If you want to watch basketball, you shouldn’t watch the NBA All-Star Game.
The NBA All-Star Game is a collection of the best basketball talent in the world playing in front of a basketball-starving crowd.
It’s also terrible basketball.
This is OK.
Like the Oscars, the NBA All-Star Game, which took place Sunday, should never be taken seriously. Instead, all that truly matters is the entertainment factor.
Instead of caring about defense, passing, backdoor cuts and anything that would be relevant in a real basketball game, these three hours allow us all to take a break and watch some high-flying dunks and discuss far-fetched story lines.
Perhaps the best part of the game was the 82-second span in which Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook and Golden State small forward Kevin Durant were teammates once again.
After Durant abandoned his brethren in Oklahoma, this subplot and how the two players would react was the focal point of the entire weekend.
Around the five-minute mark of the first quarter, Durant lobbed the ball to Westbrook, who slammed it down with the scorching hot fire of a thousand suns.
The Western Conference bench, simultaneously cheering and teasing, erupted. Warriors’ Draymond Green and Steph Curry yelled and threw water at the duo.
NBA Twitter, like the All-Stars, exploded, celebrating the celebrators.
This isn’t “real basketball,” and for once that’s OK.
The stars, along with the fans, need a break from the brutal 82-game season.
Yes, it would be nice for someone to play defense, but the dunks, pageantry and opportunity for the players to joke around provide more than enough highlights.
The entire weekend, from the Celebrity Game in which Romeo Miller and Ansel Elgort embarrassed themselves on a national stage to the dunk contest in which actual NBA players embarrassed themselves on a national stage was a fun, chaotic event.
There are many who believe the entire weekend is a waste, but those are the same people who believe basketball should be stuck in the 1980s, that Michael Jordan is the end-all, be-all for how the game should be played.
On Sunday, the East and West combined for 374 points, breaking last year’s record of 369. This is a stupid and irresponsible amount of points. It’s almost too many points, if that’s possible.
Perhaps the best part of this exquisite scoring output is the emphasis the game places on newer stars.
LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and other grizzled veterans often allow the younger guys an opportunity to shine in the spotlight.
This year, Anthony Davis of the Pelicans, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks and Kyle Lowry of the Raptors were all able to show their wares alongside other superstars. It’s a passing of the torch, which makes Westbrook’s inability to do so just another entertaining narrative.
Although it’s billed as a basketball game, the All-Star contest is anything but. In between the weekends of the Grammys and Oscars, the NBA has its own entertainment event.
“Of course, All-Star is about offense and giving the crowd a show,” Davis said in a postgame press conference. “It’s all about fun. You probably need to do a few more incentives. I love it. I don’t really care. I’ll go out there and have fun.”
Sometimes, the players and fans deserve a bit of relaxed fun.
Seemingly minutes after the game ended, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Kings’ center DeMarcus Cousins had been traded.
The reality of the NBA regular season set in once again.
At least we all had that oasis of sunshine for a brief moment, before it was time to return to work.
gigottfr@indiana.edu
@gott31
