LKL All-Star Game

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

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

Summaries
Year (Arena), city Result MVP
Champion Score Runner-up
1994 Panevėžys United Nations Rytai 99–88 United Nations Vakarai Lithuania Gintaras Bačianskas (Lietkabelis)
1995 Šiauliai Lithuania Lietuviai 100–91 Europe Time Team Lithuania Saulius Štombergas (LSU-Atletas), United States Patrick Jones (BC Olimpas)
1996 Vilnius Lithuania Lietuviai 83–81 Europe Time Team Lithuania Rimas Kurtinaitis (BC Žalgiris)
1997 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas United Nations Vakarai 108–107 United Nations Rytai Lithuania Tomas Pačėsas (Alytus Alita-Savy)
1998 Vilnius United Nations Rytai 100–85 United Nations Vakarai United States Dion Cross (Šilutė "Šilutė")
1999 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas LKL Rinktinė 106-101 Žalgiris Lithuania Valdemaras Chomičius (Kraitenė Marijampolė)
2000 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas Lithuania Lietuviai 137–97 Europe Time Team Lithuania Mindaugas Timinskas (BC Žalgiris)
2001 [1] (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas United Nations Vilkai 124–120 United Nations Ereliai Ukraine Grigorij Khizhnyak (BC Žalgiris)
2002 [2] (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas United Nations Ereliai 125–117 United Nations Vilkai Lithuania Robertas Javtokas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2003 [3] (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas United Nations Vilkai 105–97 United Nations Ereliai Lithuania Arvydas Macijauskas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2004 [4] (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas Lithuania Lietuviai 131–113 Europe Time Team United States Tanoka Beard (BC Žalgiris)
2005 [5] (Siemens Arena), Vilnius Europe Time Team 86–74 Lithuania Lietuviai United States Tanoka Beard (BC Žalgiris)
2006 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius Lithuania Lietuviai 107–88 Europe Time Team Lithuania Simas Jasaitis (Lietuvos Rytas)
2007 [6] (Siemens Arena), Vilnius Lithuania Lietuviai 108–108 Europe Time Team Lithuania Jonas Mačiulis (BC Žalgiris), United States Kareem Rush (Lietuvos Rytas)
2008 (Šiauliai Arena), Šiauliai Lithuania Lietuviai 110–109 Europe Time Team United States Hollis Price (Lietuvos Rytas)
2009 (Kaunas Sports Hall), Kaunas United Nations Vilkai 130–122 United Nations Ereliai United States Chuck Eidson (Lietuvos Rytas)
2010 (Cido Arena), Panevėžys United Nations Vilkai 109–104 United Nations Ereliai Lithuania Mindaugas Kuzminskas (BC Šiauliai)
2011 (Šiauliai Arena), Šiauliai Lithuania Lietuviai 122–114 Europe Time Team Lithuania Jonas Valančiūnas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2012 (Švyturys Arena), Klaipėda Lithuania Lietuviai 115–100 Europe Time Team Lithuania Jonas Valančiūnas (Lietuvos Rytas)
2013 (Šiauliai Arena), Šiauliai Lithuania Lietuviai 140–113 Europe Time Team Lithuania Kšyštof Lavrinovič, Darjuš Lavrinovič (Žalgiris)
2014 (Švyturys Arena), Klaipėda United Nations Vakarai 113–108 United Nations Rytai United States Justin Dentmon (Žalgiris)
2015 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius United Nations Amžini Priešininkai 105–95 United Nations LKL Žvaigždės United States Travis Leslie (Lietuvos rytas)
2016 (Siemens Arena), Vilnius Replaced by Karaliaus Mindaugo taurė

Other events

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. It includes the:

Players with most appearances

Player All-Star Editions Notes
Lithuania Paulius Jankūnas 6 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012
Lithuania Robertas Javtokas 6 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2012 1x MVP
United States Tanoka Beard 5 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 2x MVP
Lithuania Saulius Stombergas 5 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003 1x MVP
Lithuania Eurelijus Žukauskas 5 1996,1999, 2007, 2008 and 2009
Lithuania Dainius Šalenga 4 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2010
Lithuania Ramūnas Šiškauskas 4 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Lithuania Mindaugas Kuzminskas 4 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 1x MVP
Lithuania Jonas Valančiūnas 3 2010, 2011 and 2012 2x MVP
Lithuania Vidas Ginevičius 3 2002, 2005, 2006
Lithuania Arvydas Macijauskas 3 2001, 2002 and 2003 1x MVP
Lithuania Jonas Mačiulis 3 2007, 2008, 2009 1x MVP
Lithuania Donatas Slanina 3 1999, 2001 and 2002
Lithuania Rolandas Matulis 2 2001, 2011
Lithuania Mindaugas Timinskas 2 2003, 2004
Lithuania Kšyštof Lavrinovič 2 2013, 2015 1x MVP
Lithuania Saulius Kuzminskas 2 2002, 2003
Lithuania Simonas Serapinas 2 2003, 2005
Lithuania Artūras Jomantas 2 2005, 2014
Lithuania Martynas Pocius 2 2010, 2011
Lithuania Mario Delaš 2 2012 and 2013
Lithuania Gintaras Kadžiulis 2 2002 and 2012
Lithuania Simas Jasaitis 2 2006 and 2011 1x MVP
Ukraine Grigorij Khizhnyak 2 2001 and 2002 1x MVP
United States Chuck Eidson 2 2008 and 2009 1x MVP
United States Travis Leslie 2 2014 and 2015 1x MVP

Distinctions

See also

References

Sources