Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
It is the time of year when the NBA rounds up celebrities for its All-Star Celebrity Game. This year was no exception. Like every other NBA game ever played, the game broughtome spectacular highlights for viewers at home to enjoy.
Starting strong with 1:22 left in the first quarter, Kai Cenat tried to shoot a basket, only for the shot to be blocked by Kayla Thorton. After his shot was blocked, Cenat flopped onto the court in an attempt to get the refs to call a foul against Thorton. In the highlight video uploaded by House of Highlights, announcers were quick to tease about the flop, saying, “You can’t be asking for a foul.”
Cenat’s reactions to various plays were big and boisterous, like his celebration for scoring four points during the small window of time in the third quarter where points were worth double. It was a stunning lay-up resulting in a four-point gain for Team Bonds, furthering their lead over Team Rice with a score of 43-34.
During the gam, there was a challenge where two opposing players had to run and jump over a hurdle, hit the ball hanging off a pole with a vertical jump, with the winner determined by who can successfully shoot and score a jump shot. Shelby McEwen, Olympic High Jump Silver Medalist, competed against Masai Russell, Olympic 100m Gold Medalist. McEwen was the one to win the contest.
With a little over 5 minutes left in the third quarter, Baron Davis took his first shot of the game and ended up scoring his team’s fourth point with a low amount of time left on the shot clock. The announcers confirm that Davis was behind the four-point line when he shot and scored.
With a little over 2 minutes left in the quarter, down by 18 points,s Shelby McEwecanto steals the ball from Team Bonds and drives it down to the cour,t ending with a slam dunk, scoring Team Bonds two more points bring them to a score of 50 in the bottom of the fourth quarter. Team Bonds ended up claiming the win with a score of 66-55.
Once Team Bonds claimed the lead, they hung onto it for the rest of the game against Team Rice. Team Rice tried to recover the lead at the bottom of the fourth quarter, but time was not on their side. They were able to gain 20 points, but it still was not enough, resulting in their loss to Team Bonds.
According to USA Today Team Bonds had a lineup consisting of Kai Cenat, Baron Davis, Rome Flynn, Allisha Gray, Mickey Guyton, Tucker Halpern, Noah Kahn, Danny Ramirez, Masai Russell, Pablo Schreiber, and Dylan Wang. Team Bonds was coached by Barry Bonds, a former MLB Heavyweight.
Team Rice’s lineup is Matt Barnes, Bayley, Chris Brickley, AP Dhillon, Druski, Walker Hayes, Shelby McEwen, Terrell Owens, Shaboozey, Oliver Stark, and Kayla Thorton. Team Rice was coached by Jerry Rice, Pro Football Hall of Fame Receiver.
According to Sports Illustrated, the NBA praises Druski and Cenat for their performances in the game and the quality entertainment and content they provided to the highlight reel, which was over five minutes long. Neither team was overtly impressive with the shots they took. OK, ok, but Team Bonds gave Team Rice a 66-point run for their money by the end of the game. The teams were composed of athletes from different sports, actors, musicians, streamers, etc, giving a mixed skill set for each coach to work with for the game.
Rome Flyn, according to AP News, took home the MVP award for scoring 22 points of the 66-point win for his team during the game. He’s on record as saying, “I’m a team player.” A game well played for both teams, and may next year’s game be just as fun.
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