2022 NBA All-Star Weekend will conclude with the 71st All-Star Game on Sunday night. This year’s All-Star festivities, which kicked off Friday with the Celebrity Game and Rising Stars Challenge, will be held in Cleveland for the first time in 25 years. Obi Toppin and Karl-Anthony Towns were the big winners of NBA All-Star Saturday Night, capturing titles in the Slam Dunk and 3-point Contest respectively. Now the league’s top players will face each other on Sunday as the NBA celebrates its 75th anniversary.
The captain-style pick format is back and this year too, Team LeBron will face Team Durant. LeBron James and Kevin Durant earned that honor by being the players with the most votes from the fans at their respective conferences.
This marks the fifth year in a row that LeBron has captained and the second year in a row that the Team LeBron vs. Team Durant is. After Team LeBron took a comfortable 170-150 win in Atlanta last year, Team Durant will be out for revenge even if the rosters aren’t the same.
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Before the big night, here’s everything you need to know:
2022 NBA All Star Game
- Date: Sunday 20 February | Time: 8 p.m. ET
- Place: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse — Cleveland, Ohio
- TV: TNT | live stream: TNT app
- Chances: Team LeBron – 5.5 | top/bottom: 321.5
Featured game † Team LeBron All Stars vs. Team Durant All Stars
Team LeBron
Appetizer
Reserves
Team Durant
Appetizer
Reserves
- Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets (injured, not playing)
- Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors (injured, not playing)
- Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
- Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
- Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls
- Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks
- Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
- LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets (replacement injury Kevin Durant)
- DeJounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs (Injury replacement for Draymond Green)
Format
A few years ago, the league decided to forgo the traditional match-up between Eastern Conference and Western Conference and the teams are now decided through a playground style game between two captains (the player in each conference with the most votes from the fans). This year it was LeBron James and Kevin Durant, and although the latter isn’t playing due to a knee injury, he chose his team anyway.
In addition, the format of the actual game has changed. The first three quarters will still be 12 minutes long and the team that wins each quarter will receive a cash prize that goes to charity. However, the fourth quarter will be untimed and will use the Elam Ending.
Instead of playing to the final buzzer, the teams play to a target score, which is determined by taking the leading team’s point total after three quarters and adding 24 points. For example, if Team LeBron is 100-90 leading into the fourth quarter, the winning score will be 124 points, and the first team to get there wins, no matter how long it takes.
Forecast
This is the All-Star Game, so both rosters are great, but you have to go here with Team LeBron. LeBron is arguably the greatest player of all time, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are leading MVP candidates and DeMar DeRozan came into the break with a historic score that even Wilt Chamberlain couldn’t match. They are so full that Luka Doncic is not even in the starting line-up. Choose: Team LeBron