doubtful until the last minute due to a wrist injury, came out in the starting five of his team but did not last long on the court as he scored a field goal and went to the bench 20 seconds later (Chris Paul did something similar at the 2022 All-Star.)
The main novelty of this All-Star was that the captains took turns choosing their players just before the start of the game (in recent years, this process was done a few days before the game).
Thus, LeBron drafted Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Kyrie Irving (Dallas Mavericks), Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics), Paul George ( The Los Angeles Clippers, Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Julius Randle (New York Knicks), De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies) are all on the list.
For his part, Antetokounmpo has selected Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers), Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls), Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors), Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat) and Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings).
This All-Star has had very significant absences such as those of the injured Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) and Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans).
TATUM STUNNS
After a jump between two of the “shorts” Morant and Irving, the first quarter, after Antetokounmpo’s early withdrawal, began with hometown hero Markkanen adding 7 points in just under four minutes.
LeBron and Tatum met for a fabulous self-passing dunk contest against the backboard while Doncic, with a microphone and headphones during the game, joked on the TNT show that he forgot he had to play while chatting with the commentators.
With the usual lack of defense that characterizes the All-Star, the first quarter ended in a draw (46-46) with Tatum leading Team Giannis with 13 points and Irving giving the answer to the Team LeBron with 11 points.
Statistics don’t matter at all on a night like this, but the two teams shook hands in a startling and sad 6 of 28 three-pointers in the first twelve minutes.
Many NBA fans are craving a dunk contest involving Morant, and the explosive Grizzlies point guard gave them a taste of what he could deliver in the second quarter with a formidable 360-degree dunk.
The star of the second period was Mitchell, who in front of his former Utah home crowd scored 14 points for Team Giannis to win that quarter (46-53, 92-99 in the first half).
At halftime, the NBA paid special tribute to the three greatest scorers in history: LeBron James – who broke the record a few weeks ago – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone.
Team Giannis honed their aim on the restart and unleashed the heavy artillery of the triple.
Tatum made 7 three-pointers, Mitchell added 4 and Lillard, winner of Saturday’s 3-point contest, hit one from midfield for a total of 4.
With such an arsenal (spectacular 15 of 24 three-point shots in just twelve minutes), Giannis’ team comfortably scored the third period (49-59) and stepped on the accelerator towards the final victory (after the accumulation of 141-158, the first to reach 182 would win).
The third quarter left the anecdote of seeing Tatum go head to head in a juicy and spicy face to face with Brown, his inseparable Boston teammate.
With too much distance on the scoreboard, it was only a matter of time before Team Giannis doomed the All-Star and that final blow came with a three-pointer from Lillard.
Finally, Pau Gasol received the WNBA Kobe & Gigi Bryant Honorary Award in one of the All-Star timeouts for her support and contributions to the development of women’s basketball. EFE
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