Why is that? Standings can't be decided throu each conference because they barely face the western teams, vise versa. All star game is The Best of the Players on Eastern Confernce, and the best out of the Players of the West The all-star game is a publicity event - hence the term 'all-star weekend'. Just because you take the top (most popular) players from each conference and stick them together on the court means nothing. Basketball is a team sport - hence I determine the strength of the conference based on the quality of the teams, not players. And the all-stars aren't going full out the entire game like they would in a real one. Quite often, even if it's only a quarter or two, there's some playing around involved - nothing too serious. They really only start stepping it up near the end of the game.