INDIANAPOLIS — Before the NBA All-Star Game even started, Lakers star LeBron James mentioned during his pregame media availability that he’d play limited minutes in the league’s premier exhibition – especially in light of the left ankle injury he’s nursing.
This came to fruition, with James only playing in the first half of the Western Conference’s 211-186 loss to the Eastern Conference Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“I’m feeling OK,” James said. “I wasn’t going to put too much pressure on the game [Sunday] for me physically. I want to try to be as healthy as I can be. This last part of the season is very important for us. I got to make sure of that.”
James finished with eight points, four rebounds and three assists in 14 first-half minutes – mostly getting his points in transition in an All-Star Game that once again lacked defensive intensity from the opening tip.
The biggest highlight from James came when Clippers forward Paul George bounce passed an alley-oop to James in the second quarter – a familiar play for Lakers fans in recent months, as it was similar to the bounce pass alley-oops that D’Angelo Russell has thrown to James a couple of times.
He also threw down a tomahawk dunk in the first quarter that led to a still-frame photo that was reminiscent of a dunk he had in his first All-Star Game 19 years ago.
“It’s super surreal and super crazy and just very humbled and blessed that I can be able to still perform on the stage at this point in my career and be able to do some of the things that I did 20 years ago,” James said. “That’s pretty cool.”
James said that the left ankle peroneal tendinopathy that he got treatment for during the All-Star break and plans to get more treatment for on Monday could “possibly” sideline him for Thursday’s road game against the Golden State Warriors, adding that “it depends on the recovery process.”
Fellow Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis (six points, nine assists, eight rebounds in 22 minutes ) only played seven first-half minutes. By the time he subbed in late in the third quarter, the Eastern Conference was up by 21 and on its way to a blowout win over the West in the highest-scoring NBA All-Star Game in history.
George (13 points) and Kawhi Leonard (five points), representing the Clippers, had limited roles, with both playing fewer than 11 minutes.
Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard led the East with 39 points on 11 3-pointers with six assists, being named the All-Star Game MVP one night after winning his second consecutive 3-point contest.
Lillard was one of three East players who scored at least 30 points, along with Boston Celtics forward Jalen Brown (36 points, eight rebounds) and Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (32 points on 10 3s to go with seven rebounds and six assists).
Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns led the West with 50 points – just the fourth time a player has scored at least 50 points in the All-Star game.
The East shot 42 of 97 (43.3%) on 3s – indicative of the game’s competitiveness.
Sunday was the first time the All-Star Game was played under the East vs. West format since 2017, scrapping the format that saw the captains pick their respective teams with no regard to conference affiliation.
But that had little to no impact on how the game was played compared to the last few exhibitions, with both teams offering little resistance on the less glamorous end of the floor.
“It’s something we need to figure out,” James said. “Where is the median? This is what a lot of the games are starting to look like, too. We wanted to get more pace into the games. We wanted to get more shots. We wanted the game to be more free-flowing. That’s what our games are like in the regular season now. They let us tighten up in the postseason.
“It’s a deeper dive into a conversation of how we can shore up this game. From a player’s perspective, it’s fun to get up and down, but at the end of the day, our competitive nature [doesn’t] like to have free-flowing scoring like that. The good thing that came out of [Sunday] was none of the players were injured, and everybody came out unscathed or how they were before the game started. It’s a deeper conversation.”
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