CHICAGO — In the words of philosopher king Rasheed Wallace, both teams played hard. And so the NBA All-Star game, it appears, was fixed on Sunday night, with the introduction of a fourth-quarter target score—in short, what became a race to 157 points—ending 157-155 in favor of Team LeBron, as Anthony Davis sunk a free throw to ice the game after a hard foul by Kyle Lowry sent him to the line. (Safe to say, it was the only pickup game in the history of this rough-and-tumble basketball city to ever end on a free throw.)
With everyone in entire United Center standing, lenient refs and shockingly physical defense led to a roller-coaster finish that included two successful coach’s challenges, Giannis Antetokounmpo blocking LeBron James twice, a charge by (who else) Lowry, and step-back would-be game winner by (who else) James Harden that was waved off after officials ruled he pushed off on (who else) Lowry.