It’s officially All-Star Weekend at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, and following the Celebrity All-Star Game, the real NBA events kicked off the with Rising Stars Challenge: a tournament of three teams made up of NBA rookies and sophomores, plus a fourth comprised of G League players. The four teams were drafted by four honorary coaches in Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Austin Rivers. The format featured two first round match-ups, with the first to 40 points winning, and the two winners played in the finale, with the first to 25 points winning the entire event.

The Spurs were well represented in the event, with Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper representing Team Melo, which was coached by Spurs lead assistant coach Sean Sweeney. Carter Bryant, who was a last second fill-in for injured Grizzlies rookie Cedric Coward, was on Team Vince, which was coached by Spurs assistant Corlis Williamson.

Advertisement

Game 1: Team Melo vs. Team Austin

The event began with Team Melo vs. Team Austin. Both Castle and Harper started, with Harper’s first action being blocking his brother, Ron Harper, Jr. Castle, who was MVP of the event last year, then assisted on two straight alley-oops to his college teammate, Donovan Clingan, before hitting a mid-range jumper as Team Melo got out ahead 12-4. After an 8-2 run by Team Austin, Castle hit another jumper to send the game into its first timeout at 16-12.

Team Austin decided to go with double bigs with Yang Hansen and Yanic Konan Niederhauser. They started slicing up the smaller NBA players down low, who were mostly settling for iso-jumpers on the other end, to take a 30-26 lead: 10 points away from the big upset. However, Team Melo responded with two huge threes from Reed Sheppard, getting them back ahead 34-32. Castle then hit two free throws, and Harper hit the game-winning jumper in the paint over his brother to cap off a 12-2 run for the 40-34 win. Castle finished with 6 points and 5 assists, and Harper had 4 points and steal. Clingan and Sheppard had 9 points apiece.

Game 2: Team Vince vs. Team T-Mac

Game 2 was size with Team Vince vs. shooting with Team T-Mac. Shooting dominated early, with three early threes getting Team T-Mac out to a 15-7 lead. Carter Bryant subbed in for Team Vince after a timeout and got a transition dunk off an assist from Derrik Queen to get his team back within two at 19-21. He then missed a transition three but immediately got back to block a Zaccharie Risacher layup, leading to a VJ Edgecombe transition three to again get them within two at 22-24. Out of the timeout, Bryant tied things up with an impressive spinning layup that even awed Carmelo, who was being interviewed at the moment, before subbing out.

By now, Team Vince was on a roll and the one hitting threes, and after things were tied up at 29 apiece, Edgecombe scored the final 11 points for his team to finish with 17 points on the way to a 41-36 victory, setting up a Spurs vs. Spurs match-up in the finale. Bryant finished the match with 4 points and 1 rebound and no doubt played a role in sparking his team after the slow start.

Advertisement

Game 3: Team Melo vs. Team Vince

Both Castle and Harper found Clingan for a threes to open the finale, followed by a Harper three to get Team Melo out to a 9-4 lead. Team Vince responded with a 6-0 run before Harper hit a couple of free throws to retake the lead. Carter entered for Vince and again sparked his team, stealing the ball from Castle and hitting a three off an offensive rebounds at the other end to get his team out to 15-11 lead, ten points away from the win.

Team Melo responded with two straight threes out of a timeout, and it was back and forth from there. Edgecombe found Bryant for a full-court alley-oop. Castle then spun off Bryant for a baseline jumper and a put-back dunk to get Team Melo within a point of the win 24-23 after they couldn’t find a good look from three. Clingan then fouled Edgecombe (on a call that could have been challenged but Melo was out of timeouts), and he hit both free throws to secure the victory for Team Vince, 25-24.

Harper had 8 points, 5 rebounds and an assist in the match, and Castle had 4-3-1. Bryant had 5 points and a rebound and again was the spark plug for his team, even though Edgecombe was far and away the MVP. Overall, the Spurs represented themselves well, and it was a great start to the weekend for a team with plenty of representation.

Check back tomorrow for more All-Star action. Saturday’s events will begin 5:00 CT, with Harper participating in the Shooting Stars Challenge and Bryant in the Slam Dunk Contest. Then, the All-Star Game will begin at 4:00 CT on Sunday, featuring Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox, as well as Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson.