SAN FRANCISCO — The verdicts have been blended, as could be anticipated.
The NBA’s All-Star Recreation mini-tournament is now full, Shaq’s OGs getting the win within the four-team, three-game occasion the place the primary squad to attain 40 factors in every sport received the victory.
Some gamers preferred it. Some did not. Some appeared ambivalent. It was entertaining and had moments the place issues turned aggressive, although it tended to lean towards extra of the identical highlight-reel-type play that has been the norm in All-Star Video games for years.
“I believe it was a great step in the proper route to reinvigorate the sport indirectly,” All-Star MVP Stephen Curry of the host Golden State Warriors stated. “And then you definitely tinker with it once more subsequent 12 months and see what adjustments you may make. I do not wish to evaluate it to some other period as a result of the world has modified, life is totally different, the way in which individuals devour basketball is totally different. So, it isn’t going to seem like it used to. Nevertheless it nonetheless will be enjoyable for everyone.”
The league went to the match after years of asking gamers to take the All-Star Recreation extra severely. Final 12 months’s 211-186 sport in Indianapolis was the final straw for the league, and the match started taking form.
There have been some numbers suggesting a bit extra defence was performed final 12 months. The 2024 All-Star Recreation noticed the groups shoot 56 per cent from the sector, in comparison with 50 per cent this 12 months. And there have been three blocked photographs, whole, in final 12 months’s 48-minute sport; this 12 months’s sport had three blocks within the first three minutes of the primary semifinal.
“I believe it’s fascinating. It’s totally different,” New York’s Jalen Brunson stated after his crew — Kenny’s Younger Stars — misplaced within the semifinal spherical. “The video games are sort of quick. I just like the format. It’s one thing new, one thing distinctive. Perhaps rating to 50, perhaps. Nevertheless it’s fascinating, one thing new like that. You by no means actually know what to anticipate, nevertheless it was all proper.”
The whole concept has been met with skepticism from the outset, first for the notion of turning the sport right into a match with an eight-man roster after which for the extra element of getting 24 All-Stars, as common, however including the Rising Stars occasion winner — a crew with no All-Stars, no less than not any chosen by followers, media or coaches — into the competitors.
Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who scored 15 factors to assist Shaq’s OGs within the remaining, stated he wasn’t certain about whether or not the Rising Stars ought to have been a part of the occasion.
“Clearly glad for these guys,” Tatum stated. “However there’s something to be stated, it’s sort of a giant deal to be an All-Star and play Sunday evening. Some guys get snubbed and different guys need to work actually, actually laborious to make the All-Star Recreation. Taking part in on Sunday evening is particular, and it all the time has been. I’m not saying that that was the proper or flawed resolution.
“Trial run, I assume,” he added. “They’ll proceed to make tweaks or no matter.”
It was uncommon, for sure. Miami guard Tyler Herro, the league’s new 3-point shootout champion, performed eight minutes in his All-Star debut. He did not even want a towel when he left the ground for the evening.
“It was a brief, fast burst, truthfully,” Herro stated. “Broke like not even a half-sweat.”
The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards could not play due to accidents. James stated earlier than the video games that he was interested by how it will all prove. Edwards did not appear to look after the entire notion. Mainly, if he’ll play laborious, he’ll do it with one thing at stake.
“I’ve by no means been an All-Star Recreation kind of man, to love take it severe and go on the market and attempt to guard any individual and get a cease,” Edwards stated. “I’ve by no means been that kind of man. I simply reserve it for the Timberwolves season, just about.”
San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama made his stance clear for the previous couple of weeks after getting picked. He was going to play laborious, and did — even making an attempt to lock down Kyrie Irving, one of many sport’s premier ballhandlers, out on the wing throughout one possession within the remaining.
“It felt like there have been excessive stakes within the sport,” Wembanyama stated. “It was higher than anticipated. I believe the format labored rather well.”
And social media did not appear to care for a way the title sport was stopped to pay tribute to TNT and its 4 a long time of NBA broadcasting, with some saying they might have most well-liked that portion happen between video games.
The sport stopped with the OGs main the World Stars 11-1, and no basketball was performed for 18 minutes. By way of precise on-court time, if the ultimate was timed, there was simply shy of 12 minutes — an actual NBA quarter — truly performed.
Rankings will come out within the subsequent day or so and that may inform an even bigger story of the match — whether or not followers watched and in the event that they preferred all of it.
“I don’t know the way it seemed on TV,” Curry stated. “However I assumed it was a step in the proper route.”
