CHICAGO -- The 2020 All-Star Game saw Kawhi Leonard win the first-ever Kobe Bryant MVP award, and saw both teams honor the late Los Angeles Lakers legend in the most fitting possible fashion: by playing hard to the very last second.

Under the new "Elam Ending" rule instituted this season, with the game ending when one team or the other reached a specific final score, the game ended when Chicago native Anthony Davis sank the second of two free throws to lift Team LeBron to a 157-155 victory over Team Giannis here at United Center.

The format change provided all the drama the league could have possibly hoped for, with the final few possessions leaving the crowd hanging on every bounce of the ball, and players on both teams playing the untimed fourth quarter full bore.

"It felt like playing in the league in a playoff game," Davis said. "It's a great competition and it's 24 players who go out and compete at a very high level and to do it in front of a crowd like this, with a new format that we were a little skeptical of, we didn't know how it was gonna go but everyone at the end of the day they loved it. It brings back the competition so it was great."

After James Harden made two free throws to make it 154-152, Pascal Siakam went 1-for-2 from the line to make it 154-153. From there, the two teams -- playing without the benefit of any television timeouts during an untimed fourth quarter -- went back-and-forth, trying to make a basket. Eventually, the score reached 156-155 in favor of Team LeBron -- meaning that the next basket for either side would result in a win.

With the game being played without any television commercial timeouts in the fourth quarter, the game took on a thrilling, desperate edge for both sides. Both teams were called for multiple offensive fouls, and settled for contested, ugly shots that looked like they were taken with tired minds and legs.

And, eventually, it ended with a foul, after Davis, a 7-footer, posted up 6-foot Kyle Lowry in the post. After Lowry was called for a foul, Davis -- a Chicago native -- missed the first free throw while being booed by virtually the entire crowd. After he walked away from the line and smiled, he then made the second one, spreading his arms wide as his teammates mobbed him in what was a terribly anti-climatic ending to an otherwise thrilling game.

It also, predictably, led to split opinions on how the ending played out.

"I think we definitely can't end on a free throw," Siakam said.

"I mean we try to do whatever to get the win," Davis said. "They shouldn't have fouled me.

"Joel Embiid was trying to say we shouldn't be able to win a free throw but hey, that wasn't in the rule book. I'm glad we got the win."

NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced during his press conference Saturday night that, starting Sunday night, the All-Star Game's MVP trophy would be permanently named after Bryant, who won the award during his legendary 20-year career a record-tying four times. Leonard, a Southern California native, scored 25 of his 30 points in the first half to win his first All-Star Game MVP award -- and did so in the first year it was named after a player he grew up idolizing.

"It's very special," Leonard said of winning the award. "I had a relationship with him. Words can't explain how happy I am to be able to put that trophy in my room, in my trophy room, and just be able to see Kobe's name on there.

"It just means a lot to me. He's a big inspiration in my life. He did a lot for me."

The more fitting tribute to Bryant, however, was the way the game played out, as the NBA's decision to change the format to give each quarter meaning -- and have an untimed fourth quarter played to a target score -- provided every ounce of drama, and then some, that the league could've possibly hoped for.

Because of the Elam Ending, after the score was Team Giannis 133, Team LeBron 124 through three quarters, whichever team got to 157 points first -- Team Giannis' score plus 24, to honor Kobe Bryant -- would win the game. And following years of complaints about a lack of effort or interest in how the game would be played, the fourth quarter under this new format provided everything the fans could've wanted.

There were tactical fouls taken at both ends of the court. There were clamors for calls from players on both teams. And there was hard defense being played -- including Antetokounmpo blocking James on a fadeaway jumper and Davis at the rim on an attempt a dunk. There was even a charge taken by Lowry on a Leonard drive, and a challenge used during the fourth quarter that took away two potential free throws from Embiid.

And all of that preceded a frenetic final few possessions which saw both teams scratching and clawing for every possession.

"At the end everybody was so ready to win the game," James Harden said. "Strategizing.

"We were coming up with different strategies every time we scored or didn't score. It was pretty cool to actually strategize the possession."

It all combined to give the festivities the kind of energy they have lacked far too often -- and produced precisely the kind of drama the NBA was hoping it would.

That is why the league -- in an attempt to revive interest in the game and, concurrently, cause the players to have more at stake throughout -- enacted two significant changes designed to make it more competitive. The first was having the score reset to zero after the first, second and third quarters, with the winning team from each quarter earning $100,000 to go to local charities selected by the team captains, James and Antetokounmpo.

Children involved with both charities were sitting courtside during the game, and each player was given a letter from a child from their team's respective charity before the game.

The second was the introduction of the Elam Ending, which has become popular thanks to The Basketball Tournament over the past few summers.

"This was an idea I brought to Adam," Paul said. "Thankfully, we tried it out, so I was asking the guys how they enjoyed it during the game, and at the end of the game.

"So you all [the media] be sure to ask him."

The combination of the rule changes and Bryant's passing hung over the festivities, and set up the expectation that this year would see more effort put in by players on both sides.

And, as it turned out, those expectations were justified, as the two teams engaged in a back-and-forth affair that had the crowd invested in how it played out, with the two teams taking turns winning the first two quarters before they wound up tying in the third, carrying over the $100,000 prize over to the fourth quarter as a result.

"I think it was really interesting," Team Giannis coach Nick Nurse said of the new format. "It was really fun. Each and every quarter was, from a coaching standpoint, really fun. I thought the quarters got interesting really early in the quarters because the game was moving pretty quick.

"WIth the cumulative score, even though we were down in the first quarter, we thought we had to keep plugging to keep it close so it didn't get too far away. Then, when we were on the other side of it, we said, 'Let's keep increasing our lead,' and get as big of an advantage going into the fourth."

The end of the third quarter showed how different the new format was -- and how much more intensity it generated. Team LeBron took a 40-39 lead with 22.2 seconds left after a Nikola Jokic 3-pointer. Nurse called timeout to draw up a play -- only for Lowry, his point guard with the Toronto Raptors, to throw a bad pass and turn the ball over.

Team LeBron then fouled Westbrook to get the ball back, and he made one of the two free throws, making the score 41-39. But as Team LeBron tried to press, Lowry kicked the ball ahead to Young, who threw up a perfect alley-oop to Gobert for a slam to tie the game at 41 with 2.2 seconds remaining in the fourth. Vogel called a timeout to draw up a play, but Westbrook's runner missed, meaning the two teams tied. That also meant the $100,000 on the line for that quarter was pushed to the fourth, adding even more reason for both teams to give more energy than they typically have in these situations in the past.

And, given Bryant's legendary competitive streak, it came as little surprise that players on both sides went out of their way to mirror it in a game centered around honoring his legacy.

"I mean, anything else would be uncivilized," James said. "He's one of the greatest basketball players, one of the most impactful players, and the inspiration that he has, it's showing.

"Obviously, we all saw what he was able to do on the floor as a competitor, as a champion, someone who strived for excellence every single day, but we also saw the father he was as well to his beautiful daughters and to his wife. The things that he was doing, winning an Oscar, just doing so many things that was just -- that people would aspire to do and gaining inspiration from him because of his drive.

"I think it's been amazing, and I'm happy to be a part of it this weekend. Obviously, me being a Los Angeles Laker myself, it's going to be a part of me for the rest of my life and our franchise, and any player to ever wear purple and gold until the end of basketball, which is never.

"So it's a beautiful time. It's a beautiful day. And his presence was felt here in Chicago."

ESPN's Eric Woodyard and Malika Andrews contributed to this report.