NBA Recap: Rookies defeated Sophomores 148-140
Rookies marched to beat Sophomores 148-140 on Friday night at the NBA’s All-Star weekend. DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings led the Rookies attack, he made 33 points and had 14 rebounds. The game took
place at Staples Center, Los Angeles.
Sophomores put the first points on board with D. Blair’s jump shot 0-2. Sophomores tipped off aggressively and stretch the lead to 10 points 6-16 straight away. Then Rookies made the charge and close in the gap 19-20 in the 13:15 minute. The game went almost
neck to neck, until the Rookies took the final lead 7:01 minutes before the first half 41-39. The Rookies maintained this lead until the close of first half’s play, but there wasn’t much difference between both teams’ points 71-69.
Sophomores punched 2 points again right at the start of the second half, tieing the scores 71-71. But Cousins’ dunk put the Rookies in charge again 73-71. Both teams fought hard for possession, and
the audience got to see an aggressive and top game from the All-Stars. With 12 minutes remaining in the second half Rookies stretch their lead to 8 points 103-95. The momentum shifted towards the Sophomores when
they made a spurt and successfully came from behind with S. Curry’s three-pointer which took the lead away from Rookies 115-117 seven minutes before second half’s end. The battle of taking the lead continued 130-130 until 3:59 minutes, when the Rookies made
possession to take the final lead 133-130 with L. Fields 3-point shot and then kept building on this lead until the end.
After wards the Rookies never gave a single chance to the Sophomores to
came close, and went on to win the game 148-140.
The Rookie Challenge became a personal performance making clinic as John Wall told Cousins before the game that he planned to beat Chris Paul’s 17 assists record which Paul made in 2007. Wall scored 12 points when he stopped sending set up passes to his
fellow rookies for dunks and open jumpers. Wall end up with a record 22 assists and won the MVP award.
"Most people that have a good game here, it gives them confidence going into the second half of the season," Wall said.
Persistent attack from Wall and Cousins double team, won the game for newcomers. Cousins made the fourth highest-scoring performance record hitting 15 out of 24 in Rookie Challenge history, identical to LeBron James' performance in 2004 when he made 33 points.
"We were trying to work together," Cousins said. "He wanted to break the assist record, and I wanted to be MVP."
Blake Griffin scored 14 points for the rookies. "I didn't get to go to practice today, so that was all on the fly," said Griffin, also the strong
favorite in Saturday's slam dunk contest. "[Wall] is a great passer, so he made it easy for me. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I'm making the best out of it. Being home for the All-Star weekend is a
lot of fun."
D. Blair remained the loser-high scored 28 points, and 2 assists and W. Mathews added 15 points for the Sophomores.
NBA Recap: Rookies defeated Sophomores by an eight point difference (Fixed headline)
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