NEW FORMAT COULD ATTRACT MORE BETTING ACTION
While some basketball purists are skeptical about this year’s new format for the NBA Allstar Game, the changes have curiosity brewing within the betting industry.
This year the league’s annual showcase is essentially multiple games within the game, which might entice more fans to get in on the action while it’s ongoing.
“I think there might be some fans who may view this as a very interesting and quite appealing introduction into the world of in-game betting, because the beauty of this format is it’s a huge talking point, said Alex Donohue, a sports gambling expert for the website Bet-nj.com.
The NBA is doubling-down, hoping the changes energize players’ competitive juices. The contest is often more fun than game with players showing off their snazzy sneakers but not their best defense. So the league is implementing the new format believing the change will stop the laissez-faire approach to defense.
Scores will be reset to 0-0 for each of the first three quarters. Each time a team wins a quarter, it earns $100,000 for charity. The totals will then be added and the fourth quarter will be played to a target score the winning team will have to reach, rather than a standard 12-minute period.
Everyone will find out on Sunday if players and bettors are more engaged.
In the days before superteams, when players were foes first and friends second, the NBA didn’t worry about its All-star game. Players may have taken it easy in the first three quarters, but the competitiveness came out in the fourth.
That’s why Kobe Bryant laughed in 2003 when Michael Jordan made a request of him before the game and did so again when recounting the story in 2015 during his final season.
“I remember playing Michael his last All-star Game in Atlanta and he and I were catching up in the locker room and he says—because this was his last game—he says to me, ‘I just want you to approach this like any other game. I want you to compete against me, just like it’s any other game,’” Bryant said. “And I remember saying, ‘Michael, what the hell about me led you to think I was going to approach this any differently?’”
That mind-set was lost in recent years, with the low point in 2017 when players hardly attempted to defend in a game where the West won 192-182. The league then scrapped the East vs West format in favor of one in which two captains draft rosters. Now comes another change and bettors will have to determine if they like it.