Hawks guard Schroder leads World to victory in 'Rising Stars' debut
Dennis Schroder may not have claimed Most Valuable Player honors in his team's Rising Stars Challenge victory, but he was certainly captain of the ship.
In the World's 121-112 win over Team USA -- the main event from the Friday portion of NBA All-Star Weekend -- the Hawks guard (and second-year pro) notched 13 points, three steals and a game-high nine assists.
The Germany native was also the World squad's driving force during crunch time, logging the majority of minutes at point guard down the stretch, while helping six countrymen-for-a-day -- namely Andrew Wiggins (22 points), Rudy Gobert (16 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks), Nikola Mirotic (16 points), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece -- 12 points, 10 rebounds) -- score in double figures against the Americans.
For history sake, the Canadian-born Wiggins (last summer's No. 1 overall pick -- before getting traded to the Timberwolves) slipped past the Frenchman Gobert (say hello to the super-cool nickname of "Stifle Tower") for MVP honors.
But enough about the event, at large, which featured perhaps the first AND WORST self-alley-oop from beyond the three-point line in NBA-fringe-event history ... with Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo (22 points; negative on-court ratio of minus-17) comically trying to oop himself a potential dunk from long range -- amid heavy traffic.
Schroder, a former skateboarding enthusiast who only became serious about basketball roughly five years ago, buried 6 of 11 shots against the Americans -- with the first five coming in driving-layup form ... and the final field goal stemming from a monstrous dunk in the second half.
For what it's worth, Schroder's throwdown was one of the few contested jams of the night.
With a little more than 60 seconds left and the World squad clinging to a four-point lead (115-111), Gobert blocked Mason Plumlee's interior shot. The ball then bounced to Wiggins, who fired a 30-foot outlet pass to Schroder for the dunk that essentially clinched the victory.
As a bonus, Schroder even acknowledged Hawks teammate Paul Millsap in the crowd after the jam.
Millsap was on-hand Friday night to support his Atlanta teammate. Perhaps Schroder will return the favor on Sunday ... when four Hawks players -- Millsap, Kyle Korver, Al Horford, Jeff Teague -- join head coach Mike Budenholzer on the Eastern Conference's All-Star roster.
On the Charlotte Hornets' front ... second-year pro Cody Zeller tallied 12 points and four rebounds in nearly 20 minutes of action.
