Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Shaq's OGs defeated Keyonte George's Rising Stars 42-35 in the semifinals.
- Damian Lillard led OGs with 9 points; Curry earned MVP with 12 points in finals.
- The new All-Star Game format received mixed reviews but was praised for competitiveness.
SAN FRANCISCO — Keyonte George hit the first shot of the game — a 3-pointer from the top of the key — to give the Rising Stars an early lead. The rest of the contest went about as you'd expect.
George's Rising Stars team was bested 42-35 in the semifinals of the All-Star Game tournament by "Shaq's OGs." The game had a targeted score to 40, which was hit when Damian Lillard nailed a 3-pointer to put the OGs over the line.
The OGs had a 37-31 lead and missed four straight triples — varying from ridiculous deep stepbacks by Steph Curry to clean looks from Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant — that all would have put the game away.
That allowed the Rising Stars to inch back into the contest, but ultimately the team full of All-Star veterans never were in too much danger of losing to some of the league's upstarts.
Lillard led the OGs with 9 points and three assists in the game.
George went quiet after that opening 3-pointer, missing his other three shots. He added two rebounds for the Rising Stars team.
So did the young players like the format?
"I mean, I'm kind of 50/50 on it," said Spurs guard Stephon Castle, who played on the Rising Stars team. "I liked the opportunity for us to be able to go out there and play the All-Stars, but I feel like the All-Stars earned to play each other on Sundays, too."
That said, the game featuring the Rising Stars was probably the best of the tournament. The OGs upped the defensive intensity early to make sure there would be no funny results.
The OGs went on to win the tournament with a 41-25 victory over "Chuck's Global Stars" in the championship.
Curry dropped 12 points in the championship game to earn MVP honors, and Tatum added 15 points for the OGs, who jumped out to a quick 11-1 lead. Former Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell went 0-for-7 in the championship game for the Global Stars.
So was the new format a success? Kind of …
If the goal was to get more competitive basketball during the league's showcase, you can chalk it up as a win. There was legitimate defense being played (even featuring tie-ups and fouls) that made for some fun moments.
Curry said that "new life, new juice" was needed for the All-Star Game that had turned stale in the last few years, with players clearly giving half-hearted (at best) efforts. Curry said the format was "a good step in the right direction" to help reinvigorate the game.
"It's not going to look like it used to, but it can still be fun for everyone," he said.
The next step could easily be just speeding things up.
The three games felt like they took a backseat to long commercial breaks, talking segments and just about everything else (to be fair, a fan winning $100,000 for beating Lillard in a shooting contest was good stuff). The nearly three-hour broadcast had less than an hour of actual basketball being played.
"It was different," Jaylen Brown said. "I think they are trying something different to see what kind of works. … I don't have any thoughts on it. It was just different."
But at least one of the league's rising stars would like to see it be less different — even if it meant that he didn't get to be on the main stage.
"Yeah, I would go back to the East-West that they had going," Castle said. "I don't remember the last year they stopped that, but I was a fan of East-West."
