They were down 9 heading into the final quarter, but it was LeBron James' team that pulled through in the 4th to reach the target score of 157 in the first ever NBA All-Star game played with the Elam Ending.
The "Elam Ending" was first introduced in The Basketball Tournament, an annual 5-on-5 tournament played for millions, with a "target score" needing to be reached to win the game, the score being a cumulative total of points from the first three quarters from each team plus a specific number. For its inaugural appearance in the All-Star Game last night, the added number of points from the leading team's total at the end of the third quarter to achieve the target score was 24, in honor of Kobe Bryant. The format was thought to be one that would bring more excitement and a new level of competitiveness to the game.
And that it did.
Come the 4th quarter, there were no wide open lanes, off the backboard dunks or uncontested 40 foot heaves. Instead, there was half court offense, charge calls and free throw attempts. Nothing easy.
The game, especially the last quarter, was reminiscent of playground basketball with its hyper competition. Kyle Lowry drew a charge on Kawhi Leonard - who would win MVP of the game with a 30 point, 7 rebound, 4 assist performance on 8 out of 14 three point attempts - and Giannis Antetokounmpo pinned a James layup attempt against the glass. The game ended - albeit in anticlimactic fashion - on an Anthony David free throw make.
The game was the most competitive the league has seen in a long time, and for me, the night brought back memories of Kobe Bryant in 2011, when he blocked a James jump shot and dunked on James on a fast break. The competitiveness that most, if not all, of us wanted injected into the game was there, due to the introduced format. Still, I wouldn't mind if they made a couple of tweaks.
One would be not having the game end on a free throw. And the other, to eliminate that possibility entirely, would be to still add up the scores from quarters 1 to 3, keeping the same format from quarters 1 to 3 and the involvement of the charities, but just have the 4th quarter played out the entire 12 minutes, like a regular quarter. This would erase the target score but keep the competitiveness of a real game and keep the game more traditional.
Whether they make additional changes or not, this new format might stick. I think that it, for the most part, gave us as fans what we wanted to see. I would, however, like them to revert back to the traditional East vs. West. The starting lineups last night were East vs. West anyways, and with only three members of each team being from the other conference (Ben Simmons, Domantas Sabonis, and Jayson Tatum crossed over onto Team LeBron, while Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and Brandon Ingram crossed over onto Team Giannis), I don't think that the draft format makes much of a difference. I would like to see them go back to the traditional format. Another reason why I would like to see that is I think the conferences next year will be more evened out. Kevin Durant is in the East now, and who wouldn't want to see Durant and Antetokounmpo battle Leonard and James? That would be a fantastic match-up.
With the win last night, Team LeBron notched $400,000 for their charity, which was the Chicago Scholar's Foundation, while Team Giannis notched $300,000 for After School Matters.
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