A look at the NBA All-Star Game, Steph Curry, and the joy of basketball.

Someone much wiser than myself once said that you shouldn’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole.  It’s decent advice.

Apparently, Adam Silver didn’t get the memo. 

The NBA made the unpopular decision to press on with holding the All-Star game despite the still raging global pandemic and the fact that the other major sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NHL) each cancelled their own versions of All-Star events this season. The decision was immediately met with a collective eyeroll and public disdain from the voices of prominent players including Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, and the ultimate string puller – LeBron James. 

LeBron stated that he had “zero energy and zero enthusiasm” for the All-Star event this season and added that it was a “slap in the face”.  Tough stuff to hear from the face of your league. 

The NBA’s response?  They decided to add the Skills Challenge and Three Point Contest to start the evening and throw in the Dunk Contest at halftime for good measure.  A weekend’s worth of all-star fluff packed into a 7-hour window. 

Think of what these players have had to deal with over the last year:

  • The ’19-’20 season gets shut down after a dramatic (even frightening) night after Rudy Gobert tested positive prior to tipoff of the Jazz-Thunder game.
  • After a 4-month layoff and uncertainty of health and finances, the players finish the season in a “bubble” that is mentally and physically exhausting.
  • The league offseason is cut in half as the NBA decides to begin the ’20-’21 season only 71 days after the NBA Finals have ended. 
  • The schedule of the first half of the season has been compressed and grueling as some teams have had to play as many as 4 games in 6 days in spurts. 

These guys are exhausted – mentally, physically, and emotionally – just like we all are in this pandemic for all of our individual reasons. The lack of enthusiasm for this year’s All-Star game among players and fans alike, is more than understandable.

4:45 minute mark of the second period.

Steph Curry brings the ball up the court guarded by Zach LaVine.

Steph reaches the 3-point line, crosses over to the left and drives the free throw line.  When he reaches the line, Curry straightens his body and dribbles the ball ever so slightly backwards and you know that he’s about to back-peddle and uncork a big step back 3. Except Zach LaVine plays pretty solid defense.  Curry loses control of the ball and it bounces away from him rolling all the way to the “T” in the “All-Star” logo at midcourt.

Curry chases after the ball, laughing a smiling the whole way because he knows what he’s about to do. 

He regains control of the ball, immediately lets it fly, and casually drains the shot from 35 feet, flashing that trademark smile at the first person he can make eye contact with, laughing at his own basketball absurdity.

Nobody is having more fun out there than this guy and this play was the perfect summary of Steph’s night.
It was exactly what his fellow All-Stars, as well as us fans, needed.

The All-Star game in general can sometimes be tough to watch.  If you tune in to the game during any given season expecting to see a competitive basketball game with the best players in the world at the peak of their powers, you’re absolutely in the wrong place. 

This year, the energy leading up to the game was noticeable worse.  The pandemic, the economic woes, the exhaustion, the political climate, the ongoing social injustices… a meaningless All-Star game just felt like the last thing on anyone’s priority list (rightfully so). 

The festivities began with the Skills Competition that had roughly the same amount of energy as the Texas Power Grid a couple of weeks ago.  Luka didn’t even bother to take off his warmups and he participated in the competition with about as much fervor as an actual warmup.  It really seemed like this whole thing was going to be a bust right out of the gate.

The 3-Point Competition followed and began much the same with Zach Lavine – the presumed favorite to challenge Curry – having a poor showing.  When Curry came out, however, he immediately grabbed our attention.  You just had to tune in to watch Curry’s rounds because you always have that feeling that if he’s engaged, he could do something spectacular.  And it was very much worth it!  In the first round, Curry hit a flurry of nine shots in a row and owned the new deep ball shots (those neon green Mountain Dew balls that awkwardly reminded me of a virus but whatever).  In the second round, he nailed his final moneyball shot to escape past Mike Conley and win the contest. 

It was sort of thrilling.    

It also served as Curry’s catalyst going into the game itself.  From tipoff, it seemed that Curry was legitimately on a mission to break through everyone’s gloom and just help them all have a good time.  He came out with energy and playfully engaged everyone on both sides of the court to pump them up and get them into the spirit.

He started things off with a slick, no-look pass to Jokic followed by a steal and a corner three.  At that point, Steph was all smiles, shimmying and dancing around, smiling, laughing, and high fiving anyone close enough to participate.  It was the full version of the “joyful Steph” that we came to know in the ’15 and ’16 seasons. 

It didn’t take long for that joy to spread into his fellow All-Stars.  The energy picked up, the smiles began to appear on everyone’s faces, and everyone seemed to be kinda, sorta having actual fun. 

Later in the quarter, Steph catches a pass from Luka in his favorite corner.  Steph shoots, turns around to face the stands as the ball is in the air for a full “one Mississippi” and waits as the ball splashes in the net.  Reggie Miller and Chris Webber lose their minds as Steph bounds and shimmies down the court in celebration even getting laughs and high fives from his “frenemy” LeBron on the way.   

Steph continued by performing some of his vintage crossover, behind-the-back, sidestep three’s and even dunked on a surprising alley-oop which inspired him to set up fellow point guard Chris Paul for his own surprise alley-oop finish.

It was such a great grasp of the moment from Steph.  He knew that it was the kind of thing we all needed, and he delivered.   As Steph’s goofy showmanship spread into the other players, it pinged the competitive bones of Damian Lillard. 

After a couple of DEEP three’s from Curry, Lillard checked into the game and wasted no time getting his own absurd shots up.  Again, Steph had a perfect sense of the moment.  Curry’s mini-shooting competition with Lillard came to a crescendo when Lillard pulled up from half court and sank the shot.  Right on cue, Curry answered on by pulling up for his own half court splash with 4 seconds remaining in the first half. 

Curry didn’t do as much in the second half, but he didn’t need to.  His mission was clear – “we’re all here whether we want to be or not, so I’m gonna break through the gloom and doom and simply help everyone relax and have some fun”. Regardless of how you feel about the All-Star game as an actual game, Curry accomplished that mission. 

The game never did get competitive, but this year in particular, I felt like that was the point.  Curry led the way in assisting his peers to set aside the weight of everything that is going on at the moment, relax, and just play a backyard game of basketball with his friends.  For a moment, stats didn’t matter, results didn’t matter, accolades didn’t matter.  Nobody was gunning for All-Star MVP.  Nobody was getting overly competitive to win the game (perhaps Dame a little bit but I mean that’s Dame).  It was just some old fashioned, low stakes fun.

Maybe that’s what everyone needed in the moment.

Maybe we didn’t HAVE to be overly invested in the competition or the pageantry this year.

Maybe Steph Curry understood this and set the tone accordingly. I think he did. For my part, I enjoyed it.

Steph Curry is at a point in his career where he doesn’t have to prove anything to us.  We understand his place in the league hierarchy.  We’ve seen him change the way basketball is played on a fundamental level. We get the mesmerizing effect of Steph exploding into a nuclear cloud of basketball production in any given game that leaves you shaking your head.  He’s got three rings and near unanimous approval of the title of greatest shooter of all time.  

Nah, this wasn’t any sort of “prove it” game.

Here’s what Steph was doing on Sunday:  In the midst of a pandemic, an uncomfortable (at best) NBA season, an All-Star game that nobody wanted, Steph Curry channeled his personal, inner joy – something that has been well chronicled in the past – and specifically showed up to spread that joy to his peers, friends, and fans.  It was a gentle reminder that the game of basketball, at it’s very soul, is to simply help us all have a little fun.

Watch his game highlights below and see if you don’t accidentally smile.