The NBA put on a show in its first exhibition game in Africa which held on Saturday, August 1, 2015 at the Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The game kicked off with with a dunk straight from the tip-off by Luc Mbah a Moute and it got even interesting when African NBA legends, Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo stripped off their business suits to don their old team uniforms again and play for a little while in the second quarter.
Spotting a Houston No. 34 jersey, Olajuwon thrilled fans as he pulled off a turn-around jumper - the "Dream Shake" - that had the current NBA stars leaping off the benches with their arms in the air.
After a relaxed first half, the game got serious in the second: Paul's Team World rallied with a 14-0 run in the fourth quarter to beat Luol Deng's "home" Team Africa 101-97.
Washington's Bradley Beal led Team World with 18 points while Paul had 12. Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo had 22 points for Team Africa, with Deng adding 20.
At the start of the third quarter, Paul decided that was enough fooling around, hitting three straight 3-pointers to bring the "visiting" team back. Team Africa, made up of players born in Africa or with African heritage, couldn't hold off the late surge.
After Jeff Green's dunk and a layup by Evan Turner, Team World was suddenly leading 85-78 in the fourth and the South African crowd had a proper game. Team World led 99-97 with a couple of seconds to go when Green was fouled and made both free throws to seal the game.
The South African exhibition was the NBA's biggest step into Africa so far, and could be the pre-cursor to a preseason and maybe even a regular season game on the continent, according to Commissioner Adam Silver.