Los Angeles Lakers icon LeBron James, a participant in his 20th All-Star Game, shared his thoughts on the current state of the event.
Despite the NBA’s efforts to boost competitiveness by reverting to the East vs. West format, this year’s game remained dominated by offense, with the Eastern Conference securing a historic win with a score of 211-186.
“I think it’s something we need to figure out,” James said, per Ballislife.com. “I don’t know where is the median? This is what a lot of the games are starting to look like too. We wanted to get more pace into the games. We wanted to get more shots. We wanted the game to be more free-flowing. We stopped letting the game be freedom of movement. That’s what our games are like in the regular season now…
“Obviously from a player’s perspective, it’s fun to get up and down. But at the end of the day, our competitive nature don’t like just being able to have free-flowing scoring like that. Good thing that came out tonight is none of the players were injured.”
James emphasized the importance of finding a balance between entertainment and competitiveness, acknowledging the shift towards a more open, high-scoring style of play.
While the game’s fast pace and high-scoring nature may appeal to fans, some players, like Milwaukee Bucks’ Damian Lillard, echoed sentiments of dissatisfaction with the level of competition.
Despite the entertaining display of offensive prowess, Lillard conceded that the game lacked the intensity and competitiveness expected from such a prestigious event.
