The NBA revamped the format of the All-Star Recreation to make it extra aggressive than in earlier years. However it continued an issue that is been round for years: beginning the sport half an hour late.
Formally, the sport between Crew Chuck and Crew Kenny was speculated to tip off at 8:20 p.m. ET. At 8:30 p.m., Kevin Hart was nonetheless riffing with Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith at heart courtroom. Followers who tuned in on the introduced begin time acquired to see Hart doing a tedious skit with TNT’s Ernie Johnson.
The musical a part of the All-Star introductions was high-quality, with Raphael Saadiq main a band by a medley of Bay Space musical hits because the gamers have been launched. However with the brand new format separating the 24 All-Stars into three groups, and enjoying a workforce of Rising Stars, that is 32 participant introductions.
Add within the honorary coaches, the TNT panelists who drafted the groups and Shaquille O’Neal’s inexplicable robotic canine, and the pre-game enterprise merely dragged on.
