Team Stars prevail in competitive debut for new All-Star Game - ESPN

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Anthony Edwards won the Most Valuable Player award while leading Team Stars past their fellow Americans on Team Stripes, 47-21, to win the final of the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday.

The Minnesota Timberwolves star claimed his first All-Star MVP award with a tying 3-pointer in the first round-robin game followed by eight points in the final, which was the only chapter without a dramatic late finish in this mini-tournament comprising the main event of All-Star weekend at the LA Clippers' Intuit Dome.

The NBA's fourth format in four years matched two teams of American All-Stars against a team representing the World, hoping to stoke nationalistic passion from players and fans during an Olympic year.

The slightly older Stripes had beaten the slightly younger Stars on De'Aaron Fox's 3-pointer at the buzzer in the second 12-minute, round-robin game. But Edwards led the Stars to victory in the rematch with the Stripes, who appeared to run out of gas while playing in their third straight mini-game.

«We chose to compete today, and we came out on top,» Edwards said. «I ain't going to lie, Wemby set the tone. He came out and played hard, and we had to follow that.»

Indeed, Victor Wembanyama effectively challenged his fellow All-Stars to take this game seriously, and they largely appeared to do it. Despite going 0-2, Wembanyama led the World team in scoring in both games with 14 points in the opener and 19 in the third game.

Along with the late-game theatrics, the event generally appeared to be played at a higher level of competitiveness than most All-Star Games in recent years, suggesting the league might have finally cracked the code on the long-standing question of how to make this midseason showcase more