The NBA All-Star Game is THE head-to-head matchup between the best of the best from the East and West…well, besides the finals. In more recent years though, the fans haven’t been buying it, and especially this year, people have made it clear.
Most of the complaints were about the game, but plenty of attention was given to the few “snubbed” players who were left out of the roster despite their imposing stat lines. The most outstanding complaint this year was once again aimed at the game itself: Nobody plays defense.
What happened?
To preface, this year’s score was 211 – 186. To clarify, the average score for a team this season is 115.5 points. So, you can see where the fans are coming from, and what the game could have been versus what it turned out to be.
So what did that Sunday night turn into? Well… it was 48 minutes of the Pros showing what they’ve got. A handful of records were broken this time around, with one team at 211 points (by the East), 42 3-pointers made (by the East), a whopping 397 total points, and many more.
But with the lack of defense from either side, the game became more of an exposition on how deep guys like Damian Lillard could keep shooting. Lillard averaged 31.5 feet for all his three-point shots on Sunday, with two separate half-court shots that seemed to be the main highlights of the night.
So what was the problem?
However, as entertaining as it is to watch guys like Lillard, K.A. Towns, Curry, and Tyrese Haliburton knock ‘em down, what’s the point if nobody’s really trying? Anthony Edwards said in an NBATV interview Saturday night, “I’m gonna shoot with my left hand the whole game.” Even Tyrese Haliburton commented after the game, “Obviously it wasn’t high intensity at all.”
Last year, we saw the consequences of fed-up fans too. After a severe drop in All-Star Game viewership, about 1.7 million viewers (via Statista), NBA Commissioner Adam Silver pushed for a more competitive attitude from the players this year.
As you could’ve guessed…
A tweet from Sports Center’s Scott Van Pelt, said it all for this year’s game: “It’s really simple: If you don’t care, neither do we.” While players are honored to be picked for these teams alongside other big names, the game doesn’t mean anything. It’s just as Anthony Edwards said, he’s shooting with his left hand because his percentage doesn’t matter, “It’s the all-star game, there is no field goal percentage.”
So, we can blame a lack of incentive on one hand, but another big reason could be linked to injuries and player health. With injuries being a frequent issue for players and teams, and due to the physical nature of the league today, it’s important to prioritize player health, especially halfway through the season.
Despite the allure of having all these big names together on the court, with guys like Lebron going on 40, and Kevin Durrant and Steph Curry getting into the latter parts of their career, health is a priority.
Think about the kids man…
Health concerns don’t only apply to the older players, we’ve seen injuries take out players in their rookie season:
Rookies like Joel Embiid played 31 games his rookie year and Julius Randle, who missed an entire season after breaking his leg 14 minutes into his debut game.
With teams like the Knicks, whose starting five have all played together for 14 games this season due to accumulated injuries, it’s no surprise the players don’t want to take any risks. Lebron even mentioned in his post-game interview “I think the good thing that came out of tonight was that none of the players got injured.”
So while, from a player’s side, it’s clearly more of a chance to go out and play a little pickup, does that mean the dream of a competitive all-star battle isn’t in the cards anymore? Perhaps a good fix could be a One-on-One tournament? All we know is the fans are sick of it, and the future of the All-Star game may be a short one.
