To find out who wins the NBA All-Star Game, the league has been using team captains and a targeted scoring system that seemed untimed, for years.
To say the least, this is a format that simply didn’t work. And for that reason, the league was forced to go old school on the NBA All-Star Game.
For the edition that just ended, the people in charge decided to revert the NBA All-Star Game to the traditional format consisting of four quarters of 12 minutes each between East and West.
This is a decision that had a consequence: a game with a final impressive score of 211 to 186, which has divided experts and fans alike about how good this game was.
Oh yes, you just read that right. The East was able to score 211 points, and despite this, a lot of people weren’t impressed, including Commissioner Adam Silver.
Why?
The reason for this is because it was basically a game where 3-pointers were king, and where there was not a defensive game present from any of the two squads.
“To the Eastern Conference All-Stars, well, you scored the most points. Congratulations.” were the words of Silver after the game.
Dame Wins MVP
It was really Dame Time during the All-Star weekend as Damian Lillard managed to win the 3-point contest on Saturday, and finished a perfect weekend by winning the NBA All-Star Game MVP honors, this after scoring 39 vs the West.
This weekend, in total, Dame finished with 57 3’s.
Lillard, after having such a Dame Time, of course, didn’t agree completely with Silver’s declarations. Lillard believes fans enjoyed it, despite the fact that players didn’t display all of their talent.
“I think people who are fans of the game love it. They enjoy being entertained, and I think it could be more competitive.” Dame said.
KAT Was Top Scorer
Lillard won MVP, but on what was a rare occasion, he received those honors without finishing the game as the top scorer.
For the 2024 edition of the NBA All-Star Game, it was actually Karl-Anthony Towns, who put up an outstanding effort and scored 50 on 35 shots.
And sure, KAT didn’t win MVP for his impressive scoring, but he did manage to get in the book of records for the league as he finished tied for the third-highest scoring game in the history of the NBA All-Star Game.
And, due to this rare incident, KAT will also go down in NBA history as the only player who scored the most points and didn’t win MVP.
Towns himself was impressed by what he did, stating, “I just wanted to cherish this moment and make the most of it. I didn’t know it was going to be 50!”
More Records
KAT wasn’t the only one breaking NBA All-Star Game records, as both teams were able to set a record for the most points scored in one of these games with 397, and also for the most points scored during a single half of a game, with 193.
Other two records related to 3-pointers were broken:
- Most 3’s made, with 67 in total
- Total of 3-pointers attempted, with 167
But wait, there’s more, as the East was also able to set a record for most points scored by a team in one half. In this case, it was the first half, and the total was 104 points.
Not Accomplished Before
Part of the players that approved of the NBA All-Game and how everyone performed was Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, who mentioned that “It’s never been done before, and that was a goal of ours to do, I’m glad we did.”
Other Scorers
As it was such a high score, it’s clear that a lot of players were doing their job in that respect, including guys like Jaylen Brown, who managed to score 36 points off the bench.
Brown mentioned that there was a slight, yet friendly, discussion between players before the game to determine if they wanted to play hard or avoid it completely.
“I guess guys are trying to figure out how to have fun, be safe, and be injury free.” Jaylen said.
Tyrese Haliburton, a Pacers player, was definitely the local hero. And because he knew all Indy eyes were on him, he put up a nice effort and managed to finish with 32 points.
Haliburton was nursing a sore hamstring, and despite this, he was able to score all of those points, without really pushing himself a lot, which signals how little physicality was present, even mentioning that “obviously it wasn’t high intensity at all.”
Lebron James, two decades later, is still having a presence on these mid-season events, making this his 20th NBA All-Star Game.
Bron left after just 8 points and 14 minutes in the first half, not participating in the second.
Now, we have to keep in mind the fact that LeBron is still perfoming at a top level after all these years, and he was just happy to play, mentioning that “This is very humbling, very blessed, and it’s something I will never forget obviously. It’s part of my journey.” He finished.
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