NBA All-Star Game: Anthony Edwards, USA Stars top USA Stripes to cap new-look event

INGLEWOOD — For all the talk about how the NBA All-Star Game had become obsolete and outdated, and that not even a new format was going to change perceptions, the 75th edition of the league’s midseason spectacle proved otherwise.

In short, Sunday’s USA vs. the World three-team tournament provided flashes of defense, an overtime period, dramatic game-winners and individual greatness. Bigger still was how much effort the players put into winning each game, perhaps none bigger than Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.

Edwards totaled 31 points in three games to lead his team, USA Stars to the inaugural USA vs. World team All-Star championship with a 47-21 rout of USA Stripes in the final, which was the only chapter without a dramatic late finish in this mini-tournament at the Intuit Dome. Edwards was named the All-Star MVP.

The NBA’s fourth format in four years hoped to stoke nationalistic passion from players and fans during an Olympic year. The slightly older Stripes had beaten the slightly younger Stars on De’Aaron Fox’s 3-pointer at the buzzer in the second 12-minute, round-robin game. But Edwards led the Stars to victory in the rematch with the Stripes, who appeared to run out of gas while playing in their third straight mini-game.

“We chose to compete today, and we came out on top,” said Edwards, who credited San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama of the World team for some of the intensity that led to a largely entertaining event. “I ain’t going to lie, Wemby set the tone. He came out and played hard, and we had to follow that.”

Indeed, the 7-foot-4 French national effectively challenged his fellow All-Stars to take this game seriously, and they largely appeared to do it. Despite going 0-2, Wembanyama led the World team in scoring in both games with 14 points in the opener and 19 in the third game.

“It was a pretty good display of basketball,” Wembanyama said. “Better than last year, in my opinion. It was fun. … I think being honest with ourselves is good. It’s a game we love, it’s a game I personally cherish, so being competitive is the least I can do.”

Edwards’ play overshadowed Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who looked like a solid favorite for MVP honors before the final, but his USA Stripes squad ran out of gas in the championship game.

Leonard, who initially was left off the All-Star roster, seemed determined to prove he belonged in the game that was played on his home court. Leonard played with purpose, scoring a total of 37 points in three games, including 31 in the third game of the day, which eliminated the World team. He shot 11 for 13 from the field and 6 of 7 from behind the arc against the World, making a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in that 48-45 victory.

“I mean, he went crazy,” said Miami Heat guard Norman Powell, who previously played alongside Leonard on the Clippers. “I mean, it’s nothing that I haven’t seen before, but I mean, when he’s healthy, he’s like that. He’s unstoppable.”

Lakers star Luka Doncic, who missed the past four regular-season games with a strained left hamstring, was uncertain how much he would play in the weekend’s showcase event. He said a day earlier that he planned to “play a little bit.”

Doncic’s little bit was five minutes for the World Team in the first game, a 37-35 overtime victory for the USA Stars team, a game that featured blocked shots, close outs and a five-minute overtime period. Scottie Barnes won it for the Stars with a game-ending 3-pointer after Edwards forced OT with a tying 3-pointer.

The fans seated in The Wall wanted to see more of the league’s leading scorer and began chanting “We want Doncic” late in the opening game, but he stayed put on the bench as the USA Stars sent the game into overtime on a 3-pointer by Edwards with 13.3 seconds left.

Much of the attention of this All-Star Game was on a group of players who mostly were well past their 30th birthdays, and that included LeBron James, the 41-year-old who was making his 22nd All-Star appearance.

“Old heads 1-0,” James said after his USA Stripes team defeated the USA Stars, 42-40, on a last-second 3-pointer by San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox in the second game.

But in the end, it was Edwards and the rest of the younger generation who dominated.

Much more to come on this story.