The three-pointers splashed time and time again Sunday night during the 2023 NBA All-Star Game at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
The Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, playing for Team Giannis, had stretches when he seemingly couldn’t miss, finishing 10 of 18 from beyond the arc while pouring in an All-Star Game record 55 points en route to earning game MVP honors.
“It means the world,” Tatum said. “You think of all the legends and great players that have played this game, and in all honesty, records are made to be broken. I’ll hold it for as long as I can, but I’m certain someone will come along in a couple years and try to break it.”
Teammate Damian Lillard shook off a slow start — he was 1 of 8 on threes at one point — to nail 8 of 20 threes and add 26 points. The Portland Trail Blazers star, who won the All-Star three-point contest Saturday night, made a three-pointer from halfcourt in the third quarter and also hit the game-winning three from the left wing to lift Team Giannis to a 184-175 victory against Team LeBron.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell hit eight threes of his own and finished with 40 points for Team Giannis, which went 29 of 66 (43.9%) from beyond the arc.
Tatum broke Anthony Davis’ All-Star record of 52 points. He scored 27 points in the third quarter alone, went 22 of 31 from the floor, plus had 10 rebounds and six assists.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown scored 35 points for Team LeBron, while Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Dallas’ Kyrie Irving had 32 points apiece. Irving also dished out 15 assists.
Although the All-Stars of course had been decided heading into Sunday’s game, the specific rosters for each team were not decided until minutes before the All-Star Game, when team captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James held a draft live on TNT to pick their teams. The playground-style format was a new twist to the All-Star Game for this year.
Antetokounmpo opened the draft by selecting Lillard as his first pick. When it came time to pick the starters, Tatum was Antetokounmpo’s first selection.
It was James’ first loss in six times as captain. Antetokounmpo improved to 1-2 in his All-Star captaincies, and became the first captain to hoist a new trophy presented to the winners of the All-Star Game.
“Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” Antetokounmpo said.
Antetokounmpo was nursing a wrist injury and checked out of the game right after scoring his team’s first points. James suffered a hand injury during the first half and sat out the second half.
The league had a ceremony before the second half to pay tribute to the three leading scorers in NBA history: No. 3 Karl Malone, No. 2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James, now the game’s career leader after he passed Abdul-Jabbar earlier this month.
Malone and Abdul-Jabbar were brought to the stage, and then Dwyane Wade — James’ former teammate in Miami and now a part-owner of the Jazz — introduced James to bring him onto the platform.
“We’ve all been witnesses,” Wade said. “No matter the challenge, no matter the noise, he was relentless.”
With the number 38,388 displayed behind him, James then raised his hand to thank the fans for their ovation, hugged Abdul-Jabbar and Malone.
As in past years, the teams played for charity, with Team LeBron raising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah and Team Giannis for Raise the Future, which connects youth waiting in foster care with stable adults. Team Giannis won $550,000 for its charity, and Team LeBron won $200,000.
And Tatum, just as he vowed he would at his first All-Star Game in 2020 — when the award was named for Bryant — won the trophy that he’s wanted for a while.
“Icing on the cake,” Tatum said.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.