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 an (almost always) incident-free event on Sunday. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were prevented due to contact tracking, but they made no close contact with any of the other All-Stars, and the remaining 22 players fought with Team LeBron defeating Team Durant 170-150.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the game’s MVP, led the way with 35 points from 16 of 16 shots, but the game’s lasting memory will be Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard’s kick. The two posted identical lines of fire 8 out of 16 behind the hoop, and both landed several shots from the half-court. Bradley Beal and Kyrie Irving combined for 50 points to lead Team Durant, but that was not enough to compete with what Curry, Lillard and Antetokounmpo did for Team LeBron in victory.
As for the events, the Skills Challenge happened first with Nikola Vucevic and Domantas Sabonis disturbing Chris Paul and Luka Doncic to advance to the finals before the great Pacers man finally took the crown as the Skills Challenge champion. Then, the 3-point contest was held with Stephen Curry, Mike Conley and Jayson Tatum advancing out of the first round before the Warriors star scored a score of 28 in the finals to bring home the hardware for the second time in his career. . Finally, it was Obi Toppin and Anfernee Simons who advanced to the finals of the Dunk Contest with the Trail Blazers guard defeating the Knicks rookie in the final round to take the title. With these events behind us, the NBA will resume its regular season schedule on Wednesday.