On February 16, 2020, the 69th NBA All-Star Game was held in the United Center in Chicago. LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo led their individual teams and competed against each other. They chose to adopt the same rules they used in 2020 to honor the death of a legendary basketball player, Kobe Bryant.
Each team’s score was reset every quarter and the team that scored the most in each quarter donated $100,000 to a charity of their choosing, which motivated the players and made the game more competitive. In the 4th quarter, each team had to score 24 points, which was Kobe Bryant’s jersey number, more than the leading team’s total score. For example, if team LeBron was leading and scored 100 points until the 3rd quarter, each team had to score 124 points total, and the winner of the fourth quarter earned $200,000 for their charity.
The legend, Kobe Bryant, died on January 20, 2020. He had a tragic accident on the way to his daughter’s basketball game. Kobe Bryant spent his whole career on the Los Angeles Lakers and earned five NBA championships. His jersey numbers, which were 8 and 24 became the retired number of L.A Lakers. In order to commemorate Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, players played the All-Star game with their jersey numbers.
The result of the game came down to the wire. Team LebBron had scored 157 points and Team Giannis had scored 155 points. The winner of the game, Team LeBron, donated $400,000 to their charity, and team Giannis donated $100,000 to theirs. Kawhi Leonard, who scored 30 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals, earned the MVP of the game. The other important contributors were LeBron James, who scored 23 points, Chris Paul, who scored 23 points, and Giannis Antetokoumpo, who scored 25 points.
By: Joonki Min