The NBA All-Star game was played this past weekend. Like years past defense in the game was nowhere to be found. Every year for the past two the All-Star game has broken its scoring record in combine points per game, with 321 total points in 2015, 369 in 2016. It is safe to say that the NBA All-Star game is a place to “show off.” Which brings up the question every year of, how does the NBA make this game more competitive? Or should they have something at stake during this game?
Don’t get me wrong I love all the high-flying dunks! I enjoy watching LeBron James throw it down off a pass from Isaiah Thomas! But I also love competition!
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I think the NBA All-Star game should be more competitive. The NBA has Saturday night festivities where we see players show off in the Dunk contest and the 3-point contest. The All-Star game should be a place of competition. When you have all the league’s best players all in one place, we as fans want to see them compete to the highest level. Where else are we going to see Steph Curry, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and Kawhi Leonard all on the same team. Never, that’s when. So, it is only logical that we as fans want to see a true competition from the game’s best.
The NFL ran into a similar problem when the Pro Bowl began to lose popularity, and viewership. The league later implemented changes to the game. The NFL added a draft concept for the 2015 and 2016 Pro Bowls, but went back to the NFC vs AFC format in 2017. This format made the games slightly more competitive. They also the scenery for the game, last year which helped bring more fans to the stands. It is usually held in Hawaii but it was moved to Orlando to become more accessible to fans. The NFL is nowhere near finding a permanent solution for competitive-ness, but they are certainly inching closer to the right solution.
In my opinion the MLB has the competition factor figured out the best. In the MLB the All-star is held around the middle of the season much like the NBA, the only difference is the winner of the All-star game gets home field advantage in World Series. In sports home field advantage is huge! For this reason, both the National league and American League teams give it their all, keeping the game close and competitive. Even with the competitiveness of the game, MLB players always enjoy their time at the All-star game.
Of course, if the NBA is looking to make changes to the All-star game, it is going to be a while before that happens. I think home court advantage in the finals should be at stake in the NBA all-star game. But, until then we should get used to each team scoring anywhere from 150 to 200 points in an All-star game.
The NBA All-star game makes the half way point in the season, who do you think is going to be lifting the Larry O’Brian trophy at the end of the season? Tweet it to me @gpulido_
