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What's the story?
After an NBA All-Star game with a lot of scoring and not much effort last year, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver changed things up for the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. After a thrilling finish, Silver is happy with the way things turned out and plans to expand on these changes next year.
In case you didn't know...
Many fans regarded the 2017 NBA All-Star Game a flop after a 192-182 finish; which prompted the changes by Silver. In addition to having the top two vote-getters being the captains, the players had something extra to play for as two local charities were chosen. The winning team's charity would receive $350,000 and the losing team's charity received $150,000.
The heart of the matter
Silver would talk with ESPN's Ramona Shelburne after the 148-145 win for Team LeBron over Team Stephen. As you can tell from the quote below, he was very excited with the result of the game:
"I thought it was incredible. I can't tell you how appreciative I am of the players."
With the game itself, the only negative thing mentioned was that the player draft was not televised. In the broadcast booth, Chris Webber and Reggie Miller mentioned that they would love to have it televised either on All-Star Saturday Night or even right there before the game on Sunday. Silver would comment on the possibility of it being televised next year:
"When we sat with the union and we came up with this format, we all agreed, let's not turn something that's 100 percent positive into a potential negative to any player. But then...maybe we're overly conservative, because then we came out of there, and the players were, 'We can take it. We're All-Stars. Let's have a draft.' So it sounds like we're going to have a televised draft next year."
In closing, Silver would mention how the fans responded to the changes, and he was very pleased with their comments to him:
"I'm so thankful, and I think I know walking around the arena here the fans appreciated it just as much as I did."
What's next?
The NBA will be on a break until Thursday, 22 February when there will be six games on the schedule including a doubleheader on TNT. The Washington Wizards (33-24) travel to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers (34-22) in the early game; while the Los Angeles Clippers (30-26) travel to Oakland to face the Golden State Warriors (44-14).
Author's take
Though the pre-game "ceremonies" and the national anthem were a disaster, the game itself was great. A lot of credit goes to LeBron James and Stephen Curry to motivate their teams to provide a great game, and playing for a couple of Los Angeles area charities helped give an extra spark as well.
