Mustering enthusiasm for NBA All-Star Weekend is becoming more difficult by the year for the vast majority of basketball lovers. When the players participating in the All-Star Game itself seem to not have a care about it in the world, the challenge to hold an audience’s attention only increases.
Plus, what used to be the flagship event of the festivities, the Slam Dunk Contest, has been won by Mac McClung two years in a row. McClung isn’t an NBA player.
If you missed the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night, the coolest thing that happened in the East’s 211-186 defense-free demolition of the West was when Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton popped off for five straight 3-pointers toward the beginning. The friendly crowd in Indianapolis liked that a lot.
Other than that and game MVP Damian Lillard hitting 11 treys — maybe one of which was contested — to be brutally honest, you did not miss much at all.
For an occasion that’s supposed to celebrate the best of the best in the sport of basketball, that’s not a very good sign.
I love how the official accounts try to make folks all excited about a team hitting 200 points. Like WOW! COOL!
Talk whatever sh*t you want to about Draymond Green and his antics. I’ll hear it and probably agree with a lot of it. Not a massive fan of the guy. Don’t think many non-Golden State Warriors supporters are.
However, Draymond couldn’t have been more spot-on about Luka Doncic, who is one of a handful of my favorite players to watch in today’s NBA.
To me, this is just funny. I’m not accusing Luka of not loving basketball. He’ll go through the unnecessarily long grind of an 82-game regular season, however far he can drag the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs, and gleefully play for the Slovenian national team without skipping a beat. Doesn’t it say something that somebody who’s that passionate about the game gives this few f*cks?
The late, great Kobe Bryant put it well when discussing the All-Star Game, and why the players owe it to fans to put a superior product on the court even in an exhibition atmosphere.
You can’t even call what was played on Sunday (and many years before this) actual basketball. It’s like some hybrid of a loose-scrimmage and pregame shootaround.
The amount of people who are describing this as “unwatchable” should be alarming to NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Or maybe he just doesn’t care.
A couple of respected media members came up with alternative All-Star Game concepts that I’d quite enjoy compared to the nonsense we’re forced to behold a week after Super Bowl Sunday.
I really would not mind some basketball players doing mini-golf. Make them use super short putters, too. Can you imagine Victor Wembanyama in a couple years putt-putting his way around a court? High comedic potential.
What are we doing, Commissioner Silver? Fix this. Do something. It’s tough out here. Come up with a lucrative incentives-based model. Make the champion decide home court in the NBA Finals. Do. Something.
Other than, you know, public posturing that results in zero change.
