Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Maxey on Sunday sparked the USA Stars over USA Stripes 47-21 in the final of the 75th NBA All-Star Game tournament.
Maxey scored nine points, while Edwards and Chet Holmgren added eight each as young Stars talent overwhelmed the veteran-laden USA Stripes in the championship game at Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
“We chose to compete today and we came out on top,” said Edwards, the Minnesota Timberwolves guard who won the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player award.
Photo: AFP
The Stars began the final with a 12-1 run, powered by seven points from Maxey, as the Stripes missed their first 10 shots.
The Stars later added a 15-0 run for a 33-9 advantage and the Stripes could not muster a rally.
Donovan Mitchell had six points and NBA all-time scoring leader LeBron James, an All-Star for a record 22nd time, added five for the Stripes.
Instead of the usual two-team event, NBA stars played a tournament of four 12-minute games between two US sides and a World group of global talent.
Concerns about lackluster effort in past All-Star contests were eased in the new format, which produced hustle, defensive effort, plus a competitive spark and a high-energy hunger to win.
“I know a lot of people have been concerned about the All-Star Game, not seeing as much effort. Today we saw it,” said former US president Barack Obama, who was seated at courtside. “Whenever you get an international team against an American team, they want to compete — and you’ve got some young guys I think want to prove something out here.”
The World needed to beat USA Stripes in the round-robin finale to advance, but Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points, including the deciding three-pointer with 3.5 seconds remaining, for a 48-45 Stripes triumph.
“I made my first one, kept on from there and they just kept falling,” said Leonard, who hit six of seven three-point shots.
Frenchman Victor Wembanyama led the World with 19 points.
In the round-robin opener, Edwards scored 13 points and Scottie Barnes sank the winning three-pointer in overtime as the USA Stars beat the World 37-35.
Wembanyama had 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks in an intense contest.
“I ain’t going to lie, Wemby set the tone,” Edwards said. “He came out hard and we had to follow that. We had to pick it up and we did that.”
A tying Edwards three-pointer forced overtime at 32-32. With the first team to score five points winning, Edwards hit a basket, Wembanyama answered with a three-pointer and Barnes made the winner.
“Once it got a little tight, the competition picked up, guys wanted to win,” the World’s Norman Powell said. “We were going to compete every single possession.”
Game 2 saw more drama when De’Aaron Fox sank a three-pointer at the buzzer to give USA Stripes a 42-40 triumph over USA Stars.
An Edwards three-pointer gave the Stars a 40-39 edge until Fox answered from the left wing.
“You live for these moments,” James said. “That’s a big-time play for us older heads... We know how to keep our heads and execute.”
Jaylen Brown scored 11 points and James added eight to lead the Stripes, while Edwards and Cade Cunningham led the Stars with 11 points each.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS