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The NBA management hoped for a high-quality and competitive All-Star game, but once again received a game that fails to excite the crowd, and the commissioner also expressed his disappointment, in front of everyone.
After months of Adam Silver stressing the importance of a more competitive game on the court, the NBA commissioner even declared before the game that "I think we're going to see a good game."
It did not happen.
The 73rd All-Star looked just like last year's soulless performance in Salt Lake City: the East team set the all-time scoring record, becoming the first team to surpass the 200-point mark - leading to a 186-211 victory over the West team.
Adam Silver, and it was felt, was not enthusiastic.
"And to the Eastern Stars, you scored the most points," Silver said bluntly.
"Well... congratulations."
Just like Jordan, eh?
Lillard/GettyImages
It was another symbolic moment, a heel that failed to stop the discussions about what the future of the All-Star - the NBA's midseason event - should look like.
The league has tried all year to make the event central and meaningful to the players, with both Silver and his deputy Joe Dumars repeatedly saying it's the players' priority and the goal is to show effort.
Instead, "it was another effortless, lifeless — and mostly soulless — game," ESPN wrote.
Players run from side to side, throw from everywhere, behave with indifference and lack of care, look bored on the bench, and 397 points are meaningless, and counting.
A symbolic low moment, for example, was when Anthony Davis said he thought his most memorable moment of the night was a timeout show — when the "hype teams" of the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers put on a dunk show between quarters.
"I think the best moment we talked about was the Bulls and Pacers dunkers," Davis said.
"With the trampoline? They were very, very impressive."
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In the end, it left things exactly where they were a year ago: the league is trying to change attitude, raise expectations, declare intentions, and it's not working - and even the players admit that they recognize the problem and sympathize with it, but the solution is not to simply decide to play a little more serious.
"I think it's something we have to figure out," said LeBron James, who set a new record with his 20th appearance in the All-Star Game on Sunday night but did not play in the second half because of an ankle injury.
"Obviously from a player's point of view, it's fun to run like that on the field. But in the end, our competitive nature doesn't like to see a review like that. But I think the good thing that came out of the night is that none of the players got injured. So there's room for a deeper discussion."
"Obviously the fans and the league and everybody want to be competitive, but as players we also think about how not to get injured," Davis said.
"Obviously, injuries are a part of the game and nobody wants to get injured in the All-Star Game. . . . All these guys here are very valuable to their teams. So there's a little bit of mixed feelings about it. You're trying to get on the court and compete a little bit, and not just be a highlight show But at the same time, do you really want to see someone going up for a dunk and someone in front of him trying to stop him, and God forbid something happens in the All-Star Game, when it could have been avoided?"
Minnesota star Anthony Edwards has actually already explicitly admitted that he is not interested in playing seriously in the All-Star Game.
"To me, it's an All-Star game, so I'll never look at it as anything competitive. It's always fun. I don't know what they can do to make it more competitive. I don't know. I think everybody's still watching it ... it's a vacation , I don't think everyone wants to come here and compete."
For him, the peak moment was a show between the quarters.
Davis/GettyImages, Stacy Revere
For example, on social networks, the comparison between Damian Lillard and Michael Jordan was compared to players who won the All-Star MVP title and an individual title (in Lillard's case, the three-point champion) that weekend.
"How can you compare the two, back in the day, to today's ridiculous game," they wrote on social media, while Lillard himself said that "if it was that simple (to win twice in a row), then everyone would do it."
Either way, basketball fans have long since stopped enjoying this game.
"There were definitely some discussions about making the game more competitive," Boston player Jaylen Brown said.
"I'm not sure how successful it was, but there were definitely some discussions. I guess the guys are trying to figure out how to do it at the same time as having fun, and still be safe, without injuries. I guess more solutions are needed to figure it out."
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