Towns, Davis Cap Cats’ Solid Showing at NBA All-Star Weekend

LOS ANGELES – Another banner NBA All-Star weekend ended with two solid performances by Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis in the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.
 
Towns (2015) was one of the top performers in the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds – the only player on Team Stephen with a double-double – while Davis (2012) followed up his 2017 MVP performance with 12 points in 17 minutes. Towns went 7 for 11 from the floor and led Team Stephen at halftime with 13 points. Davis, making his third career start and donning injured teammate and former UK men’s basketball player’s DeMarcus Cousins’ uniform, went 6 of 9 from the field.
 
Davis’ Team LeBron squad came back for a 148-145 win over Towns’ Team Stephen at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. LeBron James, with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, won MVP honors.
 
Team LeBron was coached by 1978 national champion and current head coach of the Toronto Raptors Dwane Casey. 
 
Cousins (2010) and John Wall (2010) were also selected to the game – Cousins as a starter – but the Wildcats were unable to play due to injuries after their all-star selections.
 
With the four selections, Kentucky joined UCLA as the only program to have four former players picked in a single NBA All-Star game in the event’s history. UCLA achieved the feat in 1983 with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Marques Johnson, Kiki Vandeweghe and Jamaal Wilkes on that year’s roster.
 
Jamal Murray (2016) and De’Aaron Fox (2017) tipped off NBA All-Star weekend for the Wildcats in the Mtn Dew Kickstart Rising Stars Challenge on Friday. Murray, the 2017 MVP, posted 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds while Fox represented the Sacramento Kings with four points and two assists. Murray also participated in Saturday’s Skills Challenge.
 
On Saturday night, Devin Booker (2015) won the JBL Three-Point Contest with a record score of 28 in the championship round. He defeated the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson, considered one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters and winner of the 2016 competition.
  
Booker became the first player from Kentucky to win the JBL Three-Point Contest. Wall and Kenny Walker (1983-86) won the Slam Dunk contests in 2014 and 1989, respectively. Towns won the Skills Challenge in 2016.
 
In the actual All-Star games, the Wildcats have fared just as well. Davis won the Most Valuable Player award at last year’s NBA All-Star Game after Murray took home MVP honors in the Rising Stars Challenge. Adrian “Odie” Smith (1957-58) also won the MVP award in the 1966 game.
 
Former stars Terrence Jones (2011-12) and Aaron Harrison (2014-15) were selected to represent the G-League All-Stars in the NBA G League International Challenge and performed well against the Mexican National Team on Sunday. Harrison scored a team-high-tying 13 points with three 3-pointers and Jones recorded eight points and six rebounds.
  
It wasn’t in Los Angeles at the NBA All-Star Game, but former UK men’s basketball player Isaiah Briscoe (2016-17) put on a show in the Estonia/Latvia All-Star Game overseas. Briscoe, who averaged 10.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists in two seasons with the Wildcats, scored 50 points in the all-star game. He’s averaging 17.7 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds for Kalev-Cramo after helping the Wildcats to the Elite Eight last season.
 
Among the long list of achievements by the NBA Cats this season, some of the most notable for each player:
 

• Booker – Scored 46 points in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 4 for his 10th 30-point game of the season. Only LeBron James reached 10 30-point scoring games faster this season
• Casey – Toronto is 41-16 on the year and currently atop the Eastern Conference standings. The Raptors have made the playoffs in each of the last four seasons under Casey
• Cousins – Prior to his injury, he was averaging 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. Over the last 50 seasons, only four players averaged at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game for an entire season. All four players went on to win the league’s MVP award
• Davis – Became the New Orleans’ franchise’s all-time leading scorer on Feb. 2 in 380 regular-season games. David West, the previous record holder, needed 530 regular-season games to become the leading scorer
• Fox – Sacramento’s rookie is averaging 11.3 points, 4.3 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He’s averaging 13.1 points per game in February and 14.7 over his last 10 games
• Harrison – Averaging 17.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game for the Reno Bighorns
• Jones – Logging 19.9 points, 7.1 boards, 4.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game for the Santa Cruz Warriors
• Murray – Ranks fourth in the league with a .924 free-throw percentage. He’s averaging career highs in points per game (16.3), rebounds (3.5) and assists (2.9) with 17 20-plus point games already this season
• Towns – Has an NBA-leading 50 double-doubles as of Feb. 14. Only two other Timberwolves players recorded more than 45 double-doubles before the All-Star break: Kevin Garnett and Kevin Love
• Wall – Averaging 19.4 points, 9.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game this season. His assists per game ranks second in the league this season

 
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