SHAKING THINGS UP
Here's an outside-the-box way to spice up the NBA All-Star Game
Jan 27, 2023, 11:53 am
This would be fun! Photo by Harry How/Getty Images.
The NBA has announced a new wrinkle for its All-Star Game coming up Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City.
Instead of the Western Conference All-Stars vs. the Eastern Conference All-Stars, or even squads picked in advance by captains LeBron James and Steph Curry … this year’s rosters will be selected right before the game with the two leading vote-getters choosing sides like a playground pickup game.
That sounds like fun, but here’s an idea that might produce a more intriguing and competitive game, instead of the showboating, no defense, 3-point contest the All-Star Game has become.
How about U.S.-born players vs. international stars?
Now you’re talking about a real game, with only the legacy of basketball at stake. From the day when James Naismith hung a peach basket in a Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA in 1891 through the next 100 years, Americans dominated basketball. But today the answer has to be “NO!” Or more specifically “non” or “nyet” or “nein” or “ochi” or dozens of other languages.
Isn’t it ironic that basketball, the only major sport with its origins in the U.S., has become the most international game?
Is it possible that a team comprised of foreign-born players could defeat LeBron, Steph and a squad of American superstars with sneaker contracts? Not only do I think it’s possible, I would put my $5 on it.
These would be the starting All-Star Game lineups based on the most recent fan voting.
For the international team: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Joel Embiid (Camaroon), and Kyrie Irving (Australia).
(Note: Kyrie Irving was born in Australia but raised in the U.S. He went to St. Patrick High School in beautiful downtown Elizabeth, New Jersey.)
The starting five for the U.S. would be: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Jayson Tatum, and Donovan Mitchell.
Who ya got?
The last four Most Valuable Player awards have gone (two each) to the Greek Freak and Jokic from the international team. Two leading contenders for this year’s MVP are Doncic and Embiid, both international players.
The NBA had 120 international players representing 40 countries on team rosters at the start of this season, including impact players like Rudy Gobert (France), Buddy Hield (Bahamas), Jamal Murray (Canada), Deandre Ayton (Bahamas), Andrew Wiggins (Canada), and Al Horford (Dominican Republic).
Every team in the NBA has at least one foreign-born player. The Toronto Raptors have eight players born outside the U.S. Canada is the leading exporter to the NBA with 20 players, followed by Australia with 10.
The Rockets have four international players: Usman Garuba (Spain), Bruno Fernando (Angola), Alperen Sengun (Turkey) and everybody’s favorite Boban Marjanovic (Serbia).
Of course, Hakeem Olajuwon, the greatest Rocket in franchise history, was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Other former NBA All-Stars born outside the U.S. - Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Steve Nash (Canada), Pau Gasol (Spain), Tony Parker (France), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Dikembe Mutombo (Congo), Arvidas Sabonis (Lithuania), Toni Kukoc (Croatia), and Andrei Kirilenko (Russia).
And you might remember a rather tall center named Yao Ming from China.
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It was midway through the third quarter of the Oklahoma City-Houston NBA Cup semifinal matchup on Saturday night. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had just made a short jumper in the lane and, to his delight, a time-out was immediately called.
He needed it.
He retreated to midcourt, crouched down, propped himself up by his fingertips and took deep breath after deep breath. It was that sort of night. And given the way the Rockets and Thunder have defended all season long, such a game was predictable.
In the end, it was Oklahoma City 111, Houston 96 in a game where the teams combined to shoot 41%. The immediate reward for the Thunder: two days off to recover. The bigger reward: a matchup with Milwaukee on Tuesday night for the NBA Cup, with more than $300,000 per player the difference between winning and losing.
“That's what defense does for you,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, whose team has held opponents to 41% shooting or worse a league-best 11 times this season — and is 11-0 in those games. “It keeps you in games.”
The Rockets-Thunder semifinal was basketball, with elements of football, rugby, hockey and probably even some wrestling thrown in. It wasn't unusual. It's how they play: defense-first, tough, gritty, physical.
They are the two top teams in the NBA in terms of field-goal percentage defense — Oklahoma City came in at 42.7%, Houston at 43.4% — and entered the night as two of the top three in scoring defense. Orlando led entering Saturday at 103.7 per game, Oklahoma City was No. 2 at 103.8, Houston No. 3 at 105.9. (The Thunder, by holding Houston to 96, passed the Magic for the top spot on Saturday.)
Houston finished 36.5% from the field, its second-worst showing of the season. When the Rockets shoot 41% or better, they're 17-4. When they don't, they're 0-5.
“Sometimes it comes down to making shots,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Especially in the first half, we guarded well enough. ... But you put a lot of pressure on your defense when you're not making shots.”
Even though scoring across the NBA is down slightly so far this season, about a point per game behind last season's pace and two points from the pace of the 2022-23 season, it's still a golden age for offense in the league. Consider: Boston scored 51 points in a quarter earlier this season.
Saturday was not like most games. The halftime score: Rockets 42, Thunder 41. Neither team crossed the 50-point mark until Dillon Brooks' 3-pointer for Houston gave the Rockets a 51-45 lead with 8:46 left in the third quarter.
Brooks is generally considered one of the game's tougher defenders. Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the game's best scorers. They're teammates on Canada's national team, and they had some 1-on-1 moments on Saturday.
“It's fun. It makes you better,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That's what this league is about, competing against the best in the world and defensively, he is that for sure. And I like to think that of myself offensively. He gives me a chance to really see where I'm at, a good test. I'd say I handled it pretty well.”
Indeed he did. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 32 points, the fifth instance this season of someone scoring that many against the Rockets. He's done it twice, and the Thunder scored 70 points in the second half to pull away.
“We knew that if we kept getting stops we would give ourselves a chance,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And we did so.”