The following is the opinion of the author and does not reflect the opinions of Forest Hills.
After watching the NBA all-star game a couple of weeks ago, I realized that these games get a lot of hype and push from television networks. But for what? While there is the purpose of recognizing who the best players of that league are, it does not change the fact that the games are — in my humble opinion — overall meaningless and not entertaining whatsoever.
For example, this game had players putting up ridiculous shots, as well as showing that several players seemed to forget what defense is. The East All-Star team scored 104 points in the half first half alone. That’s 104 points in 24 minutes. They went on to finish the game with 211 points — the highest in the All-Star game history.
Regardless of how this game lacked adequate action, all while somehow allowing one team to have over 200 points scored on them, these issues are not why I’m rating it so poorly. Instead, it’s because this similar outcome has been a recurrence for the past 6 years. The last All-Star game where the teams scored less than 240 points combined, was 19 years ago in 2005. Every All-Star game since then has had a combined score of over 240 points. For example, here’s a list of the scores from seven All-Star games: 242, 285, 262, 265, 280, 291, and 301. This 7-year stretch shows that defensive effort in the All-Star game has decreased. However, this trend in points and defense is not limited to past games. The last seven years of All-Star just continue to give up more points. From 2017 to 2024, the combined scores are exceedingly higher than 240. The combined scores of these games are 374, 293, 342, 312, 320, 323, 359, 397.
This blatant increase in points scored over the years just goes to show how the defense has been falling out of practice since 2005. Rather than a serious game of basketball, the All-Star games have instead become a mere scrimmage rather than a game to show the talent of its players. This show they now put on causes fans to lose interest due to merely watching players run at half-speed down a court and shoot half-hearted half-court shots to show up. This is why I believe the All-Star game has become a joke in the NBA and needs to be fixed quickly. If they don’t, this game will soon lose its fans and be in serious trouble.
