The NBA All-Star weekend started with the Rising Stars tournament, which this year was played in the Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
The tournament featured rookies, second season players and the most promising basketball players from the G League.
The competition is organized through four teams and three games, and the winner is decided by reaching a predetermined number of points.
Rookie VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers was the key figure of the night. In the semi-final he scored 17 points, and in the final match he calmly made two free throws and thus brought victory to his team with a score of 25:24.
A special moment of the night was provided by San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper, who hit a game-winning shot past his older brother Ron Harper Jr. in the first semifinal. Harper added eight more points in the finals playing for Team Melo, where he played alongside Stephon Castle, last season’s Rookie of the Year and Rising Stars Tournament MVP.
At the end of the final match, Castle made an attractive dunk after a miss by Jeremiah Fears and reduced the deficit to just one point. However, Edgecombe forced a foul from Donovan Clingan and confirmed the victory by making accurate free throws.
In contrast to the remarks that have accompanied the main All-Star games in recent seasons due to the lack of intensity, the Rising Stars meeting offered significantly more combativeness and energy.
Edgecombe pointed out after the match that the experienced mentors who led the teams, including Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Austin Rivers, played an important role.
However, the Rising Stars tournament did not gather all the league’s biggest young hopes, because the first draft pick Cooper Flagg, then Alex Sarr from the Washington Wizards and Cedric Coward from the Memphis Grizzlies were absent due to injuries.
(Vijesti.ba)
