SAN FRANCISCO — The first test run of the new, truncated All-Star weekend format produced mixed results.
One of the three Rising Stars games, each played to a target score, was competitive. Intensity was scarce and hundreds of Chase Center seats were empty, but there were still some memorable moments.
Rising Stars MVP Steph Castle hit a game-winner. So did Rip City Remix’s Bryce McGowens, lifting the G League team to an upset victory. And Warriors center Trayce Jackson-Davis got bragging rights over his teammates Brandin Podziemski and Pat Spencer.
By winning the miniature tournament, Jackson-Davis, Castle and Chris Mullin’s team of rookies and sophomores gets to play Steph Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant’s team in an All-Star semifinal game Sunday night.
“I like our team a lot, I like our chances,” Jackson-Davis said postgame.
Warriors legends Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway and Mullin coached the three teams of first and second-year players, and Bay Area native Jeremy Lin led the G League standouts. The new format featured a three-game tournament, with semifinals played to 40 points and the championship to 25. The semis games took about 30 minutes and the championship about 20.
It’s the same general configuration the signature event on Sunday will take as the league tries to inspire more intensity in its midseason showcase.
The Rising Stars tournament represented a trial run.
Count Spencer as a critic who wants the games to have a more game-like feel.
“Everybody’s switching one-through-five, just turns into isolation basketball,” Spencer said. “Very tough to make it competitive. But hopefully the fans had a good time.
For much of the three games, players moved a half speed, not quite reaching open-gym levels of energy. There were missed dunks, airballs and botched alley-oop lobs. Not a box-out in sight. Jackson-Davis described the defensive speed as about 75%, but that was generous.
Players don’t want to get hurt in a meaningless exhibition with a stretch-run of regular season games on the horizon, so the All-Star festivities are never going to be pure basketball.
The closest the Rising Stars game got was during G League’s upset over Richmond’s squad featuring the Thompson twins.
Team M had chances to reach the 40-point target score, but a slew of missed foul shots allowed the G Leaguers to hang in. They’d gone back-and-forth, with the rookies and sophomores playing with pride, hoping to avoid humiliation of losing to G Leaguers.
But McGowens rose up for the game-winning 3.
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The biggest reactions from the crowd — besides the Red Panda performance — were in the pregame introductions for Podziemski and Jackson-Davis , the Warriors who squared off in the opening game.
Jackson-Davis scored six points, including a one-handed alley oop in a rare instance of exciting athleticism in the matchup. Podziemski dished three assists.
In the title game, Team C needed to fall behind early before raising their effort level. But once they did, Castle took over, leading a 17-2 closing run by scoring 12 of his team’s 25 points.
After the win, Jackson-Davis caught up briefly with his Warriors teammates, who gave him a vote of confidence in Sunday’s All-Star matchup.
“They said, ‘Might as well win the whole thing,’” Jackson-Davis said. “So, coming back Sunday, we might as well win it….I’m curious to see how we come out Sunday and how they come out Sunday, because I think we’re going to come out and run-and-gun. Got to use those young legs.”
