Three take-away as Celtics Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum shine in All-Star Game

Three take-away as Celtics Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum shine in All-Star Game

by

COMMENT

Team LeBron outscored Team Durant in the NBA All-Star Game on Saturday, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry and Jaylen Brown took a big lead over Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum and Kyrie Irving in the fourth quarter and the game with a 170- ended. 150 victory.

Here’s what happened.

The big picture

This is an All-Star Game. There is very little big picture. No real defense was played, some highlights were created and no one was hurt. Sunday’s action was not the most exciting All-Star match, but if everyone stays healthy, the league will probably consider it largely a success.

Player of the game

Giannis Antetokounmpo: 35 points, 16-for-16, 3-for-3 of three.

Steph Curry had a few viral moments, which made him the real winner, but it was impossible to pick another player from the game when Antetokounmpo literally did not miss a shot (even though he caught up with three-pointers).

Celtics Player of the Game

Jaylen Brown: 22 points, 8-for-12 from the floor, 5-for-7 from three.

Brown helped Team LeBron in the fourth quarter with several shots to pull off a piece and convert a four-point game. Tatum’s 21-point performance was nice, but a little less flashy, and the All-Star game is all about flash.

Highlight of the game

Both Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry pulled up in the first half of the half lane and both buried their efforts. Lillard ended the game later with a three-point half-court.

The best professional basketball players are amazing.

Celtics highlight of the game

Brown took some ambitious shots, including this turnaround over James Harden that caught the attention of the TNT stand.

Three takeaways

The new format with the Elam Ending may be great, but it requires a more competitive score in the fourth quarter. Team Durant (who of course did not have Kevin Durant, who missed the game due to injury), appeared discouraged and uninterested in the fourth quarter, while Team LeBron continued to fire open 3-points and bury them . Team Durant was also without Joel Embiid, who – along with Ben Simmons of Team LeBron – was ruled out before the match due to contact detection.

2. The All-Star game was very long with a lot of interruptions and fanfare, but the format – with the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Dunk Contest alternating all evening – actually seemed like a reasonable structure. Saturday night of the All-Star often feels incomplete. All-Star Sunday, if it only contains the game, is a bit anticlimactic. Packing everything together was a lot of content, but having too much on one night actually made for a better product.

3. The dunk game was not great. Anfernee Simons won by flying through the air and almost kissing the edge, and Obi Toppin had some nice dunks, but it was certainly not a power play between Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon.

The dunk game generally looks electric or bad with little space in between. Fans should probably accept that although the electric years are more rare, it’s worth checking out when it comes.

Get the browser alerts from Boston.com:

Turn on news reports directly in your web browser.

Turn on notifications

Okay, you’re logged in!

Source