All-Star Game of the Ages

New NBA All-Star Game format allows for thrilling finish

The NBA All-Star Game featured 24 of the league’s brightest stars showcasing their talents in front of a sold-out United Center crowd in Chicago, Illinois Sunday night.

In past years, the All-Star Game was merely an exhibition match where NBA stars showed off their deep three-pointers and extravagant dunks that they normally would not try in a meaningful contest. This year was different. The All-Star Game MVP trophy was renamed the Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP to honor the former NBA-star, his daughter and the seven other victims who passed away in a helicopter crash less than a month ago. 

The MVP trophy and All-Star game carried more weight than it did in the past because of Bryant. NBA commissioner Adam Silver explained that no one embodied an All-Star more than Kobe Bryant. 

“The entire weekend was honoring his legacy,” All-Star Anthony Davis said. 

The players wanted to honor him, and they did. With the ideas from Chris Paul, a 10-time All-Star and president of the NBA Players’ Association, and commissioner Silver, a new scoring system was implemented to recognize Bryant. The fourth quarter was played without a time limit. After the third quarter, a target score was set at 24 points above the score of the team with the lead, and the game continued until one team reached that target mark. 

LeBron James and his entire “Team LeBron” all wore No. 2 on the back of their jerseys to recognize Gianna Bryant, Kobe’s daughter and a basketball prospect whose life was taken well before she reached her full potential. On the other side of the court, all of “Team Giannis” wore No. 24, Kobe’s iconic number dawned in the second half of his career.

At the start of the night, numerous players were visibly emotional. Jennifer Hudson delivered a powerful pregame performance to honor Bryant, and NBA Hall-of-Famer Magic Johson addressed the crowd to talk about the passings of Kobe and former NBA commissioner, David Stern, who passed away on Jan. 1 from a brain hemorrhage. 

Nonetheless, tip-off commenced and brought some regularity to a game the players all love. 

Along with the new scoring system in the fourth quarter, the first three quarters featured scores that started from scratch–every quarter was played to resemble a short, twelve-minute game to win $100,000 for a predetermined charity of the winning team’s choice. These quarters were competitive with each team winning once, and the third quarter resulting in a tie. 

Nothing compared to the untimed fourth quarter. The starters checked back into the game and played a hard-fought pickup game until one team reached the final target score of 157. This was the type of competitive game the NBA had envisioned when they implemented the new rules. Kyle Lowry, an All-Star from the Toronto Raptors, vigorously tried to draw offensive fouls. Chris Paul and LeBron James were bantering with the officials in a similar manner they would in a playoff game. 

The atmosphere was intense. The players were playing hard, and everybody knew why.

“The best way we could honor Kobe, Gigi, and everyone involved was to play like we played,” Paul said. “Me and Russ [Westbrook] kept talking about it, that’s one thing about Kobe –whenever he was on our team in the All-Star Game, there wasn't [any] of that cool stuff.” 

Celtics’ All-Star Kemba Walker concurred that Bryant would have loved to watch the way the teams competed. 

In the end, it was Team LeBron that came out victorious with Chicago-native Anthony Davis knocking down the free throw to get his team to the 157-point marker. Even with Davis’ clutch basket to finish the game, it was his crosstown rival in Los Angeles, Kawhi Leonard, who won the first-ever Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP. 

Leonard’s 30-point night earned the generally-reserved star a few moments to explain what the award meant to him. 

“Words can’t explain how happy I am for it,” Kawhi said.  “Able to put that trophy in my room, in my trophy room, and just be able to see Kobe’s name on there, it just means a lot to me. He’s a big inspiration in my life.” 

The NBA’s successful and newly competitive All-Star Game format should provoke other major sports to do the same. The MLB, NHL and NFL All-Star Games all feature their respective games’ best players, but the matches are usually high-scoring with lackadaisical defense. 

It is understandable that the players do not want to play as hard as they would in a regular-season, or even playoff game, but added incentives should convince the players to do otherwise. Fans deserve to see the world’s best players in a motivated atmosphere–each of them vying for a win.

Not every sport’s All-Star Game will feature players carrying the emotional heartache of the late Kobe Bryant, but the new scoring format is something sports commissioners can implement. 

Fans deserve to see the world’s best players in a rivalrous environment–hopefully the NBA All-Star Game was just the start of players competing to their highest level in All-Star Games across the four-major sports. 

Contact Nic Carpino at ncarpino@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.