CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One day before making his All-Star Game debut, Denver’s Nikola Jokic shared a legitimate concern about Team Giannis’ European-heavy roster.
“We got the international team right there,” Jokic said. “How we gonna speak together? That’s what I thought.”
Between captain Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Joel Embiid (Cameroon), Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) and Jokic (Serbia), his fear wasn’t unfounded.
Team LeBron, led by Nuggets coach Michael Malone, stormed back late in the fourth quarter Sunday to seize the game from Antetokounmpo’s squad. Kyrie Irving tossed an alley-oop to LeBron James for old time’s sake, James Harden buried a 3-pointer and Kevin Durant, who scored 31 points and was named MVP, even played a little defense during the run.