Rare view to a thrill

New format delivers excitement

LOS ANGELES — I went to an NBA All-Star Game last night and the strangest thing happened.

A basketball game broke out. Relatively speaking, of course.

Hey, you live long enough and something like this is bound to happen.

For the first time in years, people were complaining more about the pregame presentation than the presentation of the sport. Kevin Hart put his comedic stylings on the player introductions and Fergie did an, uh,

interesting version of the national anthem. She punctuated her effort by shouting, “Let’s play some basketball!” And the players sort of did. The new format where the top vote-getters from each conference, Steph Curry and LeBron James, chose up sides from the remaining All-Stars produced a 148-145 Team LeBron victory capped off by furious defense to stifle the Curry crew’s last trey. More importantly, this was a more reasonable facsimile of the NBA.

Oh, we’re not saying it was playoff intensity, but defenders actually ventured into the area code of the player with the ball. Passing lanes were played. Shots were contested. Not all, but many.

The East and West squads combined to shoot 57.9 percent last February. Here, Team LeBron came on big late to work its way up to 51.7 percent, while the Stephs hit 44.4 percent.

When Giannis Antetokounmpo swatted a Kemba Walker attempt, it was called a goaltend even though it certainly appeared to be legal. In the recent past, the nerve of someone getting in the way like that might have drawn a technical foul on principle.

It’s not like people were entirely interested in fighting through picks or anything, but there was more body contact than usual.

Put it this way, there were 28 free throws attempted last night and just eight last year. And All-Star 2018 outfouled All-Star 2017, 26-16.

The scoring volume was more about the game’s pace than defensive indifference, and it was still well shy of last year’s 192-182 pitcher’s duel. It’d be nice to stay at a point where Vegas doesn’t set the game’s over/under at the national debt.

But there were still the Globetrotter moments, and they began early with LeBron James’ hand bounce lob to Anthony Davis for a jam. And, yeah, soon enough, LaMarcus Aldridge was doing an olé to a driving James Harden. But this was better than we’d come to expect.

And the truth is that what we really want — the best players in the world on one floor going at it like it’s Game 7 — isn’t going to happen. It can’t.

Folks can complain all they wish about the lack of true competitiveness and the assault on the eyes it creates. But that kind of talk is but a whisper compared to the sonic boom that would be created if someone suffered a major injury here.

The fans of the downed performer’s team — even the purists among them — would howl. How would you like to see a chance at a championship flushed in what will always be essentially a meaningless game?

There is too much at stake, as well, for the players. These guys will still play hard in pickup games, but not in this one. Not really. None of them is interested in telling their spouse or accountant that they cost themselves millions in an exhibition. And this is with $100,000 on the line for each winning team member to a mere $25 grand for each losing player.

But through all the ancillary issues, the game can be better than what we’ve seen in modern times, and last night it was.

The old days? They’re gone.

We checked in with eighttime All-Star Dave Cowens, who reminded us of a time when the winning stars got $500 and the losers $250. There was no “weekend” of festivities back in the ’70s, just another game wedged into the schedule.

“We actually got up on people and you tried to channel them and challenge shots,” the Celtic legend said. “There were very few dunks. There had to be skill moves. We moved the ball, so it was usually a high-scoring game.

“There wasn’t the same level of intensity (as the regular season), but it wasn’t a gimme game. Last year was the worst. It was like, c’mon man. That was almost disrespectful to the game, to the spirit of the game.”

Watching on television last night, Cowens liked this one better. A lot of people did.