Congratulations, Team C. You’ve won the Rising Stars competition.
Your reward? A trip to the All-Star Game on Sunday night — where LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are among those who’ll be waiting in the second semifinal.
San Antonio’s Stephon Castle scored 12 points and won MVP honors, Keyonte George had a 3-pointer for the game-winning score and Team C beat Team G League — composed of players from the NBA’s developmental league — 25-14 in the championship game of the Rising Stars competition to open All-Star weekend on Friday night.
“We all wanted to play on Sunday,” Castle said. “We all wanted to win.”
Combined, the seven first- and second-year players on Team C — Castle, George, Phoenix’s Ryan Dunn, Memphis teammates Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells, Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dalton Knecht — have a combined 5,028 points, 25 double-doubles and no triple-doubles in their NBA careers. (An eighth player will be added before Sunday.)
“All of us are about to play in our first All-Star Game,” Knecht said. “That’s crazy. … I might play against ‘Bron, right? That true? I get to go against one of my teammates. It’s going to be a lot of fun to get a chance to go out there and make a statement.”
Team C — which will go by Candace’s Rising Stars on Sunday, named for Candace Parker — will face the team drafted by Shaquille O’Neal in the All-Star semifinal. That means it’ll be taking on James, Curry, Durant, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Damian Lillard and James Harden.
That team, combined: 7,577 NBA games, 188,331 points, 1,812 double-doubles, 243 triple-doubles — and about $2.7 billion in on-court earnings.
But past stats won’t mean anything in a first-to-40 game on Sunday night. The NBA stars will surely feel some pressure against a young team that has nothing to lose.
“Nobody will want to lose to that team,” Curry said.
Dink Pate of the Mexico City Capitanes and Leonard Miller of the Iowa Wolves each had five points for the G League team in the Rising Stars final.
Three of the teams in the Rising Stars tournament were named in honor of Golden State’s famed Run TMC days. Team T was named for Tim Hardaway Sr., Team C for Chris Mullin and Team M for Mitch Richmond.
Semifinal 1: Team C 40, Team T 34
George scored 10 points, Castle made the game-winning jumper and Team C defeated Team T in the first semifinal.
Toronto’s Gradey Dick led Team T with 12 points in the first-to-40-points, untimed format.
Semifinal 2: Team G League 40, Team M 39
Bryce McGowens hit a 3-pointer for the winning score and Team G League beat Team M 40-39 in the second semifinal.
Miller had 14 points for Team G League. Houston’s Amen Thompson had 10 points for Team M.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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