"Elam Ending" Theory to help Hacking end of games

[KG Living Legend]

 Game clock shuts off at the first dead ball after the four minute Mark in the fourth quarter.

 A Target score is set by adding eight points to the leading team score.

 The first.  team to reach the target score wins.

 You disincentivize the trailing team from hacking away and force them to play defense.

 They have been using this since 2017 in the G league with great success the games have been much more exhilarating and competitive.

 Should Adam Silver experiment in the NBA?

[rondofan1255]

I would vote no.

They use this in The Basketball Tournament

This ending on a questionable foul call leading to game-ending FTs was controversial last year... the three-time defending champs Overseas Elite benefitted from it. Louisiana United should have won

https://twitter.com/vasu/status/1022679315912249344?s=21

So it has its downfalls and controversial endings...

[hwangjini_1]

tp for the thread KGLL.

i had to look up elam ending and learned a lot. from what i saw it is a WAY better way to finish a basketball game. no more intentional foul after international foul with desperation driving 3 pointers mixed in. no more dribbling out the clock. instead, every single game ends with a game winning shot. fun stuff!!

here is an article about it that helped me understand it better. 

https://thecomeback.com/nba/the-elam-ending-is-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-basketball-this-century.html

as for rondofan's point, it is not perfect. but it is better, much better than the current ending system. i hope the NCAA goes to this and the nba soon.

[fairweatherfan]

Too gimmicky. A nice change of pace for lower levels but not for the NBA. Won't even end intentional fouling - say I'm at target-2 and opponent's got the ball at target-3. Immediate intentional foul. And completely eliminates buzzer-beaters and overtime.

[bdm860]

I'd slog through a whole bunch of free throw shootouts if it means I get an occasional overtime thriller.  No possible way for overtime with the Elam Ending, right?  That replaces one of the most exciting features of the game, IMO.

I would vote no.

They use this in The Basketball Tournament

This ending on a questionable foul call leading to game-ending FTs was controversial last year... the three-time defending champs Overseas Elite benefitted from it. Louisiana United should have won

https://twitter.com/vasu/status/1022679315912249344?s=21

So it has its downfalls and controversial endings...

Not sure how the Elam Ending had any real impact on that game.  How is it different than that player being fouled in a tie game with no time left on the clock?  It's not the Elam Ending that caused that outcome, it was the refs.

[rondofan1255]

Not sure how the Elam Ending had any real impact on that game.  How is it different than that player being fouled in a tie game with no time left on the clock? It's not the Elam Ending that caused that outcome, it was the refs.

With a target score, the chance of a bad foul call causing the game to end immediately is much higher

In a normal game, game-ending fouls with no time left on the clock are much less likely. In most cases, the victims of bad calls have chances to redeem themselves on the next possession. That doesn't exist with the Elam Ending target score.

To me, this is just like Wimbledon and Australian Open tennis tournaments adding final set tiebreakers this year after Isner played two marathons. The suspense is gone with such an abrupt ending to a tense match - see Djokovic-Federer Wimbledon 2019 final.

[seancally]

Too gimmicky. A nice change of pace for lower levels but not for the NBA. Won't even end intentional fouling - say I'm at target-2 and opponent's got the ball at target-3. Immediate intentional foul. And completely eliminates buzzer-beaters and overtime.

NBA will never get rid of the buzzer-beater, nor should they.

[ETNCeltics]

Gimmicky and bush league. No way.

[hwangjini_1]

Too gimmicky. A nice change of pace for lower levels but not for the NBA. Won't even end intentional fouling - say I'm at target-2 and opponent's got the ball at target-3. Immediate intentional foul. And completely eliminates buzzer-beaters and overtime.

you seem to have missed the point that the current way of ending basketball games is often awful. i and many others are tired of the last 2 minutes of game time taking 15 minutes of real time and offering little in the way of actual basketball.

the intentional foul you mention above would be a single occurance, not a drawn out drama.

as for being gimicky, aren't intentional fouls a "gimmick" to win a game, a gimmick that hurts the watchability of the game and rarely makes a difference.

did not some people consider the 3 pint shot a "gimmick" when it was brought into the game? instead, it improved the game of basketball. elam's ending may do so as well.

as for losing overtime, yes, it would go away. since the number of bad endings outnumber by far over times, it is a tradeoff i will take.

and as far as drama from a buzzer beater, it would exist, but would be dictated by score and not be dictated by time. target score is 87, each team is at 85.  it is sudden death!!

i like this idea.

