KOBE HONORED AT NBA ALL-STAR GAME
After emotional start, showcase event delivers with new format
CHICAGO – Amidst a weekend crammed with emotions and memories, and an All-Star exhibition filled with the usual lobs and slams, suddenly the most appropriate of tributes emerged.
All-Stars played with passion, even with competitive fire, the revised format put in place to honor Kobe Bryant fittingly, perfectly offering the greatest tribute of all.
Stars played the way Bryant would have. In a race to 157 points to determine a winner — the total scored by the leading team through three quarters plus Bryant’s No. 24 — intensity increased to Bryant levels until finally, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis sealed the 157-155 Team LeBron win with a free throw. When he did, a remarkably hard-fought finish felt right.
“That was the competitive dog he was,” Rockets guard James Harden said. “He was a competitive beast. I think all of us were playing for that, to show the world, to go out there and play for Kobe.
“I think it was a success. The fans loved it. That’s what it was about.”
That was enough for an All-Star game unlike any other to give the NBA all it wanted. More than that, it seemed to provide a wounded league and previously diminished showcase event everything it needed.
“You could definitely feel his presence just from the start,” James said. “From every moment from the fans chanting his name until you saw the numbers. Every time you saw Giannis' team run on the floor, you saw the 2-4. So, he was definitely here.”
The night began with moving tributes to Bryant and David Stern. It ended with the revised format inspiring stunningly intense competition in an untimed fourth-quarter race to a target number.
With Team LeBron needing 33 fourth-quarter points and Team Giannis needing just 24, James’ team began the quarter with greatly increased intensity. It only
got hotter.
“Throughout the whole fourth quarter and at the end of the game,” James said, “everybody was like, "That was pretty damn fun."
Kyle Lowry twice drew charges, the second to deny Harden the game-winning 3-pointer. Antetokounmpo and James dueled. Coaches Nick Nurse and Frank Vogel each challenged calls and that did not even include the many players vehemently argued down the stretch.
“We were down nine to start the 24-point fourth quarter,” said Harden, who had 11 points. “We had to lock in. Being down, we had to get to a certain number. We had to play even harder.”
When they did, everything changed. But it began at the end of the third quarter and with the other change in the game’s format. With the teams playing for charities in each quarter, the children to benefit were cheering and shouting as the third quarter was played to a 41-41 tie, with Team Giannis fouling to stop the clock and Team LeBron calling a time out with 2.2 seconds left to set up a final shot, a Russell Westbrook fadeaway that missed.
Westbrook, twice an AllStar MVP, made just 2 of 10 shots, scoring six points.
“You know man, because of the flow,” Westbrook said of letting up a bit compared to previous AllStar appearances. “And I got stiff, man. It’s tough sitting out for 20 minutes. Now, I got to get warm.”
That was far from the only challenge. In a weekend in which the memory of Bryant filled nearly every event, the evening began with Magic Johnson paying tribute to Stern and Bryant.
“It was emotional, man,” Harden said. “Even before the game, the performance by Jennifer Hudson, as she was singing, seeing the screen, I started tearing up a little bit.”
The game quickly became its usual pursuit of highlight-worthy explosions, with opponents usually getting out the way. But as the intensity grew, players appropriately battled.
“Me and Russ kept talking about it, that's one thing about Kobe, whenever he was on our team in the AllStar Game, there wasn't none of that cool stuff,” Chris Paul said. “It was like, as long as they throw the ball up, let's get to it.”
Kawhi Leonard, who scored a game-high 30 points, started the game that way, and became the first winner of the Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP Award and was openly thrilled about the honor.
“Words can't explain how happy I am for it,” Leonard said. “Able to put that trophy … in my trophy room, and just be able to see Kobe's name on there, it just means a lot to me. He's a big inspiration in my life.”
With so many feeling the same way, a difficult, emotional weekend ended with a final tribute.
“It's a beautiful time,” James said. “It's a beautiful day. And his presence was felt here in Chicago.”