In the hall of his Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry was primarily responsible for the fact that the newly designed all-star game in the NBA met the expectations.
Curry led his team in San Francisco with twelve points in the final of the first-time tournament of the best players in the league to a 41:25 victory. The 36-year-old converted four three-point throws and was recognized as MVP, although his team-mate Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) statistically had an even larger share of victory with 15 points.
“Our responsibility is to pull off a show, and I thank my teammates for helping me”said Curry, who has already won four NBA titles with Golden State and has already been awarded the best player in the All-Star games in 2022. The players of the victorious “Team Shaq” by ex-superstar Shaquille O’Neal each received a reward of $ 125,000.
The winning team has to do without LeBron James
Unlike in the past, the event was not held as a duel between Western and Eastern Conference, but for the first time as a mini tournament with a total of four teams. The NBA legends O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith put together three of the four semi-finalists, plus a “Rising Stars Champions” junior team.
Superstar LeBron James from the Los Angeles Lakers should actually play in the “Team Shaq”, but did not use an insert due to an ankle injury. James had been elected to the All-Star game for the 21st time.
Falling popularity of the All-Star games
The importance of the game had suffered from players and fans in the past, the reform should bring new swing to the all-star weekend. Fans (50 percent), the NBA professionals and media (25 percent each) chose the participants as usual. A game ended with the exceeding the 40-point mark. In addition to the main event, it had traditionally also had skill challenges as well as a slam-dark contest and a threee point contest.