In an exciting All-Star game, Team LeBron got the win. The format for the All-Star game was changed to make the game even more exciting but also to honour the late great Kobe Bryant. The first 3 quarters in the game are the normal duration of 12 minutes but each quarter starts with the score being 0-0. In the final quarter, the timer will be switched off and the first team to reach the target score wins the game.
The target score is the cumulative score of the team with the most points through the 3 quarters plus 24 in honour of the Black Mamba. In addition to that, a total of 750,000$ was up for grabs to donate to the charities selected by the leader of the 2 teams. LeBron selected the Kent State, I Promise Scholars Program and Kevin Durant selected the Greater Cleveland Food Bank as the charities they were playing for.
The way it worked is 150,000$ were given to both charities regardless of the outcome of the game. The teams would then play for 100,000$ in each quarter (total 300,000$) which would be donated to the charity they chose. The team that would win the game in the 4th quarter would also win the final 150,000$ for their charity.
Team Lebron won the first quarter 47-45 and Team Durant won the second quarter 49-46. Both teams won 100,000$ for their charities. The 3rd quarter ended up being a 45-45 tie. The 4th quarter was extremely thrilling and the target score was 163. The teams started playing some tough defence and Jarrett Allen and Giannis Antetokounmpo had some really good blocks in the quarter. Joel Embiid led Team Durant with a 36 point, 10 rebound performance.
Towards the end, the score was 160-161 with Team LeBron in the lead. It was a one-possession game to win it, a 3 pointer for Team Durant and a basket for Team LeBron. In a storybook ending, LeBron hit a fall-away jumper to lead the team to victory. The All-Star MVP though was Steph Curry who had 50 points in the game. This All-Star game was extremely exciting and ended memorably, worthy of the 75th anniversary of the NBA.
