NBA All-Star weekend's new format gets mixed reviews

SAN FRANCISCO — The verdicts were mixed, as would be expected.

The NBA's All-Star Game mini-tournament is now complete, Shaq's OGs getting the win in the four-team, three-game event where the first squad to score 40 points in each game got the victory.

Some players liked it. Some didn't. Some seemed ambivalent. It was entertaining and had moments where things turned competitive, though tended to lean toward more of the same highlight-reel-type play that has been the norm in All-Star Games for years.

"I think it was a good step in the right direction to reinvigorate the game in some way," All-Star MVP Stephen Curry of the host Golden State Warriors said. "And then you tinker with it again next year and see what changes you can make. I don't want to compare it to any other era, because the world has changed, life is different, the way people consume basketball is different. So, it's not going to look like it used to. But, it can still be fun for everybody."

The NBA switched to the tournament structure after years of asking players to take the All-Star Game more seriously. Last year's 211-186 game in Indianapolis was the last straw for the league, and the new format began taking shape.

There were some numbers suggesting a bit more defense was played last year. The 2024 All-Star Game saw the teams shoot 56 percent from the field, compared to 50 percent this year. And there were three blocked shots, total, in last year's 48-minute game; this year's game had three blocks in the first three minutes of the first semifinal.

"I think it's interesting. It's different," New York's Jalen Brunson said after his team — Kenny's Young Stars — lost in the semifinal round. "The games are kind of short. I like the format. It's something new, something unique. Maybe score to 50, maybe. But, it's interesting, something new like that. You never really know what to expect, but it was all right."

The entire idea has been met with skepticism from the outset, first for the notion of turning the game into a tournament with eight-man rosters, and then for the additional detail of having 24 All-Stars, as usual, but adding the Rising Stars event winner — a team with no All-Stars, at least not any selected by fans, media or coaches — into the competition.

Boston's Jayson Tatum, who scored 15 points to help Shaq's OGs in the final, said he wasn't sure about whether the Rising Stars should have been part of the event.

"Obviously happy for those guys," Tatum said. "But, there is something to be said, it's kind of a big deal to be an All-Star and play Sunday night. Some guys get snubbed and other guys have to work really, really hard to make the All-Star Game. Playing on Sunday night is special, and it always has been. I'm not saying that was the right or wrong decision.

"Trial run, I guess," he added. "They'll continue to make tweaks or whatever."

It was unusual, for certain. Miami guard Tyler Herro, the league's new 3-point shootout champion, played eight minutes in his All-Star debut. He didn't even need a towel when he left the floor for the night.

"It was a short, quick burst, honestly," Herro said. "Broke like not even a half-sweat."

The Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards couldn't play because of injuries. James said before the games that he was curious about how it would all turn out. Edwards didn't seem to care for the whole notion. Basically, if he's going to play hard, he's going to do it with something at stake.

"I've never been an All-Star Game type of guy, to, like, take it seriously and go out there and try to guard somebody and get a stop," Edwards said. "I've never been that type of guy. I just save it for the Timberwolves season, pretty much."

San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama made his stance clear for the past couple of weeks after getting picked. He was going to play hard, and did, even trying to lock down Kyrie Irving — one of the game's premier ball handlers — out on the wing during one possession in the final.

"It felt like there were high stakes in the game," Wembanyama said. "It was better than expected. I think the format worked really well."

One part of the whole show that didn't resonate with viewers was the title game being stopped to pay tribute to TNT and its four decades of NBA broadcasting, with some saying they would have preferred that it take place between games.

Agencies via Xinhua