San Francisco (AFP) – San Antonio Spurs rookie Stephon Castle scored 12 points to lead Team C to a 25-14 come-from-behind victory over Team G-League in the Rising Stars final on Friday and into the All-Star Game proper. The Rising Stars competition kicked off All-Star weekend at Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors.
In a rapid-fire final in which the first team to score 25 points won, Team C — coached by Hall of Famer Chris Mullin — fell behind 12-8 but roared home for the victory. Their reward will be a daunting clash in Sunday’s All-Star Game, reformatted as a mini-tournament featuring two semi-finals and a final all to be played to a target score of 40. The Rising Stars champions, made up of standout players in their first and second seasons, will open Sunday against the All-Star team chosen by honorary coach Shaquille O’Neal that is stacked with superstars including LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden.
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Castle, who was named the Rising Stars Most Valuable Player, was looking forward to the challenge. “We all wanted to play on Sunday,” said Castle, who also fed Utah Jazz second-year guard Keyonte George for the game-winning three-pointer. “We all wanted to win. We were down early, but we came and fought back and won.” And he had a message for the league’s marquee names selected as All-Stars. “Just be ready for us,” Castle said. “Don’t count us out. We’re here to win it.”
Teammate Dalton Knecht, a Los Angeles Lakers rookie, was looking forward to a chance to take on his illustrious teammate James — the NBA’s all-time leading scorer — on the All-Star stage. “About to play my first All-Star Game, that’s crazy, as a rookie,” Knecht said. “We’re going to try to get that win.”
Friday’s action started with two semi-final contests in which the first team to 40 points won. Bryce McGowens, a guard with Portland’s G-League affiliate Rip City Remix, drilled the game-winning three-pointer as the team assembled from the developmental G-League pulled off a 40-39 upset of Team M — which featured twins Amen and Ausar Thompson, the fourth and fifth picks in the 2023 draft, along with Bilal Coulibaly, the seventh overall draft pick in 2023. Detroit Pistons forward Ausar Thompson said he thought the G-League players came out with something to prove. “That team definitely wanted it more than us,” he said.
In the other semi-final, George scored 10 points and Castle added six — including the game-winner — in Team C’s 40-34 victory over Team T. Toronto’s second-year swingman Gradey Dick led Team T with 12 points as Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher, last June’s number one overall draft pick, finished with four points and second overall pick Alex Sarr scored three.
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