Madison White
Giannis Antetokounmpo against Lebron James in the 2019 NBA All Stars. On Feb. 17, 2019, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Lebron James from the Los Angeles Lakers and Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks faced each other as team captains for the 2019 NBA All Star game. The rosters from both teams consisted of the best players in the NBA, chosen in a draft pick from the captains themselves previously. James’ starters consisted of the following: Golden State Warrior’s Kevin Durant, Toronto Raptor’s Kawhi Leonard, Houston Rocket’s James Harden, and Boston Celtic’s Kyrie Irving. His reserves were Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Ben Simmons, LaMarcus Aldridge, Karl-Anthony Towns, Bradley Beal, and Dwayne Wade. Simmons is the first Australian basketball player to be playing in the NBA All Star games.

          Antetokounmpo’s starters consisted of: Philadelphia 76er’s Joel Embiid, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Paul George, Golden State Warrior’s Stephen Curry, and Charlotte Hornet’s Kemba Walker. His reserves were Khris Middleton, Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, D’Angelo Russell, Nikola Vucevic, Kyle Lowry, and Dirk Nowitzki. This game was set out to convey a fun, light hearted game with not as many technical calls; just all stars from the league showing their skills.

               Antetokounmpo put the first score on the board with the first dunk of the game. Leonard (Team Lebron) soon after scored the first three-pointer. In the first quarter, Antetokounmpo showed mad skills with dominating the score board. During the game, Wade (Team Lebron) and Nowitzki (Team Giannis) celebrated this game with smiles with it both being their last one. With having to retire from both of their basketball careers soon, this bittersweet moment was the best for both of them. The end of the first quarter score was 37-53 with team Giannis in the lead.

               The first score in the second half was taken by Harden (Team Lebron). An outstanding play at this point in the game was Curry (Team Giannis) slamming the ball to the ground to assist Antetokounmpo in a groundbreaking slam dunk. It was recorded that Antetokounmpo scored 20 points so far with three minutes left in the second quarter. The final score of the quarter was 82-95 with team Giannis still dominating.

                  In the third quarter, both teams came neck and neck, stepping up their defense in the process. The score was bouncing back between the two teams, even tying at 127-127. With James’ team strengthening their defense to put pressure on the others, coming out on top for the quarter was destined to happen. The final score of the quarter was 132-131, Team Lebron in the lead, but basically anyone’s game.

                   A significant highlight was Curry making a leap while shooting a three-pointer, landing his body on the ground. Soon after, the game became a competition of shooting three-pointers back and forth. Team Lebron had come out on top with a final score of 178-164. Since James’ team won, they got to donate $350,000 to the Right Moves for Youth foundation. Antetokounmpo’s team also got the sweet prize of donating $150,000 to the Second Harvest Bank of Metrolina. Soon after, the most valuable player award was given to Durant (Team Lebron) for his contributing plays in the game.