The Celtics had a memorable All-Star Weekend in 2023 after Jayson Tatum landed the MVP honors for the game after a record-breaking 55 points in the win. Yet, the quality of play in the exhibition remained uncompetitive throughout in a 184-175 win for Team Giannis. Even with the Elam Ending factored in during the fourth quarter, very few attempts were made by either side to play competitive defense throughout the four quarters.
That reality led to Jaylen Brown getting candid about what he would like to see from the game going forward.
“All is fun in games like this,” he said. “Real basketball is different. This was like a layup line. I don’t know how much notoriety we would want to to get from this. This was a glorified layup line. We got to figure out how to make the game a little bit more competitive. If the fans like it, that’s all that matters.”
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Team LeBron coach Mike Malone echoed Brown’s sentiments in the fallout of the contest.
“It’s an honor to be here, and it’s an honor to be a part of great weekend with great players, but that’s the worst basketball game ever played,” Malone said. “I don’t know if you can fix it. I give Joel Embiid and Kyrie Irving [credit], those two guys were competing. They tried to get some defense in. No one got hurt, they put on a show for the fans, but that’s a tough game to sit through, I’m not gonna lie.”
After winning MVP honors, Tatum was unsure about what type of change could be made but did speak fondly of his first All-Star game which provided much more drama down the stretch.
“It honestly just depends,” Tatum said about All-Star changes. “I think they’ve done a good job changing the ending of the game. But, you know, safety first, right? It’s supposed to be fun. You don’t want anybody to get injured or get hurt.
“But it’s always great for the game and for the fans. Especially if it comes down to the last couple of buckets, like it did in Chicago the first year. That was the most competitive All-Star Game I’ve been a part of, and that was incredible.”
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