[hwangjini_1]

Not sure how the Elam Ending had any real impact on that game.  How is it different than that player being fouled in a tie game with no time left on the clock? It's not the Elam Ending that caused that outcome, it was the refs.

With a target score, the chance of a bad foul call causing the game to end immediately is much higher

In a normal game, game-ending fouls with no time left on the clock are much less likely. In most cases, the victims of bad calls have chances to redeem themselves on the next possession. That doesn't exist with the Elam Ending target score.

To me, this is just like Wimbledon and Australian Open tennis tournaments adding final set tiebreakers this year after Isner played two marathons. The suspense is gone with such an abrupt ending to a tense match - see Djokovic-Federer Wimbledon 2019 final.

do you have any supporting evidence of this whatsoever? if so, i would love to see it.

next, crappy refs will exist even with elam ending, just as they do now. their impact would appear to be the same in either case. - a crappy call creates an injustice.

finally, read the article and you will see that the level watchability AND drama go up. every single game ends with a game winning shot, on a high note.

i hope the nba tries this in summer league so we can watch and see it.

[rondofan1255]

With a target score, the chance of a bad foul call causing the game to end immediately is much higher

do you have any supporting evidence of this whatsoever? if so, i would love to see it.

In a normal tied game, the foul would literally have to be with 0.0 sec (or 0.2 or whatever if we're splitting hairs) remaining for it to end immediately. Otherwise, the other team has the chance to get the ball back. Other fouls NOT at the 0.0 sec mark (or close to it) won't end the game immediately.

With Elam Ending, any time a team is within a point or two of assured victory, ANY foul call resulting in FTs can immediately end the game. Doesn't have to be specifically with no time left on the clock, because there is no clock. No next possession or chance of redemption, that's it. There is no time remaining, just a target score. That's what happened in the clip I posted. In a normal game, a foul like that in such a situation would have to be called with no time remaining for the game to end immediately.

[rondofan1255]

you will see that the level watchability AND drama go up. every single game ends with a game winning shot, on a high note.

i hope the nba tries this in summer league so we can watch and see it.

I watched many games in TBT last year with the Elam Ending. There's not much basketball in the states to watch right now except BIG3 and TBT. That's why I'm looking forward to FIBA World Cup

You can watch many games of the ongoing The Basketball Tournament on ESPN/ESPN2.

[hwangjini_1]

With a target score, the chance of a bad foul call causing the game to end immediately is much higher

do you have any supporting evidence of this whatsoever? if so, i would love to see it.

In a normal tied game, the foul would literally have to be with 0.0 sec (or 0.2 or whatever if we're splitting hairs) remaining for it to end immediately. Otherwise, the other team has the chance to get the ball back. Other fouls NOT at the 0.0 sec mark (or close to it) won't end the game immediately.

With Elam Ending, any time a team is within a point or two of assured victory, ANY foul call resulting in FTs can immediately end the game. Doesn't have to be specifically with no time left on the clock, because there is no clock. No next possession or chance of redemption, that's it. There is no time remaining, just a target score. That's what happened in the clip I posted. In a normal game, a foul like that in such a situation would have to be called with no time remaining for the game to end immediately.

but again, the point is to remove the hideous intentional fouling that spoils the end of so many basketball games. and given the way refs swallow the whistle at the end of the games i am honestly not that concerned about your point.

finally, how many times do we see a game outcome affected by a foul being called near the end? more often than is portrayed in your post i believe.

[rondofan1255]

but again, the point is to remove the hideous intentional fouling that spoils the end of so many basketball games.

There's more suspense in the current format despite intentional fouling IMO including the possibility of overtimes, will they go for the win or try to force overtime, how much time will they leave on the clock, can they make a furious comeback, etc., but to each their own....

boom someone scored this many more points after a certain point, so that's all folks, seems like a cheap ending to tightly contested games.

[johnnygreen]

I agree, this sounds too gimmicky, but at the same time, something does need to be done to get rid of the intentional fouling at the end of games. The Elam Ending does sound interesting, but with no shot clock why wouldn’t a team try to pass the ball around for 5 minutes to tire the other team out?

Here’s a radical idea, do something about the intentional foul. If a player is intentionally fouled, the player shoots one free throw and his team gets the ball back. If a player is intentionally fouled away from the ball, his team gets to decide who shoots the free throw and the team gets the ball back too. In this case, there is no gimmick and also no incentive to intentionally foul either. To me, this idea seems like a no brainer that should have been used years ago.