Jim Alexander: The NBA’s All-Star Weekend has come and gone, and I’ll confess I didn’t watch a bit of it live (extenuating circumstances, because I was in the car headed home from Riviera both Saturday and Sunday evening). The only part of the weekend I really wanted to see was the Steph-vs.-Sabrina 3-point shootout Saturday night, and that turned out to be a great show. Watching the YouTube clip I was struck most by the sheer joy of their competition, coupled with the understanding of its sociological significance.
The game itself? Further evidence that All-Star exhibitions in contact sports are increasingly irrelevant. The NFL finally did the right thing by deep-sixing the Pro Bowl game in favor of a weekend of skills competitions and flag football. The NHL’s 3-on-3 competition is no longer an experiment, but it’s still a gimmick.
And the NBA’s version? The 211-186 final score should be the final epitaph for what once was an at least reasonably interesting event. Nobody wants to get hurt, therefore nobody even tries to play defense, and it becomes a glorified 3-point contest. I love the NBA, but this is not the league’s finest weekend.
(Baseball gets a pass, sort of, since its All-Star Game still at least resembles real baseball. My biggest gripe there is the insistence on Nike-inspired – or uninspired, actually – generic uniforms instead of each team’s colors on display. But that’s another subject for another time, especially since the new uniform manufacturer, Fanatics, has caused such an uproar this spring.)
Anyway, Mirjam, what was your reaction to the weekend’s scoring orgy? And what are your ideas for improving it, or can it be salvaged at all?
Mirjam Swanson: The NBA certainly wants to salvage it. As intrepid Lakers podcaster Anthony Irwin pointed out yesterday when I chatted with him: The All-Star Game remains one of the NBA’s true tentpole events – which is why it’s so damaging when the show the players put on is so…
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