Perfect Giannis leads Team LeBron in rout
Kevin Durant shouldn’t quit his day job. He’s better on the court than in the front office.
His team hardly stood a chance in Sunday night’s All-Star Game, losing big to Team LeBron, 170-150, in Atlanta. Of course, Durant’s team would’ve had a better shot had Durant been available and not resting his injured hamstring.
Team LeBron, which featured Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, won all four quarters and reached the target score on Lillard’s near-half-court bomb.
“That’s why I drafted them, man,” said James, who improved to 4-0 since the NBA went to a player-captain format.
James mostly took it easy, scoring four points in 13 minutes. He didn’t need to exert himself. Antetokounmpo, who was named the game’s Kobe Bryant MVP in honor of the legendary Laker, was a perfect 16-for-16 from the field, an All-Star Game record, in scoring a game-high 35 points. Lillard had 32 and Curry 28.
“Obviously, I’m extremely happy at just having the award with the name of Kobe Bryant in my house,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s a great feeling. I wanted to win the one last year really bad ... but this year I wasn’t even thinking about winning it, I was just thinking about having fun, and I had the opportunity to play well.”
Bradley Beal of the Wizards led Team Durant with 26 points and Kyrie Irving had 24 points and 12 assists. Nets teammate James Harden had 21 points off the bench. In his first All-Star Game, Knicks forward Julius Randle scored four points in 13 minutes.
“I think [we gave effort] in spurts,” Irving said. “But when you got Steph, Dame, those guys shooting halfcourt 3s, 3s from the timeline, there’s not much you can do. Give credit to them.”
Team LeBron dominated the first half, edging Team Durant, 40-39, in the first quarter and owning the second, 60-41. Curry and Antetokounmpo led the surge, the duo combining for 46 points. Curry put on a shooting display, sinking six 3-pointers including one just a few steps inside half-court. Team LeBron took the third quarter, too, 46-45, and held a commanding 146-125 lead entering the deciding final stanza.
Prior to the game, several players questioned how much sense it made to play the game in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. And on Sunday morning, two players — Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the 76ers — were ruled out after they were contact traced to a Philadelphia barber who had tested positive for the virus, ESPN reported.
Embiid was set to be a starter on Team Durant while Simmons was a reserve for Team LeBron. Zion Williamson of the Pelicans replaced Embiid as a starter. Their status didn’t impact any other player, since everyone flew to Atlanta in private planes and quarantined upon arrival.