Tatum scores all-star record 55 points as Team Giannis downs Team LeBron | CBC Sports

Jayson Tatum put on a record-setting show, and made Giannis Antetokounmpo look like a genius.

Tatum scored an all-star game-record 55 points on his way to winning MVP honours, and Team Giannis ended LeBron James’s hold on all-star captain supremacy by beating Team LeBron 184-175 in the NBA’s annual showcase exhibition on Sunday night in Salt Lake City.

Tatum had 27 points in the third quarter, another all-star game record for any period. He was the first pick by Antetokounmpo in the starters’ portion of the all-star draft, and in the end, that pick proved to be the right one.

“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.”

Tatum broke Anthony Davis’s all-star record of 52 points. He was 22 of 31 from the floor, plus had 10 rebounds and six assists.

It was James’s 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.

Jaylen Brown scored 35 points and had 14 rebounds for Team LeBron, while Kyrie Irving had 32 points and 15 assists and Joel Embiid finished with 32 points.

Lillard, the winner of the three-point contest on Saturday night, made eight threes — including a halfcourt pullup in the third quarter.

“That was the worst basketball game I’ve ever seen,” Team LeBron coach Michael Malone said, clearly poking fun at the defense-optional event.

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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.”

He finished with 13 points, and said a chasedown block in the first half led to him getting a finger caught in the rim.

“Precautionary reasons,” James said.

James played a half. The game’s other captain didn’t play a half-minute.

Antetokoumpo drafted his team before the game, went through warmups (such as they were) and started the game as planned.

But his right wrist was wrapped, and that was an ominous sign. The injury kept him out of Saturday’s skills event, limited him to 20 seconds in this one. He got an uncontested dunk to open the game, then took a foul and headed to the bench.

“Whatever I have, I’m going to give,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s who I am. That’s never going to change.”

The teams were tied at 46-46 in the first quarter, and Team Giannis took the second quarter 53-46. Team Giannis also won the third quarter 59-49, and the cumulative score to that point — 158-141, Team Giannis — meant 182 would be the score to reach in the untimed fourth quarter with a target-score ending.

Team Giannis won $700,000 for its charity, and Team LeBron won $200,000.

Indianapolis will play host to the next NBA all-star weekend, set for Feb. 16-18, 2024. The city was supposed to have the 2021 game, but it was moved to Atlanta and considerably scaled down because of the pandemic.