The all-star game, without any real stakes, is a show that highlights the best players in the league since 1951. The lack of intensity of the meeting is a habit, even if it is sometimes contradicted by a small increase in pressure at the end of the meeting.
But not this time.
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NBA: schedule and results
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The NBA will thus have missed its bet to energize the event by returning to the historic East against West format, after six years where two captains formed their team.
Some players had difficulty masking their disinterest in the match, played while walking.
The stars of the league thus increased the number of long shots (67 successful out of 168 attempted in total) and dunks without opposition.
Milwaukee Bucks leader Damian Lillard (39 points, 6 assists), author of two successful shots from the middle of the field in particular, was elected MVP of the match,
“an honor”
.
All under the whistles of the public, who hoped for local hero Tyrese Haliburton (32 points), another stone in the NBA's garden.
Minnesota Timberwolves interior Karl-Anthony Towns finished as the game's top scorer with 50 points.
A disappointing weekend overall
The game allowed LeBron James to celebrate his 20th All-Star Game selection, a record at age 39 for his 21st NBA season.
The All-Star Weekend as a whole was quite laborious.
Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, selected for the young talents tournament, suffered a small humiliation by being eliminated with his team by a group of G-League players (development championship) on Friday.
All of which made him miss the final of the event where everyone wanted to see him.
Saturday, the day of competitions began with the very poorly designed
“Skills challenge”
, before being saved by the trigger duel between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu, then by the leaping Mac McClung during the dunk competition.