The NBA All-Star Game has never be known as a defensive showcase. In fact, the last time that either conference scored below what was the league points per game average in that given season was in 1975, when the East topped the West by the final score of 108-102, putting the Western Conference All-Stars half a point under what would turn out to be the league average score (102.6) for the 1974-75 season. Even with scoring up significantly in the NBA this year, the 2024 NBA All-Star Game had no shot of staying anywhere near the league's scoring average.
By the final score of 211-186, the Eastern Conference secured a win over the Western Conference in what was the first East vs. West All-Star Showdown since 2017. The East's 211 points shattered the previous record of 196, set by the Western Conference All-Stars in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game, an edition of the game that was panned for such a stunning lack of defense. Of course, those critical of the current state of the game will have a field day with last night's contest. But according to New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, crossing that hallowed 200-point threshold was all by design.
In 17 minutes of action, Jalen Brunson scored 12 points and dished 5 assists, just a minor contribution in a game that totaled 397 points. In total, there were five players in the game who scored over 30 points — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton, All-Star Game MVP Damian Lillard, and Karl-Anthony Towns, whose 50 points were just five off the record set by Jayson Tatum in last year's NBA All-Star Game.
Now in general, I tend to provide a little bit of pushback whenever I hear about the perceived “lack of defense” in today's NBA. I don't think that most fans and analysts have put enough thought into how much more difficult it is to play defense when, A) The officials have a quicker whistle than they did in the past and that whistle generally favors offensive players, B) Almost everyone can shoot three's, which means defenses are extended out further away from the basket than they ever have been, and C) There is an exorbitant number of transcendent offensive talents in the NBA right now and they often dominate the ball (for good reason).
But when it comes to the All-Star Game, there's clearly a problem here, and there has been for years. The NBA was onto something utilizing the Elam Ending, and I think they made a mistake going away from it in their return to the East vs. West format. The only issue with the Elam Ending is that for it to have it's desired effect, you need the first three quarters to remain competitive, and last night, that was not the case. The East carried a 24-point lead into the 4th quarter, which would've essentially rendered the Elam Ending useless.
So what's the solution here? I'm not sure, but I do know that if someone smarter than me doesn't come up with something soon, we're going to continue to see 200-point games if teams
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