NBA All-Star Game: East beats West with record points

With the largest score in the history of the event, The Eastern Conference team beat the Western Conference 211-186 in other NBA All-Star Game without defenses, in which Damian Lillard was elected MVP and LeBron James reached the participation record.

The 397 combined points surpassed by 23 the highest mark set in the 72 previous editions of the exhibition game between the greatest talents in the North American basketball league.

Both teams completely ignored the calls of the NBA to increase the defensive intensity and gave every facility to the attacks, which provided the Indianapolis public with a succession of spectacular dunks and passes and a shower of up to 168 triples launched (67 successful).

“To the team of the Eastern Conference, “You scored a record of points… well… congratulations,” said the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, when presenting them with the champions trophy.

Silver and other figures of the world NBA, like the legendary Larry Bird emblem of Indiana basketball, had publicly asked the stars to take this game seriously, whose television ratings have been declining until reaching rock bottom last year.

“Everyone played hard. We had fun,” said a smiling Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), captain of the East, with the trophy in his hand. “The ball was moving. We made a lot of three-pointers. We scored a lot of points. I’m happy.”

The top scorer of the game was the Dominican-American center Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 50 points for the West, most of them in the final stretch of the game when the paints were a completely clear area.

The award MVP (Most Valuable Player) Two members of the East competed for it: Damian Lillard, who had 39 points and 11 triples, and the star of the local Pacers Tyrese Haliburton, who finished with 32 and 10.

The award finally went to Lillard, which sparked boos from the stands at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“I could expect it, we are at his house and he had a great game,” the Milwaukee Bucks point guard said of Haliburton.

Lillard, who the day before had won his second consecutive three-point contest, acknowledged that his team wanted to know the scoring record for an All-Star, which until now was the 196 achieved by the West in 2016.

“Once we came out in the third quarter and made a lot of shots we asked what the record was,” Lillard explained. “They told us and we went for it.”

The return of the classic duels between This and the West It was another attempt by the NBA to increase competitiveness on the court, after six editions in which mixed teams competed and chosen by their two captains.

LeBron James record

The Indiana All-Star will also be remembered for the twentieth participation of LeBron James, who joined the show with some dunks that defied his 39 years of age.

The superstar of Los Angeles Lakers, who has left ankle problems, was only on the court for 14 minutes and had 8 points and 4 rebounds.

“It has been an absolute honor to be able to step on the court throughout my career and be with the best players in the world year after year,” James said. “It’s something I’ll never forget. It’s part of my journey.”

Some players had a hard time hiding their lack of interest amidst the chaos that the game became from the first minute.

Luka Doncic (West) He tried to score from his own zone and then missed a dunk that he had assisted himself with a pass to the backboard, while Towns, 2.13m tall, failed to attempt a dunk by passing the ball under his legs.

In other notable plays, Trae Young made a self-pass under the legs of Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic joked with his allergy to dunking by feinting with a violent dunk and then gently leaving the ball in the hoop.

The East dominated the scoreboard from the first quarter and had a maximum advantage of 27 points, preventing a tight finish, the only way in which moments of intensity have been seen in the All-Star in recent years.