The LKL All-Star Game is the All-Star Game of the professional Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). The game is held once every year. The participants of the game are chosen in two ways: the first is via fan ballot, with the leading vote recipients at each position starting the game; secondly the reserves are chosen by a vote among the head coaches of each squad. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. If a player is injured, and cannot participate, the league's commissioner will select a replacement.

Features

edit

The All-Star Game is played under normal FIBA rules, but there are notable differences from an average game.

The player introductions are usually accompanied by a significant amount of fanfare, including lighting effects, dance music, and pyrotechnics. Special uniforms are designed for the game each year, usually green for the Lithuanians, and white for the Time Team (non Lithuanians). A major recording artist typically sings the national anthem, prior to tip-off.

Game play usually involves players attempting spectacular slam dunks and alley oops. Defensive effort is limited, and the final score of the game is generally much higher than an average LKL game. The coaches also try to give most of the reserve players some playing time on the court, instead of using a limited rotation, as they would in a normal game. The fourth quarter of the game is often played in a more competitive fashion, if the game is close.

Halftime is also longer than a typical LKL game, due to musical performances, by various artists.

Every few years, LKL alternates matches from Lietuviai and Time Team (Lietuviai being the All-Star Lithuanian team, and Time Team being the All-Star foreigner team) to Vilkai and Ereliai (two teams of mixed foreign and Lithuanian players).

Results

edit
Summaries
Year (Arena), city Result MVP
Champion Score Runner-up
1994 Panevėžys   Rytai 99–88   Vakarai   Gintaras Bačianskas (Lietkabelis)
1995 Šiauliai   Lietuviai 100–91   Time Team   Saulius Štombergas (LSU-Atletas),   Patrick Jones (BC Olimpas)
1996 Vilnius   Lietuviai 83–81   Time Team   Rimas Kurtinaitis (BC Žalgiris)
1997 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas   Vakarai 108–107   Rytai
1998 Vilnius   Rytai 100–85   Vakarai
1999 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas LKL Rinktinė 106-101 Žalgiris   Valdemaras Chomičius (Kraitenė Marijampolė)
2000 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas   Lietuviai 137–97   Time Team   Mindaugas Timinskas (BC Žalgiris)
2001 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas   Vilkai 124–120   Ereliai   Grigorij Khizhnyak (BC Žalgiris)
2002 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas   Ereliai 125–117   Vilkai   Robertas Javtokas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2003 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas   Vilkai 105–97   Ereliai   Arvydas Macijauskas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2004 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas   Lietuviai 131–113   Time Team   Tanoka Beard (BC Žalgiris)
2005 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius   Time Team 86–74   Lietuviai   Tanoka Beard (BC Žalgiris)
2006 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius   Lietuviai 107–88   Time Team   Simas Jasaitis (Lietuvos Rytas)
2007 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius   Lietuviai 108–108   Time Team   Jonas Mačiulis (BC Žalgiris),   Kareem Rush (Lietuvos Rytas)
2008 (Šiauliai Arena), Šiauliai   Lietuviai 110–109   Time Team   Hollis Price (Lietuvos Rytas)
2009 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas   Vilkai 130–122   Ereliai   Chuck Eidson (Lietuvos Rytas)
2010 (Cido Arena), Panevėžys   Vilkai 109–104   Ereliai   Mindaugas Kuzminskas (BC Šiauliai)
2011 (Šiauliai Arena), Šiauliai   Lietuviai 122–114   Time Team   Jonas Valančiūnas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2012 (Švyturys Arena), Klaipėda   Lietuviai 115–100   Time Team   Jonas Valančiūnas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2013 (Šiauliai Arena), Šiauliai   Lietuviai 140–113   Time Team   Kšyštof Lavrinovič, Darjuš Lavrinovič (Žalgiris)
2014 (Švyturys Arena), Klaipėda   Vakarai 113–108   Rytai   Justin Dentmon (Žalgiris)
2015 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius   Amžini Priešininkai 105–95   LKL Žvaigždės   Travis Leslie (Lietuvos rytas)
2016 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius Replaced by Karaliaus Mindaugo taurė

Other events

edit

The All-Star Game is the featured event of the All-Star Day, which also includes a number of popular exhibition games, and competitions featuring LKL players. Such as the LKL Three-point Shootout and the LKL Slam Dunk Contest.

See also

edit

References

edit