An NBA All-Star for Ages

They say better late than never, it’s almost a week post the NBA All-Star Weekend 2020 at Chicago and the whole Basketball world is in awe of the Proceedings that took place this year. It was 8 am in India. As I had keenly followed the Rising Challenge, 3 PT Shootout and the Blockbuster Dunk Contest and the day of the All-Star Game I just scroll up my Instagram to have a check on the score and I see that the 1st quarter is already up.

As Curious as I was about how new format would turn out to be and there was just one word for it – AMAZING.

To begin with, the overview of the All-Star Game here are the Winners of the Activities that took place before the All-Star Game

• Taco Bell Skills Challenge – Bam Adebayo – Miami Heat

• MTN Dew 3pt Challenge – Buddy Hield – Sacramento Kings

• AT&T Slam Dunk Contest – Derrick Jones Jr. – Miami Heat

To move ahead with the Blog, here are some of the modified rules which were considered in the All-Star 2020 to Honor the NBA Legend and All-Time Great Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi Bryant and 7 others who lost their lives in a tragic helicopter crash on January 27th, 2020.

Dame Lillard with his Rap’s wearing Mamba’s Jacket

Team Chicago Scholars – Charity to be given by Team LeBron

• Both of the teams would be playing for Chicago Based Communities which will be selected by both the team captains
• The Teams will compete per quarter, were in the team which wins “An Individual” quarter will be taking way the charity amount to their respective Charity and this will go on for the 1st 3 quarters and each of the quarters would reset to 0 when the quarter stars off.
• At the start of the 4th quarter, the time would be stopped and only the 24-second shot clock will be operating and a final score would be set. Where the final score would be decided by taking the cumulative score of all the 3 quarters of both the team and the team which leads in the 3 quarters, al total of 24 will be added which is the uniform number of Kobe Bryant. Here the total score came down to be 157 where the score of 1st 3 quarters of Giannis Team was 133.

It all started in a typical All-Star Game mode where all the guards were lobbing the passes to the Centre and the players were doing their thing. Luka Doncic with his signature step back, Lebron with lobs to AD and the list goes on.

For sure the concept was confusing and looked to be a debacle in the start as nobody knew what could the outcome be. The 1st Quarter was won by Team Lebron and 2nd was taken by Team Giannis. But the game changed when the last minute of the 3rd quarter was up for grabs. Nikola Jokic put down a 3 where then a turnover by Team Giannis put Russell Westbrook on the line where he shot 1 of two. At this point, Team Lebron was leading by two points, but as I said, the game was getting down its business phase, there comes the 1st time All-Star Trae Young to another 1st Time All-Star Rudy Gobert for a beautiful alley-oop wherein the score was tied and the 4th one was destined to be an exciting contest. Here the charity amount was raised in the 4th quarter as there was a tie in the 3rd quarter.

As mentioned the target score was set up at 157 where Team Giannis was already up by 9 points by a combined score of 1st 3 quarters in line with Team Lebron. But Team Lebron came down was all guns blazing with the LA guy I mean ‘The Fun Guy’, Kwahi Leonard. Ideally in an NBA All-Star Game, we do not see high-pressure defense, Shot Blocks, charging fouls, players arguing for calls. Now let me take you to the timeline

• Shot Block by Giannis on Lebron – 2 in the crucial baskets
• High-Pressure Defense – Full Court Defense on Team Giannis by Team Lebron

• Charging Fouls – Kyle Lowry took two charging fouls causing people to move out of their seats. A few of them were questioning his existence on the court at such a crucial moment.
• Players Arguing on calls – Coaches used up all the challenges to make sure the calls are correct

Nick Nurse played Lowry over Jimmy Butler, Frank Vogel Played Chris Paul over Westbrook but it then came down to the last gasp Free Throw by Lakers Golden Boy Anthony Davis and the game came to an epic end.

Kawhi Leonard won the 1st Ever Kobe Bryant MVP award for the All-Star 2020.

To wind up, I hope a tweak should be made about the conclusion of an All-Star game over a Free Throw. How about a One on One Golden Basket where the Matchup would be between the Player who has fouled and the player who has been fouled on – Say Anthony Davis v/s Giannis Antetokoumpo.