NBA All-Star Weekend: The Kia All-Star Game!

The NBA All-Star game is always the best part of everybody’s weekend. It’s the moment we wait for all weekend as we wait for all of the other events to finish up. For any of you who did not get to see this incredible event this year, look no further. This article has the rundown of the All-Star game for you and you’ll get to read about all of the action you were unable to see!

The All-Star game kicked off with an incredible ceremony to honor the great Kobe Bryant. After he died in a helicopter crash, the NBA was looking for many ways to honor the Black Mamba. Magic Johnson led the ceremony and had the crowd in Chicago stand up and have eight seconds of silence for Kobe. In addition to the ceremony, the game will also honor Kobe and his daughter Gigi by Team Giannis wear 24, (Kobe’s number) while Team LeBron will wear #2. (Gigi’s number) They will also have the fourth quarter be the first team to score 24 points, instead of having a 12-minute quarter. 

Without further ado: here is the review of the NBA All-Star game! 

Team Giannis:

• Head Coach
  • Nick Nurse
• Starters:
  • PG: Trae Young
  • SG: Kemba Walker
  • SF: Pascal Siakam
  • PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo
  • C: Joel Embiid
• Reserves:
  • Bam Adebayo
  • Brandon Ingram
  • Rudy Gobert
  • Donovan Mitchell
  • Khris Middleton
  • Jimmy Butler
  • Kyle Lowry

Team LeBron:

• Head Coach:
  • Frank Vogel
• Starters:
  • PG: LeBron James 
  • SG: James Harden
  • SF: Luka Doncic
  • PF: Kawhi Leonard
  • C: Anthony Davis
• Reserves
  • Devin Booker
  • Domantas Sabonis
  • Jayson Tatum
  • Nikola Jokic
  • Ben Simmons
  • Russell Westbrook
  • Chris Paul

First Quarter:

The first quarter was a total three-point shootout off the bat. It seemed like they were stepping a little further each time. LeBron nailed a very deep shot to start it off, while Kawhi hit the first two threes of the game. Kawhi then nailed two more threes about halfway through the first quarter, making him 4-4 in the first six minutes.

Giannis was the early standout for Team Giannis. He missed a dunk, but made two other monster ones, giving him six points in six minutes.

The quarter had countless highlight plays with several incredible alley-oops. Simmons and Tatum were on the receiving end of many spectacular plays this quarter and they put on a great show.

The quarter ended in heavy favor of Team LeBron. The quarter finished  53-41. Kawhi Leonard has the current most points for Team LeBron with 12 points, all on three-pointers, and Team Giannis’s leader is Bam Adebayo with eight points. 

Second Quarter:

The second quarter was kicked off Giannis Antetokounmpo. He nailed to dunks in the first three minutes to really bring some energy to his team. He had the opportunity to make it three, but he missed a windmill dunk on the front of the rim.

Ben Simmons has been an early standout in the second quarter, nailing an alley-oop, and an impressive drive. Simmons’s effort is keeping Team James in the quarter that was being dominated by Giannis.

Chris Paul showed off his hops in this quarter, nailing an alley-oop from the player he was traded for, Russell Westbrook. Kyle Lowry got a steal and then threw a beautiful half-court lob for a Giannis alley-oop. Lowry then found himself on another highlight play with an off-the-backboard alley-oop to Khris Middleton. Butler nailed a dunk on Luka Doncic, Gobert nailed a putback slam, and Trae Young nailed a halfcourt buzzer to finish off the half.

Team Giannis dominated the second quarter, winning 51-30. The halftime score is 92-83 in favor of Antetokounmpo. Giannis Antetokounmpo gave his team a huge boost, with a halftime score of 20 points. Kawhi Leonard has been an absolute beast in this half, scoring 25 points on 7-10 three-point shooting.

Third Quarter:

The third quarter was kicked off by Joel Embiid. Embiid has been scoring in the paint and getting early buckets for Team Giannis. Antetokounmpo picked up his third foul early, and may foul out of the All-Star Game. Kemba Walker also hit two threes in the early parts of the second half giving Team Giannis the early advantage.

LeBron and Kawhi each nailed a triple to start the third. They haven’t been leading in a quarter since the first one, but Kawhi and LeBron are keeping their team alive in this one. Luka nailed two threes a bit after they did and Team James has 12 of their first 17 points from beyond the arc.

More highlights came in this quarter too. LeBron jammed a monster dunk after a behind-the-back dribble-move to break free. Tatum made a beautiful pass to Ben Simmons that led to a powerful dunk. Trae Young threw a great alley to Gobert and he nailed a backward over-head dunk. Ben Simmons threw down a beautiful putback on a Tatum miss. Tatum then threw an over-the-head fastbreak pass to Ben Simmons and he threw it down, and Rudy Gibert hit a go-ahead dunk, followed by a go-ahead three from Jokic.

The quarter was withing one with less than 20 seconds to go. Team Giannis was down and was forced to foul Westbrook. With 2.2 left, Rudy Gobert slammed an alley-oop from Trae Young to tie the quarter, and the quarter remained tied at 41-41.

Kawhi Leonard continued to be the face of Team LeBron with 28 points and is 8-13 from deep. LeBron James also has 19 points and Ben Simmons has 17. Giannis Antetokounmpo dominates with his team, scoring 25, while Rudy Gobert has 21 and Kemba Walker has 16.

Fourth Quarter:

The fourth quarter is going to operate a bit differently than the other three quarters. Instead of 12 minutes, it’s going to be the first team to score 24 points in honor of Kobe Bryant, who wore 24 as a player. The goal is to score 24 more points than the leading score, which would be 157 as Team Giannis had 133.

The quarter started with Russell Westbrook. He nailed a dunk and then drew a foul. He helped bring the nine-point deficit down to four and then hit a key assist to Chris Paul to cut it back to four again.

The West was kicked off with help from Giannis. Giannis’s defense was unbelievable. He had two monster blocks on the two Lakers. He’s not messing around in this quarter as he desperately wants to keep the lead.

The competitiveness in this quarter was on another level. The two teams want to win this game in honor of Kobe and they’re really showing it. The fouls and defense in this game look like it’s a playoff game. The game ended up being tied at 150 after Kawhi nailed a mid-range jumper. Anthony Davis hit a lob from Kawhi to bring them up two, followed by Embiig hitting a mid-range fader to make it 152-152. A foul on each side occurred, but Siakam missed a free throw making it 154-153. LeBron hit a dunk to make it 156-153 so that any basket by Team LeBron would end the game. Embiid then hit a couple free throws for a 156-155 game, meaning the next basket wins.

The game ended with Anthony Davis hitting the game-winning free throw to give Team LeBron 157.

The Kia NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Award was awarded to Kawhi Leonard. The Claw put up 30 points on 8-14 from beyond the arc. He was a huge boost, especially in the first half where he scored 25. Kawhi was truly incredible in the game and was well deserving of this award.

That was the best All-Star Game to date. Both teams were playing like the game was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The intensity was unlike anything ever seen in an All-Star Game. It was truly great to watch. Anyone who hasn’t seen it should watch a recording after finishing this read. It was the best game you’ll see for a long time.