Tatum scores All-Star record 55, wins MVP as Team Giannis wins 184-175

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jayson Tatum put on arecord-setting show, and made Giannis Antetokounmpo look like agenius.

Tatum scored an All-Star Game-record 55 points on his way towinning MVP honors, and Team Giannis ended LeBron James’ hold onAll-Star captain supremacy by beating Team LeBron 184-175 in theNBA’s annual showcase exhibition on Sunday night.

Jayson Tatum went OFF for an NBA All-StarGame record 27 PTS in Q3 👀52 PTS, 9 REB, 5 AST, 10 3PM#NBAAllStar| Live on TNT pic.twitter.com/iIVsghzRk0

Tatum had 27 points in the third quarter, another All-Star Gamerecord for any period. He was the first pick by Antetokounmpo inthe starters’ portion of the All-Star draft, and in the end, thatpick proved to be the right one.

“It means the world,” Tatum said. “You think of all the legendsand 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 tryto break it.”

Tatum broke Anthony Davis’ All-Star record of 52 points. He was22 of 31 from the floor, plus had 10 rebounds and six assists.

It was James’ first loss in six times as captain. Antetokounmpoimproved to 1-2 in his All-Star captaincies, and became the firstcaptain to hoist a new trophy presented to the winners of theAll-Star Game.

“Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” Antetokounmpo said.

Donovan Mitchell added 40 for Team Giannis, which got 26 pointsfrom Damian Lillard — including the game-winner to push his teampast the target score.

Jaylen Brown scored 35 points and had 14 rebounds for TeamLeBron, while Kyrie Irving had 32 points and 15 assists and JoelEmbiid finished with 32 points.

Lillard, the winner of the 3-point contest on All-Star SaturdayNight, made eight 3s — including a halfcourt pullup in the thirdquarter.

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

The league had a ceremony before the second half to pay tributeto the three leading scorers in NBA history: No. 3 Karl Malone, No.2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James, now the game’s career leader afterhe passed Abdul-Jabbar earlier this month.

Malone and Abdul-Jabbar were brought to the stage, and thenDwyane Wade — James’ former teammate in Miami and now a part-ownerof 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.”

With the number 38,388 displayed behind him, James then raisedhis hand to thank the fans for their ovation, hugged Abdul-Jabbarand Malone. He didn’t return to the game, his night ending with aright hand contusion.

He finished with 13 points, and said a chasedown block in thefirst 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 ahalf-minute.

Antetokoumpo drafted his team before the game, went throughwarmups (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 All-Star Saturday’s skills event,limited him to 20 seconds in this one. He got an uncontested dunkto 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.”

As in past years, the teams played for charity, with Team LeBronraising money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah and Team Giannisfor Raise the Future, which connects youth waiting in foster carewith stable adults. Each team started with $150,000, with the firstthree quarters worth another $100,000 apiece and the All-Star Gamewinner getting another $150,000.

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

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

TIP-INS

Team Giannis: Antetokounmpo’s two points kept him the all-timeAll-Star scoring average leader. He’s now averaging 25.1 points inAll-Star Games, just ahead of Kevin Durant (25.0). Without thatbasket, he’d average 24.9. ... Jrue Holiday took Antetokounmpo’sspot in the starting lineup for the second half.

Team LeBron: Denver’s Nikola Jokic, the two-time reigning MVP,became the first player to start an All-Star Game on his birthday;he turned 28 on Sunday. The only other player to appear in anAll-Star Game on his birthday, the NBA said, was Larry Nance Sr. in1989. ... Halftime lasted 42 minutes. ... Paul George started inplace of James for the second half.

214 COUNTRIES

Last year’s All-Star Game was broadcast in 215 countries; thisyear, it was shown in 214 countries. The omission was Russia. TheNBA isn’t showing its games in Russia and hasn’t for nearly a year.The league suspended its business activities with Russia in March2022, just days after that country invaded Ukraine.

REFEREES

The officiating crew of John Goble, Mark Lindsay and MichaelSmith had the game.

UP NEXT

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