NBA All-Star Game’s long slog and failed attempts to fix it

Imagine an NBA All-Star Game where a superstar breaks his nose playing aggressive defense on the rim. third quarter.

Imagine one of the best players in NBA history angrily berating another all-time great at the final horn because one of them missed the final shot.

These things happened in the same All-Star Game, and it wasn't that long ago. In the 2012 game in Orlando, Dwyane Wade broke Kobe Bryant's nose to prevent a layup with eight minutes left in the third quarter.

That night was most memorable for Bryant barking at LeBron James to “shoot the damn ball” when James passed him twice in the final 10 seconds with his team, the East All-Stars, trailing Bryant's West by two. In a timeout before the final possession, Bryant had assigned himself to cover James and really wanted to stop him directly. The West won 152-149, but Bryant finished the game with a scowl, frustrated that James didn't want to challenge him.

A few days later, before Wade's Miami Heat were set to face Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers, Wade called to make sure there were no hard feelings. He was pleasantly surprised when Bryant told him he “loved” Wade playing so hard during the exhibition.

In a memorable moment from the 2003 All-Star, Michael Jordan tried to get in Bryant's head when he insulted the young star as Bryant had the chance to make three free throws with one second left in overtime to win . Bryant missed and the game went into double overtime, with Jordan hitting a miraculous jumper that nearly won the game for the East in Atlanta.

This is how Bryant, who cared deeply about the All-Star Games, was raised to compete in these events. Two decades later, it's difficult to determine which is more unimaginable for an All-Star Game: real competitiveness at the end of the game or one of them going to double overtime.

All-Star Weekend has long leaned in the direction of style over substance, but last year's version in Salt Lake City was surely the nadir.

After his win, no one remembers it, Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone told it like it was.

“It's an honor to be here, it's an honor to be part of a great weekend with great players,” said Malone, who was the coach of LeBron's losing team (l (Giannis team won). “But it's the worst basketball game ever played. … I'm not going to lie.”

It's been a long slog – filled with a few highlights but a lot of apathy – to reach this point in All-Star history. The NBA is hoping for a turning point. Malone was the most direct, but far from alone, in his feelings about the game having reached its lowest point, and that convinced the league to try to bring some enthusiasm back into the show half season.

The All-Star Game MVP trophy is named in Bryant's honor, a testament to the seriousness with which he took the game. There were complaints about the deterioration of the exhibition throughout Bryant's career , but he was one of the few who tried to hold it to some sort of standard. As he retired, the game really seemed to lose its way.

Consider the changes each All-Star edition has undergone in less than a decade:

• In 2016, the last time Bryant played in the NBA, the concept of defense, already rare among All-Stars, was retired. The defenders barely ran and rarely jumped. The West team scored an obscene total of 196 points.

• In 2017, the two teams combined for a record 374 points, as there were more points hanging than anything else. There were 83 dunks, virtually all uncontested, including 12 from the Milwaukee Bucks' only star, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

• In 2018, the NBA, perhaps aware that things were getting out of hand, tried a new format to stoke passion: team captains who would choose their teammates' playing style a week before the game. But the game would not be highlighted by the change in format, but rather by the dizzying number of 3-point shots launched by the players. There were only 27 dunks…but 123 3-pointers were attempted, the most ever in the All-Star Game, which teams converted at a less-than-exciting rate of 29%. . Instead of the usual dunk fest, the players mostly stood and watched each other take turns hoisting them deeper and deeper.

• In 2019, a dizzying 167 3-pointers were attempted as the game became even more monotonous.

In 2020, the NBA's attempts to re-engage player competitiveness reached a new level with the adoption of the Elam Ending, where the fourth quarter would be played without a clock and a target score would be established. In honor of Bryant, who tragically died a month before the game, the target score was set at 24 in honor of his jersey number.

Thus, 24 points were added to the leading team's score after three quarters and this was set as the target score. But there were also individual quarter-final competitions, with the teams playing for charity.

Does this seem confusing? This was the case, especially when fans sometimes had trouble knowing which team their favorite players belonged to and then needed a tutorial to keep score.

It produced tremendous drama that first year in Chicago, with Elam's ending resulting in the most competitive play in an All-Star Game of the modern era. There was defense, there was trash talk and there was a clutch play with Team LeBron pulling out a win against Team Giannis.

But the postponement of the 2021 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and confusion over the format never let it flourish, even if there were some standout moments during its presentation.

Last season, in a game where players took turns throwing the ball to each other from the backboard and shooting from midcourt, all momentum was lost.

“It wasn't basketball. It was just highlights and layups and jump shots,” Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown said after last year's game. “I don't know how much notoriety you want to get out of it. It was just a glorified layup line.”

Team selection in 2023 only took place shortly before the match. James, one of the captains, only arrived in Utah on game day after being excused from Saturday's events by the NBA for personal reasons.

Perhaps that's why the selections were hit or miss, with two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokic accidentally signing up for James' team when he didn't realize the Utah Jazz player, Lauri Markkanen, had not yet been chosen.

“I wouldn’t recruit myself either,” Jokic said. “I’m not cut out for this game.”

The players changed locker rooms. The pre-match presentations and ceremonies then dragged on.

“Some people stayed in the same locker room [with players not on their team]” said Damian Lillard. “Everything seemed long. There was an hour between everything. It was like the longest All-Star I’ve been a part of.”

This dismay and lack of seriousness carried over into the game, which was a poor display of effort and interest, even by All-Star standards. In 1993, 62 fouls were called. In 2023, there will be seven.

Fittingly, James promised Malone he would try to get a defensive stop, and when he contested a shot, he hit his finger on the rim and didn't play the rest of the game.

Viewership totaled 4.6 million, the lowest figure in more than two decades, according to Sports Media Watch.

“I was wondering, 'Am I playing hard or am I just comfortable?' You don't want to be that [only] guy hustling and checking his body, you float that line,” LA Clippers All-Star Paul George said after the game.

“Ultimately, fans want a more serious game. …That's going to get the most oohs and ahhs, [more] than giving a guy a wide open dunk. But that’s how it plays out in our time. I would love to see it evolve into a more competitive game.”

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander suggested a financial element be added to attract a better product. This prompted better performances in the NBA's season-opening tournament, with players saying the $500,000 cash prize for winners increased the competitive nature of that event.

Instead, the league is attempting another transformation. Or rather a makeover. For Sunday's All-Star Game, the teams will return to the East vs. West format. The Elam Ending was eliminated, and the NBA pledged to limit lengthy pregame ceremonies that players said made it difficult to warm up and prepare for the game.

“No one was happy with last year's experience, no one at all,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said during a Nov. 8 interview on “The Old Man and the Three” podcast. ” after the changes were announced last fall. “I'm not necessarily saying we expect you to play like it's the final, but we need a game.”

Silver has set a course this season to “rebalance” the league in what he has repeatedly called a “return to basketball” agenda, which includes not only returning the All-Star Game to its roots, but also a player participation policy aimed at incentivizing star players to avoid resting in high-value nationally televised matches.

The in-season tournament, for the most part, had the desired effect as there was a marked increase in intensity during the opening matches of the regular season. It remains to be seen whether players will collectively answer the call for a better performance for the All-Star Game. It probably couldn't be worse.

“We need to send a clear message to the players,” Silver said after announcing the changes last fall: “[so] the guys come out and say, “It’s a game.” Let's go try to win it.'”