NBA All Star: The game where all the players come together

This Sunday, February 16, will be held the traditional All-Star or NBA star game. In this, two teams made up of the best players in the association will face each other in a match that is for both fans and charity.

The All-Star has traditionally been a friendly and casual showdown, which is not taken so seriously and serves more like a show. This event, which has been held for more than 70 years according to the Just All-Stars portal, initially consisted only of a match between the best players of both conferences (East and West) in which the stars tried striking plays such as alley-oops, dives, and long-distance shots. However, during the last 3 years, according to the NBA, changes have been implemented to make the event more competitive.

One of these changes is that the two captains of each team, Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, chosen by fan votes, can now choose the other players on their team regardless of which conference they belong to. In the past, the captain of the Eastern conference could only choose players from the same conference and vice versa. The change encourages more interesting lineups according to the NBA.

It also helps to have a more balanced competition because in the past the Eastern conference has had an advantage over the Western one with a record of 37-29 games won in favor of the first.

Read also: 5 players who are revealing the season

Tribute to a legend

Another important change in format comes as a result of Kobe Bryant's tragic death this year. In his honor, the NBA has decided to implement a special format for the last quarter of the game. This will be played without a time limit, with the first team that reaches an objective score resulting in a winner. This score will be determined by adding 24 (Kobe's Jersey number) to the cumulative score of the first three-quarters of the team that wins.

That is, if for the third quarter the match goes 100-80, the first team to reach 124 points would be the winner.

An event for charitable purposes

According to the NBA, teams have a special incentive to give their best effort this year, as each fourth earned will represent an amount of money donated to various charities. Each of the first three quarters represents $ 100,000 for the charity of choice of the team that wins them. The latter, meanwhile, has a prize of $ 200,000.

In the event of a draw, the prize of that room is added to the next. To ensure a friendly environment, if a team wins the first three quarters as well as the last one, the winner will be awarded $ 500,000 and the loser 100,000.

A difficult game for the Giannis team

This year's All-star promises to be an interesting match. With multiple incredible renowned players in the league, such as Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, the Lebron team seems to take a huge advantage over the Giannis team. This is, of course, regardless of the participation of Lebron himself, winner of multiple championships, unstoppable in the offensive and immovable in the defense.

However, the Antetokounmpo team has the power of its own captain, a huge force in the painting alone and with the participation of young promises like Trae Young and Rudy Gobert.

With a league that is increasingly competitive, let's hope it's a show worth remembering Kobe Bryant.