The NBA All-Star game isn’t what it used to be. Not that I can ever claim to be its biggest fan — even when Spurs were regular participators, I wasn’t a regular watcher — but with the way the game has turned into little more than a glorified scoring match with almost zero defense being played, I certainly won’t become a regular watcher anytime soon.
To be clear, I get it. The players are giving up part of their only extended vacation for anywhere from a 6 to 8 month period, and no one wants to get hurt — heck, LeBron James left the game early as a precautionary measure after his fingers got caught on the rim while trying to block a Pascal Siakam layup, essentially getting punished for playing defense.