"In the latest move to increase competition, the NBA sought to entice players with something bigger to play for global respect. Hence, this year's USA v World format, which featured a three-team tournament between the up-and-coming Team USA Stars, the veterans of Team USA Stripes, and international players of Team World. The round-robin format included four 12-minute games and an overtime with a target score of five."
"American-born players once held an imperialistic grip on basketball, particularly during the Dream Team era Team USA defeated opponents by an average score of 43.8 points at the 1992 Olympics. But the gap between US and international players is closing each year. During the 2024 Paris Olympics, Team USA needed herculean efforts by LeBron James and Steph Curry to hold off France in the final minutes of the gold-medal game."
A Hall of Famer expressed disdain for the prior All-Star Game, calling it unrecognizable as an All-Star contest. Years of format experiments replaced East v West, including captain-led playground-style drafts and a four-team Rising Stars tournament. Those experiments produced glorified shoot-arounds as players minimized defense and effort, favoring uncontested threes and dunks. The NBA introduced a USA v World three-team round-robin with four 12-minute games and an overtime target to increase stakes. International players have closed the talent gap, reflected in tight Olympic results and a recent run of international NBA MVP winners.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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