What did the league get right — and wrong — about the new-look All-Star Game? Reviews are in for the NBA’s latest format change.
— After last year’s NBA All-Star Game did a collective face-plant in Indianapolis, the NBA got together with its players — including one of its standard-bearers in Stephen Curry — to figure out what it could do to improve the league’s signature midseason showcase.
The result was a reimagined format — one Curry himself played a part in creating — that turned one 48-minute game between two teams into three shorter games featuring four teams, culminating with All-Star MVP Curry and Team Shaq routing Team Chuck in the championship.
So it was fitting that, on a weekend that wound up being as much about celebrating Curry’s legendary career with the Golden State Warriors as it was anything else, it was Curry who was asked whether the format he helped create had worked — and what, exactly, should this event look like?
«We needed to change», Curry said, referring to last year’s game that featured nearly 400 combined points. «We needed some new life, new juice in the game — something kind of unexpected. .
«The way people consume basketball is different. It’s not going to look like it used to. But it can still be fun for everybody. I had fun. Our team had fun. That’s kind of all that matters.»
Curry had plenty of fun when he buried a halfcourt shot during the final Sunday night, and then immediately beelined his way to the other end of the court to find rapper and fellow Bay Area icon Mistah F.A.B. to celebrate.
Overall, there were fewer moments of completely lethargic play on the court than previous editions and even multiple notable defensive plays, including blocks at the rim by Jaren Jackson Jr. and Victor Wembanyama.
But at the end of the night, in what’s become a tradition for how these All-Star weekends have gone for the NBA in recent years, there was far from a consensus about how the night played out, and where things should go from here.
«I think maybe we should focus on some other things than All-Star», Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic said. «I think it’s always going to be like this so we should accept it.»
THE ENTIRE DISCUSSION around the All-Star Game over the past several seasons could be distilled down into one brief interaction the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player had with reporters Saturday during his media availability.
When Jokic was asked about Charles Barkley picking him first as part of TNT’s «Inside The NBA» draft for the three eight-man All-Star rosters earlier this month, Jokic smiled and said, «I think I’m not built for this game, for this kind of game.»
Minutes later, Jokic was asked what he actually meant.
«I think that’s not a question for me, my friend», he said, another smile forming on his face as he spoke. «If you want my opinion, I cannot give you because I think it’s not going to be nice.»
If Jokic, a three-time MVP averaging a triple-double while shooting close to 60% from the field and 45% from 3-point range, isn’t a fit for the All-Star Game, then who is?
That’s precisely what the NBA set out to try to fix in shifting to this three-game mini-tournament, with each game being played to a target score of 40 points.
