All-Star Friday: BYU's Nacua soars in Celeb game; Kessler, George face off in Rising Stars

INDIANAPOLIS — Walker Kessler jumped.

During Rising Stars media availability Friday morning, Kessler was asked about getting dunked on. He gave the same answer as most shot-blocking centers: If you contest enough shots, eventually it will happen.

It happened early in the Rising Stars final Friday night in Indianapolis during All-Star Weekend. Kessler contested Oscar Tshiebwe's drive to the hoop, and, well ... Tshiebwe won that battle.

Kessler got a bit of revenge, though. He got a dunk of his own and a running layup, and Kessler's Team Jalen went on to win the Rising Stars event by topping Team Detlef 26-13 in the final.

Kessler finished with 4 points and a rebound.

The highlight of the night, at least for Jazz fans, was likely the first game of the Rising Stars tournament — specifically one play.

Keyonte George may have only had one bucket in his Rising Stars debut but it was one to savor.

The Jazz rookie cut down the baseline and finished a reverse layup around Kessler. George had just 2 points and went 0-for-3 from 3-point range the night after he tied the rookie record for 3s in a game.

Friday was a quick turnaround for the Jazz players.

George and Kessler flew to Indianapolis immediately after the Jazz's loss to the Warriors (the league provided a charter for them, due to having to play the night before). Kessler and George arrived in Indianapolis in the early hours Friday and then participated in media availability and a practice.

"I am just gonna be around a lot of great talent, elite-level talent for sure," George said Thursday night before heading to All-Star Weekend. "And just trying to you know, soak it all in. You get to be around All-Stars, try to pick their brain, try to learn this weekend, show my face, grow my brand, that's the main thing about this weekend."

Even with Kessler's team coming out victorious, the best performance from Utah on Friday night didn't come from the Jazz. It came from former Orem High and BYU receiver Puka Nacua, fresh off a record-setting rookie season with the Los Angeles Rams.

Nacua played some basketball during his high school glory days, and he showed some of that off during the Celebrity Game.

He delivered two crowd-pleasing dunks and even hit a 4-point shot.

Next up for the Jazz in Indianapolis: Lauri Markkanen in the 3-point shootout on Saturday night.

Markkanen, who just missed out on making the finals in the event last year in Salt Lake City, will compete against Damian Lillard (Milwaukee Bucks), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers), Tyere Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Malik Beasley (Bucks), Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks).

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