Players, coaches unhappy with tournament’s point-spread tiebreaker

As teams compete for a spot in the quarterfinals of the NBA’s first-ever in-season tournament, the point differential becomes an important tiebreaker. It is used in a variety of situations to determine group winners, conference wild-card teams, and the seeding of certain quarterfinalists.

In a round-robin stage where 30 teams play only four games, this tiebreaker is necessary because many identical records will emerge and, in some cases, head-to-head records will not be enough.

However, as ESPN detailed, many players and coaches in the NBA are not thrilled with the late-game situations that result from focusing on the spread. Knicks forward Josh Hart One player expressed displeasure at the idea that his team would have to try to improve the score against Los Angeles on Tuesday. Charlotte to advance.

“It’s interesting. “I really don’t like it,” Hart said. “In the beginning we were just focused on winning. The last few minutes felt weird. At a certain point, you just start chasing points and doing all this. So it kind of disrupted the integrity of the game.”

a team like this celtics and CavaliersMeanwhile, their starters stayed on the field heading into Tuesday’s game, well beyond the outcome, looking to extend their respective leads and increase the overall point differential.echo hart, both Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell Call it “a little weird.”

“It’s difficult because that’s not the way the game should be played,” Brown said.

eagles head coach who is snyder, who stretched the starting lineup with about four minutes left against the team.Cleveland said the situation was not “ideal” and bulls head coach Billy Donovan

Unhappy with Boston extending lead with repeated fouls Andrew Drummond Got the big man to the free throw line in the fourth quarter (one of his six attempts).

“I also understand the situation he’s in right now. “He has to coach his team and do the right things,” Donovan comments on Celtics coach Joe Mazzula. “But I think it put Andre in a hole, down 30 points. But that’s coming from the league. “That’s what the league does, creates the deficit. “

Concerns also emerged on Friday about the impact of point-spread tiebreakers near the end of certain games. DeMar DeRozan In a loss to Toronto, he was ejected from the court for taking issue with the Raptors’ attempt to score at the end of the game. In this case, Toronto has been eliminated from the quarterfinals, but they don’t seem to be aware of that fact.

Assuming in-season tournaments return in 2024/25, it will be interesting to see if the NBA adjusts the tiebreaker rules to address the concerns of players and coaches, or if the league will simply count on everyone getting more accustomed to the format and learning. . Live with it.

Get total score allow A tiebreaker instead of a point differential would be a way to eliminate a team’s incentive to extend the lead in a blowout. However, these changes may cause unwanted side effects, including slowing down the pace of tournament play.