Portland Trail Blazers star Deni Avdija competed in his first-ever NBA All-Star game this afternoon, representing the Portland Trail Blazers for the first time since Damian Lillard in 2023. Avdija scored 5 points, 4 assists, and 1 rebound across two contests as Team World narrowly lost both of their games.
Team USA Stars cruised to the 47-21 win in the championship game against team USA Stripes, and Anthony Edwards took the MVP trophy with 32 points over all three games.
All-Star Format
The structure of the All-Star
Game – or should I say, games – changed once again, featuring two USA teams (USA Stars and USA Stripes) and one World team made up of international players. The schedule was as follows:
Game 1: World vs. USA Stars
Game 2: Winning team of Game 1 (USA Stars) vs. USA Stripes
Game 3: Losing team of Game 1 (World) vs. USA Stripes
Game 4: All-Star Championship: USA Stars vs. USA Stripes
The first contest featured the World taking on USA Stars, with Deni Avdija in the starting lineup for the World team.
Game 1 – World vs. USA Stars
Victor Wembanyama easily stole the tip for Team World, then immediately got a dunk and a three to give the World Team a 5-0 lead. After some equalizing, Avdija turned the ball over on his first possession, then bricked a three on his second before splashing one home from deep as the game was within one possession a third of the way through. The World team fell into the habit of taking questionable threes, while Nikola Jokic nearly fell into Barack and Michelle Obama trying to save a defensive tip as both teams showed a touch of defense.
The World team then went on a 14-2 run to go up 16-17 with five minutes to go, including an assist and a fast break bucket from Avdija, who remained on the floor after both teams’ first substitutions. As the US team made a comeback, Wemby came back on the floor for the World team, and both his body language and play (including one of a few huge blocks) suggested he had no interest in losing.
With team World up 1 with the ball and 30 seconds left, Wembanyama got fouled and hit two free throws, but Anthony Edwards hit a three for USA and forced overtime.
The All-Star overtime rules give the win to the first team to five points, and Avdija made his way back on the floor for the extra period. USA struck first for two and Wemby answered with a three, but Karl Anthony Towns forgot to guard the perimeter and gave up the game-winning triple, and all Wembanyama could do was throw up his hands in frustration as World walked away losers, 35-37.
Avdija finished with 5 points and 2 dimes in his 8 minutes of action, and under the All-Star tournament rules, World would need all teams to go 1-1 and to have a favorable point differential to advance to the Championship.
Box Score: World vs. USA Stars
Game 2 – USA Stars vs. USA Stripes
As the winner of the previous game, Team USA Stars took on Team USA Stripes, the latter featuring LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Stripes got back-to-back threes from James and Kawhi Leonard off a steal, then Jaylen Brown got a dunk to push their lead to four a few minutes into the action. The energy and pace were high for both teams, which was reflected in both teams cresting 20 points halfway through the 12-minute game.
With Stripes holding a slight lead, Stars fought back to within 2 with about 90 seconds to go. LeBron took a VERY deep three and hit it to give Stripes a 6-point lead, but a few buckets and a steal gave Stars the lead. With time running out, Stripes moved the ball around from LeBron, to Durant, back to LeBron, to Donovan Mitchell… and Mitchell swung it to De’Aaron Fox who hit the three to give Stripes the 42-40 win, preserving Avdija’s and World’s hope at the Championship.
Box Score: USA Stars vs. USA Stripes
Game 3 – USA Stripes vs. World
Setting up the context: since the next tiebreak after record and point differential is total points, and since World scored fewer points than the loser of Game 2, Avdija and World needed to win this game by 3 or more points to guarantee a spot in the Championship.
With Avdija again in the starting lineup, Stripes struck first, but World answered as Victor Wembanyama was again determined and motivated, going on a scoring rampage and giving World a 7-point lead about halfway through the contest. Kawhi Leonard hit seven shots in a row to pull the game into a tie, and Norm Powell continued the same questionable shot selection and bricks that he offered in World’s first game.
Kawhi Leonard continued being a menace, and World took a 4-point lead with 3 minutes to go. As time got thin, the game tightened, and World closed the gap to tie it up again with 90 seconds left. Kawhi and Wemby traded buckets, and World took the three-point lead they’d need to finish the game with to advance. But the night belonged to Kawhi Leonard, who looked every bit the player the Los Angeles Clippers made only completely legal deals to financially satisfy.
With the game tied, Kawhi ran the clock down… and nailed the three to end Avdija’s and World’s chances at the championship. Avdija finished the game scoreless on one attempt with a rebounds and two dimes.
Box Score: USA Stripes vs. World
Final: USA Stars vs. USA Stripes
The championship game featured both USA teams, and all eyes were on Kawhi Leonard, who finished his second game with a staggering 31 points.
Unfortunately for him and Stripes, Stars came out to a 12-1 lead as Tyrese Maxey and Anthony Edwards led the early charge. Midway through, Stripes was staring down a 26-9 deficit as Kevin Durant, Leonard, and Jaylen Brown combined to go 0-9 from the field.
It didn’t get much better from there, and Stars experienced little to no resistance the rest of the way, with Stars taking the 47-21 win and the MVP going to Anthony Edwards, who finished with 8 points and 4 points in the final game and 32 points over his three games.
Box Score: USA Stars vs. USA Stripes
What Now?
The NBA will take a breather, then resume its regular schedule on Thu. Feb. 19. Deni Avdija and the Blazers get back to work the next day, Fri. Feb. 20 at 7pm at the Moda Center against the Denver Nuggets.
