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Devin Booker and Kevin Durant share thoughts on changing All-Star Game

The 2024 NBA All-Star Game was historic in the fact that the Eastern Conference scored 211 points, the most ever in the game and first time a team has scored 200-plus points.

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Most people, including NBA commissioner Adam Silver, did not seem too thrilled with how many points the East scored, as the NBA still searches for a way to make the game competitive.

The Eastern and Western Conference combined for an insane 168 3-point attempts. The East, led by the MVP of the game, Damian Lillard, who had 39 points including 11-of-23 shooting from deep, went 42-for-97 from 3-point range for the night. The West went 25-for-71 on 3s.

“I mean the shotmaking from the East was incredible,” Suns’ superstar Kevin Durant said. “I mean, it’s hard to play defense when somebody’s shooting 30-40 footers over you. Great display of shooting tonight by them and record-setting points is pretty cool.”

The other Suns’ star in the game, Devin Booker, also liked the whole night in general, but doesn’t know how it can be fixed to be more competitive.

“It was cool,” Booker said. “Pick-up, friendly basketball … It’s very hard to find that balance (between competing and not risking injury). I honestly have no answer for it. We did enough pregame speeches on how we’re trying to fix it and make it more competitive, but I just think the evolution of the game, the ring culture that has people more focused on their team than an All-Star Game.”

As expected, Durant and Booker were some of the only players in the game shooting mid-range jumpers. Durant had 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting (4-for-8 from 3), five assists, five rebounds and two steals. Booker had 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting (1-for-7 from 3), seven assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Overall thoughts on All-Star Weekend

The format changed back to Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference this year after there had been a draft the last few years. They also took out a target score in the fourth quarter and reverted back to the traditional way of scoring.

“I like East and West,” Durant said. “I like playing conference vs. conference. The traditional way is something I grew up on. Hopefully, we go back to playing in our own jerseys too. But traditional way, the way of picking teams, all that stuff don’t matter. It’s all about the product on a court and celebrating the best players in the league at that moment.”

Durant said he liked how the NBA made the game more entertaining for the fans.

“I feel like the league is always looking out for the fans and trying to keep their interests high,” Durant said. “All-Star Weekend been going on for a long, long time. So to keep people engaged, it’s tough to do, so I think they’re doing the best job that they can. People are always excited for All-Star Weekend, and I think they do their best. Great job of trying to keep everybody engaged the whole time.”

Booker was pleased with his time in Indianapolis, which included his first general public ‘Book 1’ release.

“It’s a great experience,” Booker said. “We don’t get much free time, and this is always something once they first announce it, you like, ‘I don’t get the week off.’ But then you get here and once you start taking it all in, you start having those conversations with the legends of the game, the guys that came before us and started this whole business. It’s always an honor.”

Highlights: Kevin Durant scores 18 points in 14th All-Star appearance

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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