Damian Lillard closes a weekend to remember with the MVP in the highest scoring All Star in history. The East, which won the game, surpassed 200 points for the first time in an All Star Game on a night of very little defense and intensity on the part of the players. The NBA returned to the original format, eliminating alternative endings and drafts, seeking the involvement of the players, but it did not go entirely well. An All Star who will go down in history for his records, but not for the game.
The first quarter ended up giving clues as to where the game was going to go, with the East dominating thanks to Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard with 15 and 9 points respectively. As a team they already had 13 triples of the 19 shots scored, in a game without any type of defense and with a frenetic pace. But by the second period, they began to break the game with a 13-0 run with the substitutes, especially debutants Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brunson. The quality details also began, such as Trae Young’s pipe to Kevin Durant, or Karl-Anthony Towns’ eurostep to avoid Giannis. At halftime, Lillard had 22 points and Haliburton 18, in what aimed to be the duel for the MVP.
Because the two point guards exchanged triples, with six for each, of the 22 that the East had scored in just 24 minutes. They were not the only ones in double figures in the East, with Giannis and the two Boston players, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in twelve, and Maxey with 10. Nobody in the West surpassed the 12 of Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, with four triples to each one further away. And with 104 points, they equaled the record in a part of the All Star Game, achieved by the West in 2016. In addition, the 193 combined points were also the highest mark in an all-star game. The NBA’s offensive revolution had also reached the All Star, on a night when many records were going to be broken once again.
And the East, still in the lead, came out with a 17-8 run after the break, with five more triples and opening the gap to more than 25 points after two free throws by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even when they got it down to just 12, it was Scottie Barnes who reopened the lead with two triples. At the end of the third period the gap was 24 points, something insurmountable for LeBron James’ team, which had not lost two All Stars in a row since 2016 and 2017. The question was whether they would reach 200 points after exceeding 50 in the first three quarters. A triple by Jalen Brunson equaled the record for most triples scored by a team, with 35, a figure achieved by Team LeBron in 2019.
A minute later it was Jaylen Brown who broke the triple mark and went to 26 points, entering the fight for the MVP. They also broke the record for most three-pointers between both teams, surpassing the 62 from 2019, and leaving the mark at 67. Because the last quarter, especially the end, was a constant of breaking records. The highest combined score was the first to fall, surpassing the 374 of 2017. At the same time, with a triple by Tyrese Haliburton, The East reached 200 points for the first time in NBA history. The highest mark was 196, one that was far from the 211 that the players from the East achieved, and only Karl-Anthony Towns avoided a greater tragedy.
List of records broken during the match
Most points by a team (211) exceeding 196.
Most combined points (397) exceeding 374.
More points in one part (107), exceed 104.
Most points combined in one part (204), exceeding 191.
Most triples by a team (42) exceeding 36.
Most combined triples (67) exceeding 62.
Towns with the most points by a player in a quarter (31), surpassing Tatum’s 27.
Towns with the most points by a player in a half (40), surpassing Tatum’s 38.
The Dominican scored 50 points, 31 of them in the last quarter, another All Star record held by Jayson Tatum with 27. There were 40 in the second half, also the highest number in history. It was the game’s top scorer and the third-highest score in history, only behind Tatum’s 55 last year and Anthony Davis’ 52 in 2017. But unlike those two, KAT couldn’t take the game. MVP because the West took a good beating. Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander among his teammates exceeded 30 points, when three different players did it on the opponent: Jaylen Brown with 36 off the bench, maintaining his status as the highest scoring average in the history of the game, and the two players who fought for the MVP: Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton.
The Bucks team took it, to the disappointment of the public, who cheered every play by Tyrese Haliburton as if it were a Pacers game. Dame scored 39 with 11/23 in triples, several from half court, in addition to 6 assists and becomes the first player to win the MVP and the triple contest in the same season. Haliburton, the local hero, stayed at 32 with 10 triples (in 14 attempts). Other notable players were Lillard’s teammate, Giannis Antetokounmpo with 23 points and very powerful dunks, Jayson Tatum’s 20 points or Kevin Durant’s 18, who had time to clash with Trae Young first and Lillard later.
The four debutants had a good performance. Barnes finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, Jalen Brunson added 12, Maxey scored 10 points and Paolo Banchero scored 6 in the victory. And they took it more seriously than Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic, For example. The two Europeans have made it clear that the All Star is not their scene, and that they have only gone to have fun. They combined for 20 points and left comical plays, such as a failed dunk by the Slovenian or a false dunk by Jokic, which ended in a layup. They also had time to sign one of the plays of the gamecrossing the court without dribbling for Gilgeous-Alexander’s two points.
With Lillard’s MVP the all-star weekend closes. And the league is already looking to 2025. It will be in San Francisco, in the Golden State Warriors pavilion. Before that remains the end of the regular season, which returns on Thursday, and decide a new champion. Because the players have not shown much interest in winning the all-star game, but with the ring the story will be very different.
Sports journalist covering the NBA from Toronto. Leaving from Barcelona, he has lived in Boston, Sydney and Bogotá before staying in Canada to bring the best basketball league on the planet. All NBA, a little basketball, because he grew up with Tracy McGrady and Pau Gasol, but also with Sarunas Jasikevicius and Arvydas Macijauskas. He studied journalism in Barcelona, where he worked for various media and radio stations, and currently also collaborates with Gigantes del Basket and NBA Spain. He was in the NBA Finals where Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Sergio Scariolo got their first ring. If you don’t see him here, he’s probably on Twitter. …
2024-02-19 05:19:17
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