As usual, there was no trace of Defense, but Team World and Team USA were enthusiastic about it in the Rising Stars Challenge with an impressive dark show. In the end it’s Bogdan Bogdanovic who shoots Team USA with his hot hand from downtown. Team World wins with 155:124 (BOXSCORE).
The fans at the Staples Center were offered a good show right from the start. While Buddy Hield opened the three-party festival with two consecutive triples for Team World, John Collins and Donovan Mitchell performed spectacularly with an alley op over the backboard.
All in all, however, Team World was able to cope with a 12-point lead in the first quarter. Afterwards, they extended their lead to 21 points, led by hot Bogdan Bogdan Bogdanovic, before Team USA was able to fight their way back to the top again. Not surprisingly, there was no trace of Defense missing on both sides.
Things didn’t go really better for Team USA in the rest of the game. After the men around Jaylen Brown (35 points, 7 Dunks) were able to shorten the gap again, Team World got back on track in the third section – and had a lead of 30 points towards the end of the round!
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It was no longer enough for Team USA to make a comeback as the defensive side continued to play no part in this game. Apparently, the US-Americans had resigned themselves to their fate, so that in the fourth quarter once again the dark specialists took over the command. Mitchell, Brown, Dennis Smith Jr., Joel Embiid or Jayson Tatum gave the fans a feast for the eyes.
Best scorer in Team Wolrd was Buddy Hield, who scored 29 points. Jamal Murray contributed 21 points, Ben Simmons played a double-double (11 points, 13 assists). However, the MVP trophy went to Bogdanovic, who took Team World to the top of the podium with his 7 three players (out of 13) and scored 26 points.
On the other side, apart from Brown, Kyle Kuzma was the best man with 20 points, Jayson Tatum scored 15 points. Apart from that, only Collins managed to score a double-digit score (11), but the rest of the team still managed to impress with the impressive dark spectacle.
Team USA vs. Team World: Click here for the BOXSCORE!
Bogdan Bogdanovic. Although the Serb only came from the bank, it didn’t take him long to find his rhythm. Already in the second round, he provided the decisive run with a fireworks display. No one could approach the 25-year-old’s hot hand this evening.
It was barely four minutes played, as Donovan Mitchell proved directly why he is considered one of the favorites in this year’s Dark Contest. Thanks to a stone in his own half, the jazz rookie had a clear path to the basket. With a pass of praise over the backboard, he put the ball on himself to hammer a crashing alley op through the reuse. That was the spectacular starting signal for the small dark show of the two teams in the first half.