NBA All-Star weekend's new format gets mixed reviews

SAN FRANCISCO — The verdicts were mixed, as would be expected.

The NBA's All-Star Game mini-tournament is now complete, Shaq's OGs getting the win in the four-team, three-game event where the first squad to score 40 points in each game got the victory.

Some players liked it. Some didn't. Some seemed ambivalent. It was entertaining and had moments where things turned competitive, though tended to lean toward more of the same highlight-reel-type play that has been the norm in All-Star Games for years.

"I think it was a good step in the right direction to reinvigorate the game in some way," All-Star MVP Stephen Curry of the host Golden State Warriors said. "And then you tinker with it again next year and see what changes you can make. I don't want to compare it to any other era, because the world has changed, life is different, the way people consume basketball is different. So, it's not going to look like it used to. But, it can still be fun for everybody."

The NBA switched to the tournament structure after years of asking players to take the All-Star Game more seriously. Last year's 211-186 game in Indianapolis was the last straw for the league, and the new format began taking shape.

There were some numbers suggesting a bit more defense was played last year. The 2024 All-Star Game saw the teams shoot 56 percent from the field, compared to 50 percent this year. And there were three blocked shots, total, in last year's 48-minute game; this year's game had three blocks in the first three minutes of the first semifinal.