Team All-Star Stats Since 1978

The 2015 All-Star Game set records in possessions and three-point rate, as noted here. That was something of a recap of the game and an overview of what they are generally like in terms of possession totals and scoring efficiency, but now I put those stats since 1978 into Tableau along with additional metrics like rebounding percentages and turnovers.

Take a look[1. To fit the table into a blog post, I took out some other stats I put together. To view the entire Tableau project, click here.]:

Quick, but probably not surprising and somewhat repetitive takeaways since I touched on this last year:

• All-Star Games have several more possessions than regular season games. Surprise! Check out a chart here that compares the pace of the former game with the latter, and also the Rising Stars Challenge. Going by quarter, All-Star Games generally play slower in the fourth when the competitiveness appears to really kick in, a pace of about 114 compared to 122-124 in the first three. Last year’s game set the record for most possessions per 48 minutes with a mark of 133.5.[1. Of course, this isn’t the only way to measure the speed of a game. One of the best ways is measuring when shots, turnovers, etc. happen at what point in the shot clock. While this is possible with play-by-play data, I personally didn’t feel comfortable with it. The time between a made shot and an inbound pass, for example, can screw with tracking shot clock usage, especially in an all-star setting.]
• Scoring efficiency is generally higher. Another shocking development but first quarters can be a slog. Since 2004, the average offensive rating in that quarter has been 107.5 while second and third quarters average out to nearly 120 points per 100 possessions. Fourth quarters, when pace has lowered, averaged out to 114 but last year’s West produced an offensive rating during those 12 minutes of 141.4.[1.The highest single-quarter offensive rating since 2004 goes to the 2007 East that averaged 163 points per 100 possessions in the fourth quarter. Not too bad.]
• The three-point rate in these games has taken off. Over 40 percent of the shots in 2014’s All-Star Game were from that area of the floor, but that increased to about 50 percent last year (and the rest of the shots were mostly dunks or layups). That might not seem sustainable, but the West’s roster this year looks set up for an even higher mark. Below is a table of all-stars in 2015 and 2016 sorted alphabetically with their three-point rates leading up to all-star weekend. Shaded in red were players who made an all-star team in 2015 but not 2016, while players in blue took their place. Bolded players were/are starters and three-point rates this season were as of February 11.

Losing the outside touch from Damian Lillard and Dirk Nowitzki hurts, but everyone on the West’s roster this year can fire away from deep. The East took the larger hit in terms of range, but Paul George has put up a career-high in three-point volume this season[1. If you don’t count last season’s 91-minute sample.] while Isaiah Thomas should be pretty entertaining. The starting lineups actually make it look like they could help contend for another record-breaking game in terms of possession totals, and with some hot three-point shooting they could also break new ground in offensive efficiency.

Stats were from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference while some calculated stats were with the help from SacTown Royalty.