The 2021 NBA All-Star Game is officially in the books. After months of debate over the decision to host one during a pandemic, the league was fortunately able to hold a (mostly) event-free event on Sunday. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were kept out due to contact detection, but they made no close contact with any of the other All-Stars, and the 22 remaining players defended it with Team LeBron defeating Team Durant 170-150.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the MVP of the match, led by 35 points on 16-of-16 shooting, but the lasting memory from the match is the shooting of Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard. The two placed identical 8-of-16 shooting lines from behind the arc, and both fired several shots from the halfway line. Bradley Beal and Kyrie Irving together scored 50 points to lead Team Durant, but that just wasn’t enough to compete with what Curry, Lillard and Antetokounmpo did for Team LeBron in the win.
As for the events, the Skills Challenge took place first with Nikola Vucevic and Domantas Sabonis upsetting Chris Paul and Luka Doncic to advance to the finals before the Pacers grandpa finally clinched the crown as Skills Challenge champion. The 3-point game was then held with Stephen Curry, Mike Conley and Jayson Tatum advancing from the first round before the Warriors star scored a score of 28 in the final round to get the hardware for the second time in his career to bring home. In the end, it was Obi Toppin and Anfernee Simons who advanced to the finals of the Dunk game with the Trail Blazers guard knocking the Knicks rookie to the title in the final round. With these events behind us, the NBA will resume its normal season on Wednesday.