JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
I’ll start my article with the already known words Hey hey, this is the NBA, welcome to the NBA ALL STAR GAME 2021 so probably Włodzimierz Szaranowicz would comment, commenting on this game as in the 90s and each broadcast began with a characteristic greeting to all fans “Hey, hey, this is the NBA” We all watched basketball then from morning to evening. Now on you turn those who do not yet watch ALL STAR NBA GAME it is worth seeing . We can compare it to SUPER BOWL as they watch this American Football NFL .
Fans could watch the NBA All Star Game basketball game , in as many as 215 countries around the world . Because this year’s All Star Weekend ” NBA All Star Game 2021 ” was held in Atlanta . There were some interesting attractions in the All Star Game such as the three-point shooting contest and the dunk contest and Skills Challenge took place on Sunday night into Monday. The entire event took place right at State Farm in Atlanta,
The 70th edition of the NBA All-Star Game took place . This year, it was selected and divided in the form of LeBron’s team and Durant’s team. Here, the better team turned out to be LeBron who won 170:150 score totaling 320 points. Durant himself and several other basketball players were missing from the squad. The captains fought LeBron James of the LA Lakers with Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets who was not present on the court.T
The idea of organizing the All Star Game ” NBA All Star Game 2021″ was criticized by many NBA stars, but it took place and I think it’s a good idea, and it’s also for the fact that we have to live on in spite of this difficult situation that we have today crown a virus . We can not push ourselves to the margins. And so they earned a total of exactly $1.25 million for Team LeBron’s charities for TMCF, while Team Durant earned $500,000 for the UNCF.
Captain Durant himself was unable to participate in the NBA ALL STAR GAME because he suffered a knee tendon injury. Durant’s teammate Joel Embiid was also sent to isolation due to contact with a person infected with coronavirus. The same action was taken with Ben Simmons
MVP (Most Valuable Player) title finally went to Giannis Antetokounmpo from LeBron team, who had 35 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Antetokounmpo was 100% efficient, hitting 16/16 attempts from the field. This is a new record in the history of the All-Star Game. Until now, the best performance without a missed shot was Hal Greer in 1968. The Philadelphia 76ers player hit 8/8 of his attempts.10 of the 12 possible votes for the All-Star Game MVP. The award was decided by 9 journalists present in the arena and fans who could vote via social media.
This year the NBA decided to replace the three days of activity with one day .The skills competition which was won by Domantas Sabonis, Indiana Pacers and the threes competition Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors won the threes competition , in the first round he had 31 hits and in the final clash he defeated Conley by one point 28 to 27 and won this threes competition for the second time in his career. In NBA All Star GAME he hit seven threes and equaled Russell Westbrook’s record. That’s called a horse day. In turn, it was decided that the “Slum Dunk” dunk contest will be held between the breaks of the NBA All Star Game. The “Slum Dunk” was won by Anfernee Simons, the Portland Trail Blazers was close to kissing the rim with his final dunk and the jury appreciated his effort and creativity.
As for the other highlights, the NBA dropped the Rising Stars Game and the Celebrity Game. These were elements that commissioner Adam Silver deemed unnecessary in such difficult conditions.
“NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP Award”
I’m incredibly happy to have an award named after Kobe Bryant in my house. It’s a great feeling. I really wanted to win last year and take the trophy already then. I didn’t think like that now. I focused more on playing and it worked out in my favor because I played well – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks interviewed for CNN.
Skills competition won – Domantas Sabonis, Indiana Pacers
Six players took part in the competition, two of which – Luka Doncić and Chris Paul – were given a free ticket in the first round and awaited their rivals in the semi-finals. In the first duel Domantas Sabonis defeated Julius Randle by making an accurate pass and hitting a three-pointer on his first attempt. Nikola Vucevic did exactly the same against Robert Covington and the Serb easily advanced to the semi-finals. In the first one Sabonis did not give the slightest chance to Doncić, hitting a three while Luka was still on the opposite side of the floor.
– Robert Covington, Portland Trail Blazers
– Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
– Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns
– Julius Randle, New York Knicks
– Domantas Sabonis, Indiana Pacers
– Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic
Threes competition – Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
The three-point-throwing competition also featured six basketball players, and Stephen Curry seemed to be the clear favourite. The Golden State Warriors’ playmaker did not disappoint in the first round, scoring 31 points and advancing to the final with confidence. Mike Conley (26 points) and Jason Tatum (25 points) followed him. Zach LaVine (22pts), Donovan Mitchell (21pts) and Jaylen Brown (17pts) missed the second round. Tatum was the first to score in the final round, but it was not his best performance. Celtics winger scored only 17 points, which was not enough to win the game. Conley, who replaced injured Devin Booker, was much better, hitting last seven attempts from beyond the arc and scoring 27 points. The last player was Curry, who started very badly, hitting only one of his first five shots. However, he hit 18 of his next 22 attempts, including two green balls worth three points each, which eventually allowed him to beat the Utah Jazz quarterback by one point. For Curry, it is his second career win in the threes competition.
– Mike Conley, Utah Jazz
– Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
– Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
– Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls
– Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz
– Jayston Tatum, Boston Celtics
Dunk contest – Anfernee Simons, Portland Trail Blazers
This year only three players participated in the most fan-pleasing contest: Obi Toppin (Knicks), Anfernee Simons (Trail Blazers) and Cassius Stanley (Pacers). In contrast, we had five former champions of the event among the judges: Josh Smith, Dominique Wilkins, Jason Richardson, Spud Webb and Dee Brown. In the first round, each competitor had two dunks to perform. Stanley made his first attempt, but his dunk under the leg did not thrill the judges, who gave him a total of 44 points. Obi Toppin fared much better as he bounced the ball off the ground and then bagged it with his back to the basket, earning the judges’ appreciation worth 48 points. The dunk of the last participant, Simons, was a take off of a higher hung ball and put it in the basket, which was scored 46 points. On his second attempts, it was Cassius Stanley who completely fell short of his planned dunk and ended up scoring barely 37 points. Anfernee Simons, on the other hand, made a very interesting dunk with a 360-degree spin in the air while wearing a retro Tracy McGrady jersey from the Toronto Raptors. This performance earned the young Portland player a whopping 49 points. At the end, Obi Toppin made his attempt, jumping over his father and Julius Randle while making a windmill, which was evaluated at 46 points.
So it was Toppin and Simons in the final. Both had one attempt each, neither of which was very thrilling. The Knicks dunk failed on the first attempt, while Simons had an interesting idea of kissing the rim before the dunk, but was not even close to executing it accurately. In the end, three judges chose Anfernee, with two votes for Obi Toppin, which meant that it was the Portland Trail Blazers basketball player who won this year’s dunk contest.
– Anfernee Simons, Portland Trail Blazers
– Cassius Stanley, Indiana Pacers
– Obi Toppin, New York Knicks
Team LeBron – Team Durant 170:150 (40:39, 60:41, 46:45, 24:25)
Team LeBron: Giannis Antetokounmpo 35, Damian Lillard 32, Stephen Curry 28, Jaylen Brown 22, Paul George 17, Rudy Gobert 10, Luka Doncić 8, Nikola Jokić 6, Chris Paul 6, LeBron James 4, Domantas Sabonis 2.
Team Durant: Bradley Beal 26, Kyrie Irving 24, Jayson Tatum 21, James Harden 21, Donovan Mitchell 15, Zach LaVine 13, Zion Williamson 10, Kawhi Leonard 8, Nikola Vucevic 5, Julius Randle 4, Mike Conley 3.
