22:13 What a day! Sergey Karasev dyed his hair blond, the ASB took down the VTB Youth League, and Khimki GM Pavel Astakhov almost dunked on Loko president Andrey Vedishchev and went on to win the Super Stars MVP.
We sold every seat in the Yubileyny Sports Palace and everyone got to see Ryan Broekhoff win the Three-Point Contest and Frank Elegar take home the Slam Dunk title. Basketball drones took over the arena between the 3rd and 4th quarters. We thought Nando De Colo would win it at the buzzer, and Sergio Rodriguez almost cleaned up his miss, but the day belonged to the Russian Stars who came out on top, 125-124. Again.
Sergey Karasev scored 29 points, was named MVP and went home with a brand-new white UAZ Patriot. Everyone was happy (except maybe De Colo and Rodriguez).
21:48 Zenit forward Sergey Karasev is your 2018 All-Star Game MVP! Congrats Sergey! He takes home a UAZ Patriot SUV.
21:46 Sergey Karasev finished with 29 points and seven assists. Andrey Vorontsevich had 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Who’s going to be MVP?
21:45 Russian Stars hang on at the buzzer, 125-124! De Colo misses a 3-pointer at the top of the key and Rodriguez comes up short on a desperation putback!
21:43 World Stars have possession. 11 seconds on the clock. Trailing by one point. Who takes the final shot?!
21:42 World Stars are on FIRE! Fast break dunk and foul for Anthony Gill. But he misses the free throw! 125-124, Russian Stars!
21:41 Anthony Gill cuts it to five on an alley-oop from De Colo. World Stars have the ball down five.
21:39 Sasa Obradovic wants a timeout with his team trailing 125-116 with less than two minutes remaining. Will the Russian Stars make it two in a row over the World Stars?
21:37 Russian Stars can put the game away, leading 121-114 with 2:20. Karasev slams it home for a nine-point lead!
21:31 Vorontsevich drains another 3! He’s got 26 points to put his team up by five with under five minutes remaining.
21:30 Basketball drone show during the break between the 3rd and 4th quarters. Wow.
21:04 Russian Stars up 86-70 midway through the 3rd quarter, before Anthony Hilliard sinks back-to-back jumpers to cut it to 13.
21:02 Andrey Vorontsevich already has 20 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Is he going to snag back-to-back MVP’s and drive home the UAZ Patriot SUV?
21:00 This might be the (unofficial) dunk of the game from Codi Miller-McIntyre.
20:50 Frank Elegar looking to clinch a Slam Dunk title. Cradles the ball on the way up and throws it down with authority! Judges dish out 59 points to your 2018 Slam Dunk Champion!
20:47 Honeycutt tries to dunk over FIVE All-Stars!! He comes up a LITTLE short, but has the whole arena buzzing from the spectacle.
20:43 Tyler Honeycutt and Frank Elegar advance to the championship. Ike Udanoh is eliminated after missing his two big attempts.
20:42 Elegar scores 50 in the second round. He was working on a behind-the-backboard alley-oop, but had to settle for a simple 360.
20:38 Here comes Tyler Honeycutt! Off the backboard with a huge windmill. The Khimki leaper racks up 59 points!
20:36 The Astana forward is going to jump over the Under Armour logo. Can’t quite finish his first two attempts. He runs out of time and finishes with 43 points for a simple two-handed slam.
20:34 Frank Elegar picks up 54 points for his dunk. Ike Udanoh up next.
20:32 Your Slam Dunk Contest judges are Sergey Bykov, Sergey Kushchenko, Sergei Ivanov, Sergei Bazarevich and L’One
20:30 Slam Dunk appetizer. El Chacho’s no-look pass to Drew Gordon for the alley-oop in slo-mo.
20:08 Janicenoks can only get 14, which means Ryan Broekhoff is your 2018 Three-Point Champion! He goes home with 300,000 rubles and 2,000 liters of gasoline courtesy of LUKOIL.
Райан Брокхофф одерживает победу в Конкурсе трехочковых бросков!💪
Ryan Broekhoff wins Three-Point Contest!💪 pic.twitter.com/W5hz5ivgL5
17:00 You can see all the best images from the Rising Stars Game here.
16:25 The Super Stars take the court in a few minutes! The lineups are loaded with League executives, politicians, entertainers and basketball legends.
16:15 Sergey Kozlov was named the Rising Stars MVP. He’s a power forward for Moscow State University in the ASB and finished with 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks. Kozlov is originally from Minsk where he played for the Tsmoki-Minsk youth team and won a Belarusian championship in 2016!
16:00 We know you’re excited for the Slam Dunk Contest. The winner takes home a year’s worth of gear from Under Armour, but Khimki’s Tyler Honeycutt isn’t sweating the competition.
Tyler Honeycutt is ready to get the #VTBAllStar dunk champion style, even if his plan is simple
15:51 The Students Stars cruise to an 87-56 win in the Rising Stars Game. Dmitry Popov finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the champions.
15:42 The Students Stars are up 29 points midway through the 4th quarter. There won’t be a comeback in this one.
15:20 Igor Volkhin of the Khimki Basketball Academy won the Rising Stars Three-Point Contest, with 17 points in the first round and 14 points in the championship round. Nice work, Igor!
Форвард молодежной команды @Khimkibasket Игорь Вольхин — победитель конкурса трехочковых бросков!
17 очков в полуфинале, 14 — в финале!
Заслуженный приз Игорь получил из рук президента @VTBUL Сергея Кущенко!
A post shared by #дваждымама (@sashyliakrasotylia) on
14:45 It sounds like Anton Ponkrashov is playing for a little more than just pride tonight.
Anton Ponkrashov, a guard for Russian Stars team, made a deal with a friend that he will dunk this season. #vtballstar game DOES count. If he dunks, he’ll win a bottle of a good wine. @ponkrash
