‘Rooster’ Gallinari showed what’s in store for Los Angeles Clippers fans next season by making nine of his attempted 10 shots, including a late dagger that completed 100-percent shooting from range to cap a remarkable evening—his 23 points led Team World as he finished as the game’s MVP.
Dallas Mavericks star Harrison Barnes scored 14 points and added 11 rebounds, the only player to record a double-double. The quartet of JaVale McGee, Marvin Williams, Garrett Temple, and Hassan Whiteside all scored 11 points apiece. Khris Middleton contributed 10, to bring the number of players with double-figure scoring on Team World to seven.
The much-anticipated game began with Joel Embiid winning the tip-off and handing possession to Team Africa, but it was Team World that got off to a breezy start with the first points coming from a Danilo Gallinari layup, with Rudy Gay assisting.
The two teams then traded buckets until the final two minutes of the first quarter, when Team World went on an 8-0 run, with both sides tied at 19, to take a 27-19 lead with 34 seconds left in the quarter. Bismack Biyombo sank one of two free-throws to bring the score to 27-20, but neither would score again in the remaining 34 seconds as the half closed.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot sank a 3-pointer early in the second quarter to reduce the deficit to just four points, and Biyombo’s running lay-up shot kept it there after Hassan Whiteside’s turnaround hook shot again increased Team World’s lead to six points. Team World then kept finding pockets of little runs, to take a 10-point lead at 45-35 on a Gallinari dunk with just a little over four minutes left in the quarter.
Williams increased the lead to 12 for Team World on a trey as the scoreboard read 52-40 with 1:45 left in the second frame, before a three from Luwawu-Cabarrot, a Deng driving layup and a pull-up jumper from Embiid reduced the scoreline to 54-47 at halftime.
The third quarter ended with Team World leading by 10 points at 78-68, the first time in the history of the series it led entering the fourth quarter. Team Africa led by 17 in 2015, and they were tied at 77 at the end of the third quarter in 2017. The closest Team Africa got to Team World was when Embiid completed a 3-point play with 6:14 left in the quarter, to bring the score to 61-57.
The last quarter became more intense in the dying moments when Al-Farouq Aminu’s driving layup brought Team Africa within three points at 90-87, with just over two minutes left in the game. However, Gallinari sank a stepback jumper to take the lead back to five, and then nailed a dagger trey after Embiid had cut the lead back to three points, at 95-92, with just under two minutes left. An Embiid turnover with 43 seconds left ended the hopes of Team Africa, and Middleton sealed victory for Team World when he sank one of two free-throws, to bring the score to 96-92.
It was a superb game in Pretoria with the close to capacity-filled arena treated to a tightly fought battle between two teams who wanted victory. The NBA Africa Game yet again delivered a spectacle that African fans will savor for years to come.
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