Karl-Anthony Towns drops 50, John Calipari makes appearance at NBA All-Star Game
The 2024 NBA All-Star Game was filled to the brim with former Kentucky players. A record six Wildcats took the stage at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Sunday night, combining to score 115 points between the group. Karl-Anthony Towns accounted for nearly half of them with his game-high 50-piece, but much like his 62-point outing on Jan. 22, this too came in a losing effort.
Despite Towns hitting the half-century mark, the West came up short to the East, losing 211-186. That’s a lot of points. The most in the game’s 73 years of history, actually. Too many points, in this NBA fan’s opinion. We all love points — that’s the main goal of playing basketball, after all — but even the tiniest bit of competitiveness would have helped make this game more entertaining.
No defense, no Elam Ending, no silly twists to the rosters, nothing but half-assed attempts at individual players trying to get hot for a short stretch. Even Commissioner Adam Silver appeared less than pleased. He might be the only one shocked to see the All-Star Game as a mostly boring affair — which it has been for years.
Was I personally still entertained? Halfway so. Having six Kentucky players to track throughout helped my attention span. But the East led by 15 at halftime and it was a 20-point blowout throughout most of the second half. Towns going for 50 points was fun to watch and so was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander going for 31. But I could have done without the Luka Doncic three-quarter court shot with 35 seconds on the game clock. Any sort of resistance on defense would have been welcomed.
Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton created some moments of suspense. Lillard, who ultimately won MVP with 39 points for the East, drilled a halfcourt shot while Haliburton opened the game with five three-pointers during a 90-second span in front of his home crowd. The shot-making was admittedly fun to watch. The East made a record 42 triples. If it wasn’t three-pointers, it was dunks and layups — isn’t that what we should want out of a modern basketball game? Yes, but not like this. This was pickup ball.
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“Obviously, it wasn’t high intensity, at all,” Haliburton said after the game.
Towns made history along the way though. He’s just the fourth player to drop 50 in an All-Star Game in history (Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry). 31 of them came in the fourth quarter, the most in one quarter in the game’s history. The majority of his points seemed to come off dunks, as well — not from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander, who normally scores inside the arc, canned seven three-pointers to help reach his 31 points.
As for the rest of the Kentucky contingent, Devin Booker chipped in 15 points for the West while Davis added six points, eight rebounds, and eight assists to the winning squad. On the other end, Tyrese Maxey, playing in his first NBA All-Star Game, finished with 10 points for the East. His teammate Bam Adebayo, who was promoted to the starting lineup due to Joel Embiid’s injury, was the lowest-scoring Wildcat with just three points (a three-pointer, oddly enough). Julius Randle was actually named an All-Star in the East, but a shoulder injury kept him from making the trip.
Even without Randle in attendance, six ‘Cats in one All-Star Game was pretty cool to see. The previous record by one school in a single game was, you guessed it, Kentucky with four in 2018 and 2023. UCLA also had four all the way back in 1983. To have seven selected is something to be proud of. John Calipari sure is. He made the trip from Auburn, AL on Saturday night to Indy on Sunday to see all of his former guys in action.
That picture should help with recruiting. Let’s shoot for double-digit Kentucky All-Stars in 2025, shall we?
BBNBA 2024 All-Star Game statistics
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | +/- | MIN |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (WEST) | 211-186 L vs. EAST | 50 | 23-25 (4-13) | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -6 | 27 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (WEST) | 211-186 L vs. EAST | 31 | 12-16 (7-10) | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 27 |
| Devin Booker (WEST) | 211-186 L vs. EAST | 15 | 7-14 (1-7) | 4 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -12 | 19 |
| Tyrese Maxey (EAST) | 211-186 W vs. WEST | 10 | 3-5 (2-4) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 17 |
| Anthony Davis (WEST) | 211-186 L vs. EAST | 6 | 3-5 (0-2) | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -7 | 22 |
| Bam Adebayo (EAST) | 211-186 W vs. WEST | 3 | 1-2 (1-1) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 16 |
| Julius Randle (EAST) | 211-186 W vs. WEST | DNP-Shoulder | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
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