NBA All-Star Game 2020

All-Star Game

The NBA All-Star Game 2020 took place on Sunday, February 16. The game was played in Chicago, Illinois in the United Center, home to the Chicago Bulls. The best from around the league would square off in a newly formatted All-Star game.

Since being introduced in 2018, two captains chosen for the All-Star game would draft their teams from a pool of All-Stars. This took the place of players representing their respected conferences in a traditional style All-Star game. The two captains chosen for the 2020 All-Star game were Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. These two would draft theirs teams leading up to the All-Star game. Concluding the draft, Team Lebron was the favorite, but we would find out if that would stand true in the game.

This year’s game would have a new format to it, honoring the passing of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant. The first three quarters of the game would be timed, much like a normal basketball quarter, with the teams competing for a total of 12 minutes. Each quarter would start with a score of 0 to 0 and the scores from the previous quarters would not carry over into the next. However, the fourth quarter would take place a little differently. This quarter was known as the Kobe quarter. The Kobe quarter would be an untimed quarter. Each team would start with the score of their previous quarter’s totals added together. Then to decide a winner, they would decide a target score to reach. This number was found by adding 24 points to the winning teams score at the beginning of the quarter. This would become the target score and then the first team to reach that score would be the winner.

The first quarter was much like any other NBA All-Star game, with little defense and a lot of scoring. Team Lebron would take quarter number one over Team Giannis with a score of 53-41 in 12 minutes of action. However, quarter number two would declare a new winner. Team Giannis would win the second quarter by a score of 51-30. So far, the game was evenly matched with each team winning a quarter in the first half of action. Both teams were putting on a show with impressive plays to get the crowd cheering. The third quarter of action would end in a tie, 41-41. No one was declared a winner in the 12 minutes of play for the third quarter. Going into the final quarter, the game seemed to be very evenly played.

It was time for the Kobe quarter, the fourth and final quarter of action for the 2020 NBA All-Star game. Through the first three quarters, Team Lebron combined for a total of 124 points, while Team Giannis would combine for a total of 133 points. Team Giannis would go into the Kobe quarter with the advantage. The target score to win the game in this untimed quarter would be 157. This was determined by adding 24 points to Team Giannis three quarter total because they were in the lead. The last quarter of the game would play out much differently than the rest. There was much more defense being played and many less points being scored. It seemed that they players were actually trying and now taking it more seriously. In the end, they wanted their team to win. The game was intense, and the crowd was on the edge of their seats. The game reached a score of Team Lebron 156 to Team Giannis 155. The next bucket would win. After a couple minutes of intense play and lock down defense, Anthony Davis, Lakers all-star, would draw a foul on offense. He would go to the free throw line with a chance to send his team home winners. Davis would just need to make one of the two free throws. Anthony Davis missed the first. It all came down to his last shot to bring home the title for Team Lebron. Davis drains the last free throw and Team Lebron was victorious by a score of 157-155.

Team Giannis was held to only 22 points in the untimed quarter. Many players spoke on the last quarter and expressed how much they liked the new format of play. They said it gave the game a more competitive edge and encouraged the teams to take it seriously and play hard. Kawhi Leonard of Team Lebron would be named the All-Star MVP. Also new this year, the All-Star MVP trophy would take on a new name, the Kobe Bryant MVP trophy. Leonard scored a game high 30 points while cashing in 8 of 14 shots from behind the arc.