It was a different style of basketball for sure. I got a few touches. You're not really playing basketball too much. It's almost like catch it, shoot it, or pass it for a dunk. It's almost like the last game of pickup at the Y when everybody's about to go home. – Jazz forward Gordon Hayward
NEW ORLEANS — Gordon Hayward didn’t come right out and say it, but you could tell he thought Sunday’s All-Star Game was somewhat of a joke. OK, maybe not a joke, but the game featuring the best basketball players in the world certainly doesn’t resemble a real basketball game these days.
While stressing how much fun he had during his four days in New Orleans and what an honor it was to be selected among the 24 best players in the NBA for the annual All-Star Game, Hayward also expressed some frustration with the lack of real basketball being played.
“It was a different style of basketball for sure … I got a few touches,” he said with a smile. “You’re not really playing basketball too much. It’s almost like catch it, shoot it, or pass it for a dunk. It’s almost like the last game of pickup at the Y when everybody’s about to go home.”
Hayward acknowledged, “I was following what everyone else was doing” and that the game “was a show.” Nevertheless, he said “It was fun … I was just happy to be out there.”
Most NBA All-Star Games feature little defense, but in this one it was almost non-existent. For the fourth straight year, the two All-Star teams combined to set a record for most points (374) as each team closed in on 200 in the West’s 192-182 victory. They also set a record for dunks with 55 and probably set a record for missed dunks as well as both teams tried a variety of fancy dunks that clanked off the iron late in the game.
If players weren’t looking for a teammate to fire an alley-oop pass to, they were running backward several steps to try a 3-point shot. In all there were 122 3-pointers tried as the West team went 21 for 63, while the East was 22 of 59. That’s about twice as many as the average NBA game.
East coach Brad Stevens deferred when asked about the players' effort and defense, but West coach Steve Kerr didn’t hold back in his criticism of the style of play, likening his role as coach to the movie “Weekend at Bernies” where a dead man is propped up on top of a car to make it look like he was alive.
"They might as well just bring a couple dead bodies on the sidelines,” Kerr said. “We're not doing anything out there. Just prop us up."
Kerr pointed out that in past years, teams at least played some semblance of defense in the second half, but even though the margin was around 10 points late in the game, that didn’t happen Sunday night.
"That's what I was expecting, but it didn't happen tonight,” he said. "It's almost gone too far the other way where there's almost no resistance at all. I would like to see it more competitive. I think there's a happy medium in there somewhere. "
Kerr said perhaps there needs to be some incentives for the players and to perhaps get some charities involved.
“I'm not sure how to do it. It's up to the players, really."
Cleveland's Kyrie Irving, for one, would like to see a more competitive game in the future.
“For me, I would love to play in a competitive game,” he said. “I know we play in competitive (pickup) games in the summer. I think going forward, the All-Star experience will probably get a little harder in terms of defense.”
JAZZ NOTES: Hayward planned to take a couple of days off to be with his family before going back to practice Wednesday with his Jazz teammates. … The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, and though the Jazz have made deals the past two years, there is no indication they are going to make a move this year. The Jazz like the current makeup of their team, but could use players such as Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto, former starting point guards who are playing very little, in deals to improve the team for the future. … Utah’s All-Star break record of 35-22 (.614) is the best since 2009-10 (.627). … The 57 games played so far is tied for the most games played before the All-Star break with the 2010-11 season when the Jazz were 31-26 at the break.