Team LeBron still undefeated
James 4-0 as All-Star captain; Antetokounmpo MVP
ATLANTA — Even in the strangest NBA All- Star Game of them all, LeBron James was still the perfect captain.
Team LeBron showed off its high-flying and longrange skills during a dominating run to close out the first half, setting up a 170-150 romp over Team Durant in the league’s 70th midseason showcase Sunday night.
This one sure was different than the previous 69 AllStar contests.
Determined to pull off an exhibition that is huge for TV revenue and the league’s worldwide brand, the NBA staged the game in a mostly empty arena in downtown Atlanta, a madefor-TV extravaganza that was symbolic of the coronavirus era.
Philadelphia stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were ruled out because they got haircuts from a barber who tested positive for COVID-19.
But once the game began, it fell right in line with the three previous All-Star outings with the captain format. The top vote-getters in each conference pick the teams, a duty that James has earned all four years.
He’s now 4-0, having defeated Stephen Curry’s squad in 2018 and teams selected by Milwaukee’s twotime reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo the past two years.
This time, James drafted histwo former adversaries to assemble a dominant squad that blew away Kevin Durant’s team.
Antetokounmpo was the game MVP after shooting 16 of 16 for 35 points. Curry chipped in with 28 points, while Damian Lillard had 32. James spent most of the night admiring his drafting skill, playing less than 13 minutes and finishing with four points.
Stephen Curry shot his way to another 3-point title and Domantas Sabonis made sure the Skills Challenge still belongs to the bigs.
Then Portland’s Anfernee Simons sealed his final, winning dunk with a kiss. Well, almost.
Curry, the Golden State Warriors superstar, provided a dramatic preview for his seventh All-Star Game appearance when he sank his final 3-pointer to edge Utah’s Mike Conley for the title on Sunday night.
The 6-foot-11 Sabonis did not miss a pass or 3-point shot in elimination wins over Julius Randle of the New York Knicks and Luka Doncic of Dallas in the test of passing, ball-handling and shooting ability. Doncic fell behind by missing in his first two tests of his passing accuracy.
Simons showed off his leaping ability and creativity to beat New York’s Obi Toppin and Indiana’s Cassius Stanley in the two-round dunk contest. The 6-foot-3 Simons soared, almost kissing the rim, on a powerful righthanded jam to beat Toppin in the final.