Team Giannis 164-178 Team LeBron
The NBA All-Star 2019 weekend was one for the books.
Not only did it have a lot of intriguing storylines coming in, but it was also a weekend that featured and celebrated many of the league’s top players. There was a lot to love for rabid basketball fans of all shapes and sizes.
However, the pick of the bunch is still the All-Star game. LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo did incredibly well in drafting their respective teams, making for an enjoyable moment for both players and fans who made the trip to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Some of the best NBA All-Star 2019 highlights as the 2019 class stepped up and gave us moments that we will be talking about for days. Don’t worry if you missed the game, though; we at SBOBET have taken all of the juiciest bits and served them up just for you!
Highlights of the game
A fun game for everyone
The All-Star games of recent years have always been high-scoring affairs as the rosters feature some of the most impressive scorers in the league. While it is fun to see your favourite NBA stars score the lights out, many complained that the value of the game diminished due to a lack of defence.
This is why the all-new format is an impressive stroke by Adam Silver. The final score is still an insane amount of points, you can see that the players on the court were exerting a bit of defence (albeit still lax).
The game itself was an interesting spectacle if you looked at it from the box score alone. Team Giannis were completely dominating for much of the game, but Team LeBron turned on the jets and put on a shooting clinic in the second half to beat the live NBA All-Star 2019 betting odds and win 178-164. Kevin Durant was the unanimous MVP with his 31 points, while LeBron, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving provided some great backup for the Golden State star.
That isn’t much of a surprise, though. When you have five of the league’s best closers in your starting lineup, you just know that things will get interesting.
The passing of the torch
Depending on who your favourite player is, the All-Star game had you either pumped up with adrenaline or reduced to tears.
It was a particularly sad night for many Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat fans as they saw Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade strut across the All-Star hardwood. Dirk may not have announced his retirement yet, but it’s highly likely that he’ll join Wade and walk off to the sunset.
A particularly emotional moment for the fans and haters of the Miami Super Team was the incredible off-the-glass alley-oop between Wade and LeBron. It instantly brought everyone back to the era when LeBron and Wade were stomping everyone in the league. Dirk’s consecutive treys off the bench also took a lot of Mavs fans on a loop.
The way the two future Hall-Of-Famers carried themselves set an example to the rest of the young guys that aspire to have a career as impressive as theirs. And it seems like Giannis more than got the memo.
The Greek Freak played for the crowd and played an incredible All-Star game. He scored 38 points, grabbed 11 boards, made 5 assists, and stole the ball once on a 73.9% shooting clip. If he hasn’t made his intentions of becoming the league’s best player clear, then this game was his statement.
Giannis has arrived. Giannis will stay. Giannis will not go anywhere.
Oh, and he just made one of the most incredible dunks of the All-Star weekend.
Yes, I think it’s even better than that dunk over Shaq.
Key statistics
The highest-scoring All-Star game of all time was the 2017 All-Star game where both teams combined for 374 points. This year’s game came close to the 190-mark, but the amount of defence both teams played by both sides made the score a bit tighter. That would surely appease some fans.
Ten Team LeBron players scored double-digit points while there were seven players from Team Giannis had more than ten points. Both teams had high assist totals, but Team Giannis one-upped Team LeBron at 43.
The Flash showed a bit of everything in his 10 minutes of game time, netting 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists. Meanwhile, The Dunking Deutschman was nowhere near the rim but managed to score nine points from three-point attempts.
That’s right. He made every. Single. One.
What’s next?
Now that every major news story is out of the way, the entire league zips back to business mode as they prepare for the post-break rush. Every team still in playoff contention wants to start on the right track, so a win is paramount here.
The most intriguing games coming out of the break are the Boston-Milwaukee game. People will be on the lookout for Giannis after that monster All-Star game he had.
Meanwhile, the Orlando Magic will be doing everything they can to keep their fantastic streak alive against the Chicago Bulls. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder will reset to winning ways when they face the Utah Jazz.
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