Ok, as a fellow non-basketball fan I have a question for you that is kind of splitting the basketball-pro crowd. What do you think of the Elam Ending?As I've mentioned a few times, as much as I like a lot sports, one I can't get into is basketball. But I DO like the Olympics, and will watch pretty much anything being televised, and the only thing on just now was basketball, USA vs Serbia. And holy fucking shit, what an exciting game!!! USA, heavily favored to win it all, was down by as much as 15 at one point, and it wasn’t until the 4th quarter that they charged back to win it 95-91 and a berth into the Gold medal game. That was easily the most fun I’ve had watching a basketball game. If every NBA game had the gravity of an Olympic game, I’d probably be a fan. But as it stands, the NBA is still a league of selfish divas I can’t get behind, but when they pick the best of them to form a team and represent the USA, and they play like what I just watched…
For those who don't know. A basketball ending currently has the trailing team constantly trying to intentionally foul, just to stop the clock and hoping the other team misses its free throws in a last ditch attempt to catch up. Meaning right at the end, when you want a game to be its most exciting... things slow down to a crawl and most of the points being scored are off of free throws... the least exciting scoring play in the game. And for the most part the game ends with the winning team just dribbling out the clock.
In the Elam ending. The final half (or quarter) of the game is shortened by 4 minutes. When the buzzer sounds, a target score is set. The target score is the leading team's score +8. The game clock is off, first team to the target score wins. This eliminates all the intentional fouling, reduces clock stoppages, and ensures that the game ends on a winning shot.
I still don't like basketball, but to me the Elam actually makes the game watchable. Right now one independent tournament uses Elam, the NBA All-Star game has the Elam Ending, and it is being used in G-League (a kind of NBA minor league.) And if other leagues and levels of play wanted to adopt it, I'm all for it. But there does seem to be a lot of pushback from a kind of "traditionalist" faction. I've heard a lot on both sides from basketball fans, but as a non-fan I'm curious what another non-fan thinks... or if it is even interesting to them.
Oh, and Simone Biles. Spring floor, no spring floor, clear Shaq or not... she is freaking superhuman and just deserves all the respect. And that's from me who doesn't really like "judged" sports like gymnastics and figure skating.