Team LeBron's Karl-Anthony Towns, of the Minnesota Timberwolves, heads to the hoop against Team Giannis' Giannis Antetokounmpo, of the Milwaukee Bucks, during the first half of the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday in Charlotte, N.C.CHARLOTTE, N.C. - LeBron James was trading lob passes with Dwyane Wade again, one last time. Catching lobs from Kyrie Irving once again, too. And after making a stepback 3-pointer late, he stared down Joel Embiid to send a message without saying a word.
Oh, this mattered to James - and Team LeBron as well.
Down by 20 points in the second half, Team LeBron finally got firing and went on to beat Team Giannis 178-164 in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night. Game MVP Kevin Durant scored 31 points for Team LeBron, the one that James drafted and led to victory in the captain's choice format for a second consecutive season.
"You put me on the floor, I love to compete," James said in the postgame interview room. "I'm a competitor, no matter what it is. I was competing to see if I could get to this table first."
He wasn't kidding. He then turned to NBA spokesman Mark Broussard, asked if he was the first player to get into the room and grinned when told he was.
"See what I'm talking about?" James said.
Klay Thompson scored 20 points, and James and Kawhi Leonard each had 19 for the winners.
"We just started making shots," said Durant, who is now a two-time MVP of the All-Star Game, having also won it in 2012. He lauded Charlotte for the weekend.
"Thanks for the hospitality," Durant said. "It was an amazing weekend. Glad we capped it off with a 'W.'"
Giannis Antetokounmpo - the first-time captain - led everybody by putting up 38 points for the club he drafted. Paul George and Khris Middleton each scored 20 for Team Giannis, which got 17 apiece from Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook.
The highlights, as would be expected, were absurdly good, time and again.
Curry slammed the ball off the floor on a first-half fast break and watched it ricochet toward the rim with an apex that flirted with the top of the backboard. It was too high for most humans - but Antetokounmpo isn't most humans. The freakishly long Greek star slammed Curry's unconventional alley-oop pass home, with both benches reacting in disbelief.
Curry then slammed an alley-oop on the last play of the game, to himself, for a dunk that closed the scoring in his hometown.
"I thought we put on a great show tonight," said Kemba Walker, the Charlotte Hornets' lone player in the game.
It was not a defensive showcase, as always.
Team Giannis set an All-Star record with 23 field goals in the first quarter, topping the mark of 22 set on four other occasions - by both the West and the East in the first quarter of the 2017 game, and by the West in both the second and third quarters of the 2016 game.
The 53 points tied a one-quarter All-Star record as well, matching the total by the West in the third quarter of the 2016 games and by the East in the first quarter of the 2017 game. But when it was time to get competitive, things tightened up considerably, at least by All-Star standards.
But when Team LeBron used a flurry of 3s to get back into it, everyone on the bench was standing - sometimes running from the bench and onto the court during play, the celebrations a bit more exuberant than what's usually allowed.
"We got the win," said Houston's James Harden, who scored 12 points for Team LeBron. "That's all that matters."
And the All-Star farewells for the Miami Heat's Wade and the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki- both added to the game by NBA commissioner Adam Silver in honor of their career bodies of work - were festive, as everyone wanted.
Nowitzki entered the game late in the first quarter and made his first three shots - all of them 3-pointers - before heading back to the bench. Wade checked in not long after Nowitzki took the floor, then started the second half and achieved his primary missions for his last All-Star Game as a player.
He got an alley-oop lob from James. And he threw an alley-oop lob to James.
Wade dunked, James dunked, and the close friends who entered the NBA together in 2003 and won championships with Miami in 2012 and 2013 got a couple more moments to savor in their final night as on-court teammates.
Wade finished with seven points in 10 minutes, and Nowitzki never returned after his nine-point, four-minute opening stint. When the third quarter ended, every player gathered behind them as Wade and Nowitzki were honored with commemorative jerseys at midcourt.
"Thank you to the commissioner and the NBA for allowing us to both be on this stage again," Nowitzki said.
"Exactly what Dirk said," Wade said as he took the microphone. "We're very thankful for this opportunity. The game is in great hands. It's easy to walk away right now."