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Team LeBron, Kawhi stage second half comeback to top Team Giannis, Lowry

Lowry did NOT win his battle with Lillard.

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Team LeBron staged an impressive second half comeback to top Team Giannis 178-164 after trailing by as many as 20 points in the third quarter.

Kawhi Leonard finished with 19 points (including five 3-pointers), five rebounds, two assists and a block in 19 minutes (yes, the load was managed) and Kyle Lowry collected three points, three rebounds and three assists in 13 minutes, making just one of his five field goal attempts.

Kevin Durant led the way for Team LeBron with 31 points, seven rebounds and two blocks to take home MVP honors while Giannis Antetokounmpo gave him a run for his money with 38 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and the highlight of the night (scroll to the second quarter part of this to see).

Here are the highlights from each quarter and some pregame highlights of Lowry and Leonard from Sunday before the game.

Fourth quarter

Kawhi did check into the game for the first time in the second half early in the fourth quarter and put on a show along with Steph Curry with a flurry of threes to signal that it was time to compete in the All-Star game. Leonard made three straight triples at one point including this spectacular fadeaway.

It was cool seeing him dig into his “fun” bag of tricks for a little bit and break out of his regimented dominate with max efficiency shots.

Third quarter

Kawhi sat out the entire quarter, for those doing their All-Star Game load management analysis. There were some nice moments in the quarter, especially the one many waited for, D-Wade throwing one last NBA alley-oop to LeBron.

That actually came after Wade finished off a lob from his former Miami teammate.

PG13 pulling a Harden stepback on Harden was also hilarious.

Entertainment aside, an explosive 22-5 run from Team LeBron tied the game, which included some back-and-forth between Damian Lillard and Lowry. Lillard pulled up from the logo to tie the game at 124, before Lowry came right back down the floor and hit a three of his own to regain Team Giannis the lead. Lillard hit right back with his own three, but when Lowry tried to find the range again, he found nothing but air — his second air ball of the game.

Second quarter

Listen, Steph Curry threw a bounce alley-oop over Kevin Durant to Giannis and that’s all you need to know about this quarter.

Ok, fine, Lowry also had the most KLOE stat putting up a plus-15 in six first-half minutes. Leonard had one quiet dunk but did connect with LeBron for a nice alley-oop and played the only semblance of defense we saw all half.

First quarter

Kawhi Leonard got off to a hot start, hitting three of his first four shots, and Kyle Lowry had a nice alley-oop to Blake Griffin after he checked in as a reserve, but Giannis Antetokounmpo was a man on a mission clearly gunning for the MVP award by running the floor hard to have as many transition opportunities as possible and his teammates found him consistently.

Giannis then got into the spirit of giving and looked for Milwaukee Bucks teammate Khris Middleton, who caught fire with four straight made triples. That all took a backseat to Dirk Nowitzki, though, who came out in god mode and knocked down a couple threes to the delight of the Charlotte crowd and everyone watching at home. He added another early in the second quarter, and it was just so much fun to watch. He’ll be missed.

Steph Curry was showing off his hops before the real action began:

Oh, here’s Kawhi’s first bucket as a Raptors all-star:

Pregame drip, photo ops, intros

Lowry had the plaid suit drip flowing pregame.

Leonard debuted his new OMN1S at the game as well.

The Men of Action

Kyle Lowry introduced as an All-Star for a fifth time:

Kawhi Leonard introduced as an All-Star for the third time but first as member of the Raptors, and yes, he smiled.

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