Ukrainian in the Rising Stars Game, scandal at the dunk contest and successful reforms: NBA All-Star weekend wraps up

Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk took part in the best All-Star weekend in many years.

The NBA All-Star weekend, as usual, consisted of the Celebrity Game, the Rising Stars Game, Saturday contests and the league's main All-Star Game. But after several consecutive downright boring years and a drop in TV ratings for the NBA itself, the league office introduced a number of changes to the format of the All-Star Game. Let's figure out how the All-Star weekend went and whether fans liked the changes.

The Rising Stars Game was the most anticipated event for Ukrainian fans because of the presence there of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk. They may have been disappointed, since Svi didn't stand out with any beautiful plays, failing to finish a potentially very impressive putback.

The Ukrainian wing kept heavily firing from long range, but did so unsuccessfully, making only 2 of 11 field goal attempts. Also, during his time on the court the US team built a decisive lead in the game, and Svi himself finished with a plus-minus of “-28”.

The Rising Stars Game itself was played in the usual format, and viewers got what they came for: dunks from Zion Williamson and long-range three-pointers from Trae Young and Luka Dončić.

The Pelicans forward had several powerful alley-oops, the Slovenian sank a three-pointer from his own half at the buzzer, and Young hit four long-range shots and made nice passes.

But the real show was put on by Charlotte forward Miles Bridges, who was named the game's MVP not only thanks to his 20 points, but also a dunk off the backboard and a wide-arc windmill.

Saturday began with the Skills Challenge, where for the third time in the last five years the winner was a big man. Miami center Bam Adebayo met last year's champion Domantas Sabonis in the final and beat the Lithuanian in a thrilling battle.

These two players once again showed how much the demands on big men have increased in today's NBA. Adebayo and Sabonis pass superbly, have good dribbling skills and mobility, and can make three-pointers. A modern NBA forward and center must have a similar skill set if they want to be considered a star. So their domination over not-the-best defenders like Patrick Beverley and Spencer Dinwiddie is not surprising at all.

The Three-Point Contest was one of the most anticipated events of the whole weekend, and given the dullness of most dunk contests, this competition became the highlight of Saturday. The main change to the contest was the addition of two extra-long-range shots, where a make earned three points right away.

The NBA clearly senses the trends toward a constant increase in the number of shots taken far beyond the three-point line. This change undoubtedly added even more spectacle and excitement to an already interesting contest, and also gives a chance to shine to specialists in such shots, of whom there are more and more. As for the contest itself, Devin Booker, Davis Bertans and Buddy Hield showed a very high level, where the last shot by the Sacramento guard decided everything.

Besides high shooting skill, the players showed some interesting tactical nuances. The Latvian sniper chose to place the rack with “money balls” in the right corner, where he makes 3% fewer three-pointers during the season than from the left. Bertans explained that he isn't especially concerned about percentages, and that he knows better where it's more comfortable for him to shoot. Nine out of ten makes confirm this.

But the winner approached the contest with even more care. Hield was the only one who took a long route and ran around each rack from behind, which gave him the chance for a more stable footing before starting his shots without turning and with a slight lean, unlike his rivals. In a contest where everything came down to one make, Buddy's approach gave him the highest chance of final success. On Saturday Hield proved that he was not for nothing the fastest in NBA history to reach 800 made three-pointers.

If the three-point contest was decided by the last shot, the dunk contest ended in drama and a real scandal. The very nature of the dunk contest is such that its outcome is decided by the subjective judgments of the judges, which sometimes caused questions and dissatisfaction, as in 2011, when the winner was Blake Griffin with a not very difficult dunk over the hood of a car bearing an NBA sponsor's ad.

Aaron Gordon and Derrick Jones put on a very even and strong rivalry, which ranks among the top five in the history of the contest and can stand alongside Gordon's battle with Zach LaVine, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins, as well as Vince Carter's dunks.

After the second additional dunk it seemed the contestants would have to make one more attempt, as it was very difficult to determine the winner. But nine points from Dwyane Wade to Aaron Gordon for a dunk over Tacko Fall decided the outcome in favor of his former Miami teammate Derrick Jones, to whom he gave a ten. 

Gordon had already vowed not to take part in the dunk contest after losing to Zach LaVine, but now his refusal sounds far more serious. It is quite likely that one of the best dunkers in the history of All-Star weekends will never become the holder of the award, although he would certainly have won in any other year he participated.

In Dwyane Wade's defense, it should be said that Gordon did not show a clean flight over Tacko Fall, whose height is 2.26 m. The Orlando forward nearly decapitated the Boston big man.

But Derrick Jones's last dunk, with a slide beyond the free-throw line, hardly deserved a higher score than Gordon's attempt, despite all the amplitude and power of the dunk. Jones showed a stronger overall performance than his rival, but the difference in the final attempt was too minimal to award victory based on it alone.

The NBA should think about a different mechanism for determining the winner of the dunk contest, or they risk never seeing the world's best athletes there, like Zion Williamson and Ja Morant.

The All-Star Game underwent the most significant change. The outcome of this matchup meant practically nothing to the players themselves, which strongly affected its quality, level of effort, and the absence of defense and physicality on the court. Viewers could not fail to notice this, and every year fewer of them chose to tune in on Sunday evening to watch LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and other stars.

The changes included a separate score for each of the first three quarters, the winners of which received the opportunity to spend $100,000 on charity of their choice. A tribute to the late Kobe Bryant was also added in the form of a rule that, to win, a team had to outscore the leading team's total after three quarters by 24 points. The trophy for the game's MVP was also named after the Lakers legend.

Such rule changes really affected the players' effort, as the stars put on a real fight in the final quarter, in which LeBron's team mounted a comeback and won by just two points. The Kobe Bryant trophy went to his heir in Los Angeles, Kawhi Leonard, who scored a record 25 points over two quarters and brought victory to LeBron's team. The Clippers superstar finished with 30 points and 8 made three-pointers.

This year's All-Star weekend was undoubtedly a success, though it was not without rough edges. There was serious competition in every Saturday contest and in the Sunday game, which did not go unnoticed by fans. Fans responded to the reforms with the main indicator: viewership of the All-Star Game rose 8% compared with last year and 15% for the whole All-Star weekend. The main game on TNT was watched by an average of 7.3 million people. The absence of commercials in the fourth quarter also helped, boosting the audience to 8 million during the last 15 minutes of the game.

Such success speaks to Adam Silver's readiness for change, which continues to make the NBA the most modern of all American leagues. The league commissioner has already said that in the future one should expect the introduction of a tournament between NBA teams within the regular season, or a knockout tournament where the last playoff spots are at stake. The latter would especially not have hurt this season, since the teams of the Western Conference could have put on a fine brawl for the eighth seed.

Alexey Borisovsky, TK Media