CHICAGO — If ever there was a doubt that Rudy Gobert belonged on an NBA All-Star team, that doubt was dashed away and forgotten on Sunday night.
Amid the big names and plethora of talent jammed onto the All-Star team rosters, the Utah Jazz center shined like a diamond in the rough in his All-Star debut, scoring 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, two assists and a block as a reserve for Team Giannis.
“He hears all the negative and all that stuff and he enjoys and embraces it and wears it like a cape,” his fellow Jazz and Team Giannis teammate Donovan Mitchell said. “He just goes out there and hoops. He didn’t get too much out of his comfort zone. He just went out there and did what he does and I really respect that about him.”
Gobert was the highest scoring player of the third quarter and capped off the period’s performance with an alley-oop dunk from Trae Young with 2.2 seconds left that tied the frame up (teams were playing quarter-by-quarter for charity) and added even more stakes to the final quarter of the game.
Though not as explosive as Gobert, Mitchell acquitted himself well during his All-Star debut, scoring seven points with five rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block for Team Giannis.
In the end, it was Team LeBron that won the game 157-155 on an Anthony Davis free throw and Kawhi Leonard was awarded the Kobe Bryant NBA All-Star MVP trophy for his game-high 30 point performance.
The All-Star Game, often criticized for a lack of defense and competitiveness, found new life on Sunday, with the new format creating an intense pick-up game environment long thought to have been lost in the annual exhibition showcase.
Each of the first three quarters was played as its own game with the score resetting before the next quarter and the winning team earning money for a dedicated Chicago-area charity. The fourth quarter started with each team’s cumulative score, without a game clock, and with 24 added to the the highest score for a target number that needed to be reached to win the game.
Because the third quarter ended in a tie, the $100,000 that was supposed to go to the third-quarter winning team’s charity was rolled over and added to the fourth quarter charity haul for a combined $300,000 being awarded to the winner.
The format resulted in a wild back-and-forth competition that included defense, fouls, blocks, charges, coaches challenges, reviews and even a heated moment near the end of the night.
It was, by all accounts from the players, media contingent and fans, one of the best All-Star Games ever.
“The end was amazing,” Team Giannis and Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “I think everybody in the whole place was on their feet watching every possession, and they were really going at it. I mean, defensively, it was hard to get anything.”
When asked if he enjoyed new format though, Gobert snidely joked that since he hadn’t been selected as an All-Star before this year, he had nothing to compare it to.
”Didn’t get to enjoy the first one, so no,” he said with a snarky smile. “It was fun. As the game went on guys started to play more intense.”
Though it was mostly the All-Star starters and not reserves that finished out the game (with a couple of exceptions), Gobert and Mitchell were not disappointed with watching from the sidelines, soaking up the experience of of the night and enjoying each moment.
“We both kind of understood,” Mitchell said. “It was our first time here and we’ll change that in years to come.”
Gobert and Mitchell both checked into the contest after the first timeout, midway through the first quarter. Mitchell hit a 3-pointer to become the first Jazz player on the board, but it was Gobert who stole the show from there on, even gaining some MVP buzz as the night went on.
There were hopes that the two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year would be put back in to continue to bid at the MVP award and show off his defensive skills, but it didn’t matter to Gobert, who was more than happy to watch some of the game’s best players battle each other.
After it was all said and done, no more than 30 minutes after the game ended, both Gobert and Mitchell turned their attention to the future and more specifically their current 2019-20 campaign.
“It was great to be here, to be a part of this because I want to be one of the best players in the world so obviously I want to be here every year and I want my team to win a championship,” Gobert said. “Those are two things that kind of go together. If I keep helping my team win games, then hopefully I get to enjoy each All-Star year.”
The two were beaming with pride as they were introduced by the rapper Common, who rapped the player introductions.
Think you can shake this first-time All-Star?
Au contraire mon frere
From the Utah Jazz the stifle tower, Rudy Gobert.
From inside or outside
Either way he’ll getcha
First-time All-Star from the Utah Jazz Donovan Spida Mitchell.
As game ended, Gobert and Mitchell beamed again, as their first NBA All-Star game came to a close. But, as they said, they’re not planning on it being the last.