The ‘Team LeBron’ takes a Star Party turned into a tribute to Kobe Bryant

The memory of the legendary Kobe Bryant monopolized the entire 69th edition of the NBA All-Star Party, which featured center star Anthony Davis and forward Kawhi Leonard, two players from the Los Angeles teams – Lakers and Clippers – city in the one that the 'Black Mamba' completed all her brilliant professional career of 20 seasons.

Therefore, no one better than a Lakers player, Davis, was the one to decide the triumph of Team LeBron (James, captain), his partner with the Angelian club, in which Bryant shone with his own light to get five league titles and a Most Valuable Player (MVP) league award, in addition to 18 All-Star entries.

Davis scored the second personnel shot that allowed Team LeBron to reach the “Objective Incessor” of 157 points first and proclaimed champion of the 69th edition of the All-Star Party by beating Team Giannis, who stayed in 155 points.

The meeting held at the United Center, the first in Chicago since 1988, had a new format in honor of Bryant, his daughter Gianna, 13, and seven others who lost their lives last January 26 in a helicopter crash occurred in the area of ​​Calabasas (California). Team LeBron wore a blue uniform with number two in memory of Gianna, while Team Giannis had the red uniform and all the players wore the shirts with number 24, in memory of Bryant.

The forward Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers, who played 20 minutes with Team LeBron was the top scorer of the game by getting 30 points after scoring 11 of 18 field shots, including 8 of 14 triples, also captured seven rebounds, distributed four assists and recovered two balls to become the winner of the MVP, the first with the name of Kobe Bryant. From this All-Star all MVP awards will be permanently named Kobe Bryant.

The game, as expected, was going to be full of news and especially references in the permanent tribute to Bryant, starting with the new format that would allow to raise money for charities and scholarships in Chicago schools in his honor and the tribute of the halftime show.

The 'Team LeBron' shone at the beginning and the end

Under the new format, the first three quarters were “individual” and the LeBron Team began overwhelming with a partial 53-41, in which Leonard showed his best starter inspiration, which allowed the first $ 100,000 donation to be taken.

But Team Antetokounmpo reacted in the second and returned the coin with another dominant partial of 51-30, which gave them the donation of $ 100,000. Then came the third period and equality was present with a final score of 41, which resulted in the donation of $ 100,000 left for the team that won the match.

Under the new format, and in homage to Bryant, the so-called “Incessor Objective” was established, which would be the sum of 24 points to the best of the three quarters that had one of the two teams, which corresponded to the Giannis Team that finished with 133 points (157), for 124 of Team LeBron, led by Lakers coach Frank Vogel.

In this way, the fourth period, which eliminated the 24-second possession clock and there were no commercial cuts, served for the two teams to fight for the victory with the goal of reaching 157 points first.

The LeBron Team, with a better startling inspiration to also achieve the many decisive ones, made possible the comeback of the nine points that were down on the scoreboard when they reached the fourth period and took the victory, in addition to $ 400,000 to distribute to the charities and Chicago colleges to which they were going to deliver the money.

Doncic, low profile

Together with Leonard, who was the great figure, James and reserve base Chris Paul, of Oklahoma City Thunder, contributed 23 points each, while Davis reached 20 points with nine rebounds.

Slovenian baseman Luka Doncic of Dallas Mavericks, in his debut in a All-Star Game, the sixth youngest player in NBA history to start the game, contributed just eight points. As he had anticipated, the former Real Madrid player of 20 years, had a low profile during the 18 minutes he played, in which he scored 3 of 6 field shots, including 2 of 5 triples, captured a rebound, distributed four personnel and recovered a ball.

While for Team Giannis, in which the captain was the Greek power forward Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks star ended up as a leader by getting a double-double of 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Two other tall players, the pivots, Cameroonian Joel Embiid, from Phliadelphia 76ers, and Frenchman Rudy Gobert, from Utah Jazz, also achieved double-doubles that did not prevent defeat. Embiid achieved 22 points and 10 rebounds, for 21 goals and 11 balls captured under Gobert's hoops.

Another player of Team Giannis, who overcame the barrier of 20 goals, was the baseman Kemba Walker, of the Boston Celtics, who reached 23, but did not get the decisive in the final stretch of the match.