Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Tributes to Kobe include change to All-Star Game
Kobe Bryant’s final jersey number will be something this year’s NBA All-Stars play to reach.
The NBA announced major changes to the All-Star format Thursday, turning every quarter into a mini-game for charity before an untimed final quarter with a target score that will decide which team wins. Scores will be reset — back to 0-0 — at the start of the second and third quarters, then restored to begin the fourth quarter.
That’s where the tribute to Bryant and the No. 24 jersey he wore for the last decade of his NBA career comes into play. The team that wins the All-Star Game will be the first to reach a target score, determined by the total points the team in the lead scored in the first three quarters combined — plus 24, the obvious nod to Bryant.
The NBA said there will be multiple tributes throughout All-Star weekend in Chicago to Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and the seven others who lost their lives in Sunday’s helicopter crash, including the showcase game Feb. 16.
Lakers practice outside: Before the Lakers practiced on the final day before their first game since Bryant’s death, they played.
The players, their coaching staff and GM Rob Pelinka, Bryant’s longtime agent, took to the park across the street from the team’s headquarters Thursday to kick around a soccer ball and throw a pigskin.
The Lakers will return to the court Friday night at Staples Center to face the Trail Blazers.
Doncic out with ankle injury: All-Star guard Luka Doncic left Thursday’s practice early after turning his right ankle and will not travel with the Mavericks for
Friday’s game against the Rockets, coach Rick Carlisle said.
Doncic will undergo an MRI. It’s likely he will miss multiple games.
Last season’s rookie of the year missed four games last month with a sprained right ankle.
Doncic leads the Mavs in scoring (28.8), rebounding (9.5) and assists (8.7).
All-Star reserves named: The NBA released the list of the players voted by the league’s coaches as All-Star reserves.
Kyle Lowry of the Raptors is headed back to the game, as are the Heat’s Jimmy Butler, 76ers’ Ben Simmons, Bucks’ Khris Middleton, Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard, Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, Rockets’ Russell Westbrook and — for the first time since 2016 — the Thunder’s Chris Paul.
The other reserves are all first-timers: the Heat’s Bam Adebayo, Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, Pacers’ Domantas Sabonis, Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram and the Jazz duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.