Defense, and LeBron, Showed Up in the 2017 NBA All Star Game
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Sunday night was the NBA All Star game. This was the first time with the new format, LeBron vs Steph. I'll get to the All Star weekend stuff, i.e., the skills competition, the celebrity game, the three point contest and the dunk contest tomorrow. Today though, I want to just focus on the game itself.
First though, I have to talk about Fergie's "rendition" of the national anthem. It was horrendous. It was a train wreck. It was, possibly, the worst performance I have ever seen. It was so awful. I don't know what she was doing, why she thought this was a good idea, why her people thought this was a good idea and why she thought she nailed it. The national anthem is a hard enough song to sing, but to try and make it a jazzy lounge song, get the hell out of here. The faces of the players was point enough to how bad she did. The people in the crowd, like Chris Rock, Chance the Rapper and Jimmy Kimmel's expressions spoke volumes to how horrible her performance was. It was just horrific, and I hope she gets another chance so she can make up for the travesty that was her performance on Sunday night. God it was bad. Okay, now to the game.
I have said before, and I still feel this way, I had no problem with the lack of defense played in previous all star games. I have always wanted, and still want, to see both teams get 200 plus points. It is an exhibition, these guys don't need to get hurt, and I want highlight reel dunk and shot after highlight reel dunk and shot. It is an all star game after all. But, I will say, a part of me liked seeing these guys at least attempt to play some defense. Sure, James Harden and DeMar DeRozan didn't really give full effort on that end, but they aren't known for their defense. Same with Curry, but he was able to hide himself, just like he does in the regular season and playoffs. But guys like Joel Embiid, Paul George, KD, LeBron, Giannis and Kyle Lowry put forth some defensive effort. It was nice to see some blocked shots, steals and guys bodying up other guys. I have to say, it was a bit of a breath of fresh air.
With that being said though, there were a ton of missed shots. The score could have been higher if some of the players were actually hitting their wide open threes. Westbrook and Bradley Beal must have bricked 3/4 of their three point attempts. Embiid was playing like a 2 guard at times, and while he made half his threes, he took way too many. Same with Towns. He can shoot it, but he was taking too many. I look at a guy like Anthony Davis, who is a solid three point shooter, and I think he only took one three. He was more focused on rebounding and alley oops. Same thing goes for Andre Drummond. He was either rebounding, or trying to tear the rim off. That is what I like to see from big men. Playing with their back to the basket, and maybe occasionally putting up a three pointer or two. So, even with some effort on defense, there was still a ton of missed shots, and some of those shots falling could have changed the entire perception of this game.
Some stuff I really liked, LeBron and KD were going hard. They looked like they were putting real effort into the game. LeBron was sweating like it was a regular season game. KD was shooting his threes, but he was also attacking the rim, just like he does in games that count. Embiid may have taken too many threes, but he was playing some defense. When he made the three pointer at one end, then blocked Westbrook at the other end, I was impressed. Westbrook, who took far too many threes, finally started attacking when his outside shot wasn't falling. He was also passing a lot more, and that was nice to see. Klay Thompson looked legitimately mad at the refs when he wasn't getting calls when he may or may not have been hit on his jumpers. Kyrie was doing his wizardry with the ball and going to the hoop, which he does better than almost anyone else in the NBA. DeRozan, while not playing defense, showed why he belonged. He was hitting jumpers and going to the hoop at will. When Davis finally started to catch passes, he was going up for some big dunks. Even guys who didn't play much, the Goran Dragic's, LMA's and Al Horford's, when they got in, they tried.
Through all of this, LeBron showed us why he is still the best player in the NBA. As I said earlier, he actually tried. He broke a real sweat. He wanted to win this game. He wanted his teammates to win this game. When he wasn't in the game, he was leading the cheers on the bench. This is the LeBron that I love to watch. He left his ego and his want to be the GM, coach and player at home. He got everyone involved. And, the defense he and KD played on Steph to win the game, that was great. In fact, the last 8 minutes of the game was pretty intense, good basketball and showed why LeBron still owns the league right now. He rightfully was named the MVP of the game.
While the final score wasn't as high as I might have wanted, the game was pretty okay. Players tried. Players wanted to win. Players wanted to play defense at times. I think this idea of letting the top vote getters pick their teams, then saying that the winning team would get money towards their favorite charities was great. Now, they just need to televise the top vote getters picking their teams, which it sounds like Adam Silver is going to do next year. I felt like the game was a success. It appeased the old generation, and it showed the younger generation that, even in short bursts and exhibition games, defense is an important part to a basketball game. Well done NBA, you guys did a good job with the new format. Now, lets keep making it better and better.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.
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