V.J. Edgecombe seems quietly confident he’ll be at an NBA All-Star weekend quite soon to play in the main event.<\/p>\n
Until that day arrives, the Philadelphia rookie celebrated his first trip to this midseason showcase with two game-ending scores and an MVP trophy in the Rising Stars event.<\/p>\n
Edgecombe led Team Vince to victory in the kickoff event for the NBA All-Star weekend Friday night, scoring 17 points in the semifinal before hitting two free throws to ice the final.<\/p>\n
“We all wanted to compete, and I wanted to win,” Edgecombe said. “I really hate losing, and we had a chance to win it all, so why not go out there and win?”<\/p>\n
The NBA’s rookies, sophomores and G League prospects opened the All-Star weekend at the Los Angeles Clippers’ Intuit Dome with this four-team tournament of three games played to a set point total.<\/p>\n
While Edgecombe was the most impactful player, he didn’t have the most memorable bucket: San Antonio guard Dylan Harper ended the first semifinal by scoring the game-winner over Ron Harper Jr., his older brother.<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper then scored eight more points in the final for Team Melo while teaming up with his Spurs teammate, Stephon Castle, last season’s Rookie of the Year and Rising Stars MVP.<\/p>\n
Castle made a putback dunk off Jeremiah Fears’ miss to pull Team Melo within one point of victory, but Edgecombe drew a foul from Donovan Clingan and coolly hit both free throws to end it at 25-24.<\/p>\n
Edgecombe was motivated by the presence of his 76ers backcourt mate, All-Star Tyrese Maxey, who watched from courtside.<\/p>\n
“He (said) he ain’t coming to watch if I ain’t going to play hard,” Edgecombe said. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to play hard so at least it’s not a waste of his time.'”<\/p>\n
Indeed, the lackadaisical efforts that have plagued the All-Star Game in recent years wasn’t nearly as prevalent in this Rising Stars showcase, and Edgecombe said that’s largely because of the motivational efforts of the four NBA veterans who led the teams: Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Austin Rivers.<\/p>\n
When the vets were picking their teams two weeks ago, Edgecombe told Carter to choose him if he wanted to win.<\/p>\n
“(Carter) was telling us, ‘Just go! Just go! Keep playing hard!'” Edgecombe said. “And we feed off of that. We just started rolling.”<\/p>\n
Edgecombe scored nearly half of his team’s 41 points \u2014 including the last 10 in a row \u2014 while winning the second semifinal. Edgecombe didn’t have to carry his team in the final, but the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s draft still scored its final four points.<\/p>\n
Dylan Harper called game in the first semifinal with a succession of moves that could have been learned on the driveway at home, bullying Ron Jr. into the paint before hitting a step-back jumper.<\/p>\n
Dylan stuck out his tongue in gleeful celebration of only his second basket in the semifinal, and their famous father laughed heartily at courtside.<\/p>\n
Ron Jr., a Celtics prospect with 21 games of NBA experience, is six years older than Dylan, the No. 2 pick in last summer’s draft \u2014 but the kid brother knew he could do it.<\/p>\n
“You think I’ve never beat him one-on-one (before)?” Dylan asked with mock exasperation.<\/p>\n
The Rising Stars game wasn’t a full showcase of the NBA’s top young talent because No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg dropped out of the game due to injury, as did Washington’s Alex Sarr and Memphis’ Cedric Coward.<\/p>\n
Edgecombe hit three 3-pointers during his scoring barrage in the first semifinal to win his duel with Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel, who scored just four points. The two rookies are the only serious contenders with Flagg for the Rookie of the Year award.<\/p>\n
The event got off to a rousing start when Clippers prospect Yanic Konan Niederh\u00e4user dunked a lob from Ron Harper Jr. for the first basket of the night. The Swiss big man drafted last summer by the All-Star weekend hosts got raucous cheers from the fans in The Wall, an extra-steep supporters’ section installed at Intuit Dome by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.<\/p>\n
Niederh\u00e4user led his losing team with 11 points in the first semifinal.<\/p>\n