The NBA All-Star Game offered viewers a record-breaking shootout, with Damian Lillard voted the best player

The all-star basketball game in Indianapolis this year offered an unprecedented shootout as the NBA’s best players combined for an impressive 397 points. Damian Lillard was voted the MVP of the game, scoring 39 points for the winning team from the East.

East vs West 211:186 (104:89)

The Eastern Conference team was led by a trio of players. Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard scored the aforementioned 39 points. Boston’s Jaylen Brown contributed 36 points. And Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton scored 32 points.

It was the first time in the seventy-three year history of these exhibition games that any team had broken the two hundred point mark. The NBA returned to a West vs. East format for the first time since 2017. The top scorer of the game, however, was Karl – Anthony Towns, who defended the colors of the West and scored 50 points in 28 minutes on the floor.

The lineup of the starting lineups

The following players started in the starting five for the team defending the colors of the Eastern Conference: Jayson Tatum ( Boston), Jannis Adetokunbo ( Milwaukee), Bam Adebayo (Miami), Damian Lillard (Milwaukee) and Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana).

Lebron James (Lakers), Kevin Durant (Phoenix), Nikola Jokic (Denver), Luka Doncic (Dallas) and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander (Oklahoma).

Damian Lillard was named Player of the Game

Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks was voted the Player of the Game by a fairly unanimous vote. Although he wasn’t the game’s top scorer, he made a total of 11 successful threes, including 2 from half-court.

Lillard also dominated the three-point shooter competition on Saturday. He was becoming the first player since 1988 to win the skills competition during All-Star Weekend. As well as the MVP award for the best player of the exhibition game. The last time such a feat was accomplished by one of the greatest legends, Michael Jordan, however, he won the MVP contest in the aforementioned year. The combination of best three-man and MVP award was the first time Lillard was the first player in the history of these exhibition games.

In the game, the team from the East converted an incredible 42 three-point attempts. Which is also a new record for these duels. Home star Tyrese Haliburton contributed 10 threes. The Eastern Conference team led the game from the first quarter and increased their lead with each passing quarter.

Karl-Anthony Towns was the best player of the Western Conference side

The best player on the Western Conference side, Karl-Anthony Towns, could do nothing about it as he scored 50 points. Lebron James also entered the game, mainly because of the fans. However, he is still bothered by a sore ankle, yet he spent 14 minutes on the floor without a few seconds and scored 8 points. James entered his 20th All-Star game, which is an absolute record for these exhibition games.

Damian Lillard beat home star Tyrese Haliburton 7-5 in the voting for the best player of the game. The Kobe Bryant Trophy was decided by a total of 9 media representatives and 3 votes were cast by fan representatives via the NBA app.

However, the all-star game offered fans exactly what they expected. No defense, lots of points and most importantly, effective finishes. Exactly as it is customary in these games.

Source: NBA