2023 NBA All-Star talking points: Injury replacements and attacking predictions | NBA News

Straps yourselves in because a helter-skelter night of outrageous dunks, absurd dribbling, and explosive attacks is just around the corner. Yes, we of course mean the 2023 All-Star game.

Before the action starts, let’s have a look at four talking points that you should look out for on Sunday in Salt Lake City.

Nobody knows, until everybody knows

On five previous instances, the NBA has decided to leave the choosing of the teams to the end of the planning process. By that, we mean a few days prior to the game itself.

This year, they’ve decided to go a step further. Not only are they leaving it to be decided on the day, but it will also literally be the final thing captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo will do before the tip-off.

If you’re a neutral, this is exciting stuff, but if you’re a fan of either teams, then there’ll be no time to relax before the game. Working in media? Prepare to have your hands glued to the keyboard.

As a player involved in the roster, here’s where it gets interesting. We’re all familiar with the fear of being picked last for a ball game at school, or worse – not being picked at all. That feeling never leaves you, not even, as Kevin Durant admitted last year, at the upper echelons of the most vaunted basketball league in the world.

‘All-you-can-score’ buffet

What do you get when you put James, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Giannis, Jayson Tatum, and Donovan Mitchell on the same court? It’s a familiar punchline actually, and it involves a lot of points.

The interesting thing about the league this year is that there has been a record number of 40 and 50-point performances, in every way possible the attack has been the main event and it’s clear that the pre-season rule change that saw referees lock down on fouls on the counter has played a pivotal role.

So, whether it’s Jokic notching his 20th triple-double of the season, or Mitchell landing a 70-point game in a performance that took its place among the game’s most memorable, you can expect that despite the arid Utah climate it won’t be a dry game at all.

The transition is where it’s at, and unless you’re defending the half-spaces and lanes into the paint, you won’t have any chance of stopping Doncic and co.

Can the defence outlast the attack?

It’s the age-old question: when you have so many frontcourt players all vying to score, can you stop the banks from flooding?

Last year’s All-Star game offers little comfort to those of a defensive persuasion; Team LeBron won 163-160 against Team Durant in a frantic, frenzied game that saw the heights of physical and athletic fitness peak.

If that is to change this year, it will require some of the frontcourt players to sacrifice points for marking and ensuring that the likes of Doncic and Jokic remain contained.

How you do that is another question altogether. Perhaps reserves could be key? On the bench sit some of the best defensive players in the league, from the Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards.

Injuries changing the picture

The absence of Stephen Curry, Zion Williamson, and Durant changes quite a lot. For starters, it means that Team LeBron will be missing key starters that would have put them in pole position for mid-range shooting and firepower within the paint.

But where there’s a will there’s a way, and where there’s a Joel Embiid, well, you’d hope he’s not too upset about initially being snubbed because the league have elevated him, Ja Morant and Lauri Markkanen into the starting roster.

This reshuffling means a gap in the injury replacement squad, which Edwards, De’Aaron Fox and Pascal Siakam have filled. Edwards leads the NBA in steals, while Fox is averaging a career-high in rebounds and Siakam in minutes.

The key here is utilising them all in a way that brings the best out of LeBron. He’s featuring in his 19th All-Star game and wants to add more to the history books as he did when he became the league’s all-time scorer, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This year, he’s got the right people around him for it.