By Jonathan Ram, Year 12
On the 19th of February, the NBA held its 72nd All-Star game in Salt Lake City, home of the Utah Jazz. The All-Star rosters were as talented as ever, with many big-name players on their 7th, 12th, or even 19th All-Star appearance of their career. The All-Star game and All-Star weekend are a way of giving the players a break from their demanding season while providing a show for the fans, with high-energy, entertaining events such as the dunk contest, 3-point contest, and of course, the main event, the All-Star game.
Traditionally, the All-Star game was a competition between the best players in the Western Conference versus the Eastern Conference, and it was also charity oriented. However, since 2018, the NBA has introduced a new format for choosing the teams which is a captain-based team-choosing system. Lebron James has been a captain for all 6 years of this new format, of which he has won 5 of the games and lost his first this year against the 3-time captain Giannis Antetokounmpo. The All-Star game is an exceptional game where the best players in the world get to team up on the biggest stage and make many high-flying dunks, long 3-pointers, and iconic moments such as Kobe versus Lebron matchups.
Historically, the NBA All-Star game is played without much rough defense, but rather loose defense which allows for many highlight plays, and very high-scoring games. For reference, out of the 70,000+ games that have been played in NBA history, only about 2 dozen have had a total score of the match (both teams combined) over 300 points. In the last 10 All-Star games, 9 of them have had a total score of both teams over 300 points. With all of this scoring, who is the best scorer?
Well, the answer for total points in All-Star history is unsurprisingly Lebron James with an outstanding 426 total points over 19 appearances, which makes sense considering Lebron’s sustained excellence over his now 20-year career, with no signs of slowing down. On the other hand, the player with the highest career points per game in the All-Star game is Giannis with 25.1 PPG. However, Jayson Tatum, the 24-year-old superstar who plays in Boston, shattered a new All-Star record this year. He broke the previous record of 52 set by Anthony Davis, with an unreal 55 points on very efficient shooting with 10 3-pointers over the course of the game. For this amazing performance, he was awarded the All-Star most valuable player award, which is another thing to add to the legacy of this young phenom.
A Night for the (All) Stars
