NBA All-Stars Go Globetrotter Once Again in Dunkfest
As with all the other pro sports' all-star breaks, the NBA's is staged for one main reason:
By everyone at all levels. Even the players are getting in on the action, as if they never did it before.
The basketball itself is an afterthought, and bright minds have done their best to justify its even being on the schedule.
And, let's face it. The only sport where an all-star game can even remotely resemble itself is baseball.
The NFL's a lost cause, and it's not because The Shield hasn't tried everything; worse, even the players don't want to be there. The NHL raised interest in turning its overtime 3-on-3 format into a glorified shinny series with bells and whistles.
Like hockey's mid-winter gala, the NBA's done the same thing by taking the emphasis off the game itself.
So the big night is Saturday, when hoop skills turn into weird game shows of various degrees.
How long before it goes total Japanese?
After all, there's precedent ...
They're getting pretty damn close right now.
But first, here are the Saturday competitions that come close to resembling basketball:
Jayson Tatum does a Trey Young ...
... to beat Trey Young in what they call the skills competition:
Some would call the 3-point shooting contest result an upset, but how can it be when the NBA's top arc launcher won it?
That'd be the Brooklyn Nets' Joe Harris:
Then there's the competition where you get to pick your playtoy:
Or there's this:
Hamidou Diallo got the hardware, and Shaquille O'Neal still had enough quicks after the fact to avoid needing a bitta Icy Hot.
And so are we.
Back to the rhythm gymnastics ... until the regular season returns to action.