On February 19, Beijing time, the NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge, the rules of this rookie challenge are different from previous editions, all the players selected for the rookie challenge are divided into four teams, namely Barry, Payton, Thomas and Worthy, the four teams will play semifinals, the winner enters the final, and then decides the final winner.
In the semi-finals, Thomas scored with Bain's free throws and managed to win the game 50-49 and advance to the final. And Barry completed the kill with Tate's difficult pull bar, they also beat Payton 50-48 to successfully enter the final, the final match is Thomas against Barry, who can get the first 25 points, will be the winner of this game.
Thomas' squad is Achuva, Bain, Bay, Edwards, Halliburton, Hardy (Ignition) and Stewart. Barry's squad is Cunningham, Daniels (Ignition), Mobley, O'Corro, Shinkin, Tate and Wagner Jr.
In the final, the two teams still played very stiffly, not allowing the opponent to easily complete the score as in the semi-finals, but increasing the defensive intensity and becoming more intense in terms of physical confrontation. In the minutes before the game, the two teams hit the iron continuously, and the shooting percentage was not very high.
The Thomas then found a sense of the game, with Bane and Achuva hitting back-to-back three-pointers to give the team an 8-3 lead. Mobrine then crossed to Wagner Jr., who easily completed a pie dunk, and Thomas Bay then hit another three-pointer to further widen the gap and stop Barry.
After the timeout ended, Bari began to fight back, and under the leadership of players such as Mobly, they gradually overtook the score and took a 20-18 lead to take the initiative in the game. At the crucial moment, Achuva completed the attack under the basket and caused a foul, but unfortunately the ball was not scored. Cunningham then hit the crucial three-pointer and Barry took the lead in taking the match point 24-20. At the crucial moment, Barry's Wagner Jr. fouled and he hit a free throw steadily, and finally Barry defeated Thomas 25-20 to win the rookie challenge.
After Barry won the championship, the MVP of this rookie challenge was also released, and finally Barry's Cunningham was successfully elected, he performed well in the final, hit three points in the last moment, in the tandem of the whole team offensive, he has a very good performance, on the stage of the final, he got 5 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, the score and assists are the highest in the team, the performance is very comprehensive, the team can beat Thomas, his play is crucial, he got the MVP of this rookie challenge, which is also deserved. As the 2021 draft pick, this is Cunningham's first honor after entering the league, and according to his current performance, I believe he will gain more in the next game and is expected to become an All-Star regular in the future.