I want to see the Rockets! No game until Wednesday? This sucks! Give Tari more minutes, especially with Alpi.
They're moving games around for IST, it's almost as if they don't think it will do well on its own. Forcing it like TNT Thursday where they want to funnel NBA fans to watch select games when it's not their teams. Yes if Rockets was playing, I could give a hoot on other team's IST semi's. It's a two way street Adam, ease down on the refs fckery and maybe fan base of the 'non-chosen ones' will support your other initiatives. League scheduling around 8 teams instead of the other 22. The schedule is so F'd up right now, Rocket's total game played is way behind league's other teams.
Has there ever been a TNT Monday before? Zero games on a Sunday followed by two games on a Monday seems crazy to me.
This "In Season Tournament" has no real consequences. Sure, the winners make some $$$$ but aside from the money, it has no bearing upon the standings or the postseason. It's a bad way of trying to make regular season games have meaning in a very long season. I hope they scrap it or at least give it consequence, like a guaranteed playoff spot or a bye round. But even then it's only affecting a small fraction of the regular season - what about the rest of the games, they somehow matter less?
Only good thing coming out of this is SAS and the ESPN crew will be joining forces with EJ & the gang
For it to continue indefinitely, the NBA must give consequential meaning to the IST. They probably can't afford to do it until they determine fans and players will accept its legitimacy as a standalone event. There is no doubt in my mind the league will eventually announce much larger financial stakes and/or playoff implications for IST results. Might take a few years though.
It has the consequences that the schedule is screwed up for several teams. Play Off Spot would be too much - Play In Game with Two more Time Out advantage for those who are not already in the Play IN.....
4. What's one thing about the tournament you'd change? Collier: I still think there needs to be something that gives fans a reason to care who wins the tournament. Maybe the winner gets no worse than the No. 9 seed, which guarantees a home play-in game at worst, no matter what happens the rest of the season. Imagine the intensity for fans of teams on the rise knowing they're going to the postseason, or the teams fighting for positioning in a crowded Western Conference guaranteeing themselves a spot. MacMahon: As someone who believes sportsmanship is the most overrated thing in sports, I'm all for running up the score. However, for the sake of attempting to keep the peace, the league should probably cap the point differential benefits for each individual game. Maybe put 15 points as the maximum to prevent the awkwardness of intentionally hacking a bad free throw shooter midway through the fourth quarter of a blowout. McMenamin: The No. 1 seed coming out of group play should be able to pick its opponent instead of automatically facing the fourth-seeded wild-card team in the quarterfinals. That way a team like the Lakers, which already beat Phoenix in group play, could choose to play New Orleans or Sacramento, for example, rather than having to beat the Suns again to advance. Andrews: Would it be possible for these games not to count toward the teams' overall records? Warriors coach Steve Kerr made an interesting point: If you need to win by 12 in order to make the quarterfinals but you're only up by two with seconds to go, do you try to take it to overtime to get the points and advance? Or just take the win to help your playoff seeding? It's an interesting dilemma, one that could create even more drama if the games didn't count twice. Bontemps: The biggest thing that needs to change won't come until the league decides to expand to 32 teams. At that point, you can have eight groups of four teams, have everyone play twice and then move on to the knockout rounds. The current format leaves some teams watching on the last day of competition, which makes for a slightly awkward situation. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39016597/nba-season-tournament-dream-final-change
This has been the most annoying start to a season I can remember. Ill conceived idea that isn't even in the spirit of what it's trying to mimic (Euro Football League Cups). Also seems like there was an incentive to make sure the Lakers were in it (4-0 in IST games). Add that to those awful courts and it's just a no from me. The games shouldn't count towards your regular season totals. They should be their own separate thing. How about starting training camp in early September, Pre-Season in late September, regular Season Oct 1, and then two weeks off between Dec 15-Jan 1 for the "IST" to be entirely played in Vegas. The games don't count towards regular season totals and teams can play or not play who they want. A ticket gets you in to all games that day. Some teams will sell out to win and others will use it as a way to test their bench/rookie guys.
I can’t stand having another stretch of three days off this early in the season after a three day and four day break already. Bring on the stretch of 30 games in 57 nights
I somewhat agree with most of the criticism, but I am noticing that it does have a positive effect on the games. With better implementation, it could be a better thing.
the in-season tournament has been good…players took it seriously this year, and there has been a level up in atmosphere from a lot of the home crowds When’s the last time u saw a Pacers regular season game with a crowd like this? I think it was FVV who said these tournament games felt like fake playoff games, which is a definite step up from the usual low intensity regular season games we’ve become accustomed to over the years
