The NBA All-Star Game returned to the traditional East vs. West format for the first time since 2017. The West won three straight from 2015-17 before the NBA switched things up to spice up the event.
Despite entering Sunday night as a 2.5-point favorite, the West was blown out from the jump in a 211-186 rout. Not only was it a rout, but the East dominated like no other team before, scoring the most points in All-Star Game history. The previous high was set by the West in a 196-173 win in 2016.
The East became the first team to score 200 points on a 3-pointer by Tyrese Haliburton. It’s only fitting it came on a 3 considering the East set a new record for 3-pointers made in a game with 42.
Meanwhile, a game known for it’s lack of defense had even less than usual. The teams combined for 193 points in the first half, which was the most in any half in All-Star game history. As a result, the over on 356 points was never really in question. It was a simply a matter of when it’d hit. The answer was late in the fourth when Giannis Antetokounmpo scored an easy bucket with 3:38 left.
With the game out of hand, the only true drama in the second half was whether Damian Lillard or Haliburton would take home MVP honors. Haliburton had the third-best odds to win it at FanDuel prior to the game at +550. Meanwhile, Lillard had the seventh-lowest odds at +1100.
However, after strong first halves, the two were locked in a close battle when the second half got under way, with Lillard at +120 and Haliburton +160 on DraftKings. Lillard – who won his second straight 3-point contest the night before – had 22 points in the first half, while Haliburton – playing on his homecourt in front of Pacers fans – had 18. The latter brought the house down early, hitting five straight 3-pointers in just 92 seconds to give the East a 20-14 lead less than four minutes into the game.
However, while Haliburton had a strong second half, Lillard pulled away in the third quarter. He scored 11 points, including a half-court shot that went straight through the net. He sealed his MVP performance with another half-court shot that splashed through with 22 seconds remaining in the game. Lillard finished with 39 points and 11 3-pointers while Haliburton had 32 and 10 3s.
Meanwhile, Karl-Anthony Towns had a historic game of his own. The Timberwolves star scored 50 points, including 31 in the fourth quarter. It was the most scored in a single quarter, eclipsing Jayson Tatum’s previous record of 26 set last year.
NBA action resumes on Thursday with 12 games slated to tip off.
