Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards led the USA stars to a 47-21 victory over the USA stripes on Sunday night in the championship game at the Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Although Edwards was named the All-Star MVP, 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey scored the highest nine points, while Chet Holmgren and Edwards added eight points each to stop the veteran-laden USA Stripes.
“We chose to compete today, and we came out on top,” Edwards said.
The Stars started the final with a 12-1 burst, as Maxey already had seven points and Stripes missed their first 10 shots.
It was followed by a 15-0 run for a 33-9 advantage, and the Stripes could not muster a rally.
Cavs star Donovan Mitchell had six points, and 22-time All-Star LeBron James added five for the Stripes in the final.
The new All-Star format consisted of NBA stars playing a tournament of four 12-minute games between two US sides and a World group of global talent.
The past All-Star contests were concerned about a lackluster effort, which made them produce a new format.
“I know a lot of people have been concerned about the All-Star Game, not seeing as much effort. Today we saw it,” said former US President Barack Obama, who was seated at courtside.
“Whenever you get an international team against an American team, they want to compete, and you’ve got some young guys [who] want to prove something out here.”
The Team World needed to beat the USA Stripes in the round-robin finale to advance, but Kawhi Leonard dropped 31 points, including the deciding three-pointer with 3.5 seconds remaining, for a 48-45 Stripes victory.
Meanwhile, Victor Wembanyama led the World with 19 points.
