NBA In-Season Tournament

[Cap]

Are they really claiming close game scoring margins as a sign that their tournament was a hit? Okay. Now do the ratings.

Ratings are obviously the main goal, but doesn’t competitive games indicate the players took these games seriously? Only 1 day in 10 years had more competitive games…you think that’s a coincidence?

The ratings for last night might not be great, but if people start to realize the tourney games are more competitive, they will tune in.

The games were, on average, closer than playoff games, even Finals games! Clearly, a measure of how seriously the teams are taking them.

Come on. It’s a statistical aberration in a tiny sample. Records are set every night in the league, it doesn’t always mean a paradigm shift.

[Vladimir_Taltos]

This is shaping up to be a LONGGGG season...

[Cap]

This is shaping up to be a LONGGGG season...

Especially if the length of the season is measured in the number of times you post that.

[Vladimir_Taltos]

This is shaping up to be a LONGGGG season...

Especially if the length of the season is measured in the number of times you post that.

[Mori Chu]

Are they really claiming close game scoring margins as a sign that their tournament was a hit? Okay. Now do the ratings.

Ratings are obviously the main goal, but doesn’t competitive games indicate the players took these games seriously? Only 1 day in 10 years had more competitive games…you think that’s a coincidence?

The ratings for last night might not be great, but if people start to realize the tourney games are more competitive, they will tune in.

I just don't know what to conclude from the fact that the games were close / "competitive." Does that mean the players played harder? Does it have something to do with the officiating? Is it a statistically significant sample? Is it a good thing when all the games are close? Do fans like that better, does it help ratings? Does it matter whether some random games in early November are close or not-close?

[Split T]

Are they really claiming close game scoring margins as a sign that their tournament was a hit? Okay. Now do the ratings.

Ratings are obviously the main goal, but doesn’t competitive games indicate the players took these games seriously? Only 1 day in 10 years had more competitive games…you think that’s a coincidence?

The ratings for last night might not be great, but if people start to realize the tourney games are more competitive, they will tune in.

I just don't know what to conclude from the fact that the games were close / "competitive." Does that mean the players played harder? Does it have something to do with the officiating? Is it a statistically significant sample? Is it a good thing when all the games are close? Do fans like that better, does it help ratings? Does it matter whether some random games in early November are close or not-close?

It just sounds like you think the tourney is dumb and you don’t really want to give it a chance. Perfectly fine…maybe after it’s over it will have changed your mind.

[JeremyG]

If there were good teams that were playing bad teams and everyone was playing harder, then shouldn't that result in some blowouts?

[Split T]

I’m going to post in here so the people who don’t care about the in-season tournament can ignore it.

Here are the steps to making the 8-team field for us:

1. Blow out Blazers and Grizzlies to finish 3-1 with a good point differential

2. Lakers beat Jazz(We are not officially out of winning our group, but that pathway is tough. We’d need Jazz to beat Lakers and then we’d need to catch both in point differential. We are currently 47 points behind LA and 19 behind Utah. The best case scenario is Utah beating LA by 14 which would put them both +33, so we’d need to beat Blazers/Grizz by a combined 34 points.)

3. Blowout in the Minny-Sacramento game(both are 2-0, so we need the loser to get smoked so we can beat them in point differential)

4. We either need to catch Denver in point differential(they are +9)

Or

New Orleans loses to Clippers.

So easiest way is to win out, Lakers beat Jazz, Clippers beat Pels, Kings beat Wolves(Wolves are +10 ahead of us in point differential so we’d have to catch them which is why winning by a lot is important for us. Sacramento is +16 ahead of us if Minny wins that game).

Houston and Golden State are also still in it, so we need to stay ahead of them in point differential or for them to lose one of their final 2 games.

[Split T]

Minny and Sacramento do have tough schedules left…they play each other and then Sacramento gets GS and Minny gets OKC

[Kryptonic]

Thanks for taking the time to break that down. Still hoping we can make a run at it.

[Superbone]

Yeah, I appreciate you being on top of it, Split. It's not very straightforward.

[Split T]

It should be a little more straight forward after Tuesday…then I think everyone will only have 1 game left

[Flagrant Fowl]

I love the tournament so far and think, in general, the players are more interested in winning the games than they otherwise would be.

[Mori Chu]

Thanks for that post, Split T. As much as I've bagged on the in-season tournament, I do want to follow along with it. But I haven't really understood all the scoring margin stuff.

[Split T]

Ya it gets tricky…I wish ESPN had a better tab for the in-season standings. I had to go back and forth between the schedule and the standings to figure out who’s still playing who and to try and pin down the point differential stuff.

It especially matters for us because we can’t win our group outright. At best we can end in a 3-way tie with LA and Utah so point differential would be the tie breaker(first tie breaker is h2h, but LA beat us, we beat Utah, and Utah beats LA in this scenario).

We are more likely looking at a wild card spot and that tie breaker is almost definitely point differential because we won’t have played teams from other groups.

[Shabazz]

Is it just me or would anyone else not be all that upset to for our team to not advance have 1-2 extra games of high intensity wear and tear?

[Superbone]

Is it just me or would anyone else not be all that upset to for our team to not advance have 1-2 extra games of high intensity wear and tear?

The way it's going and from what I understand of Split's breakdown, we don't have much to worry about. I also don't like the idea of winning this thing before our first NBA Championship either for some reason.

[Split T]

Is it just me or would anyone else not be all that upset to for our team to not advance have 1-2 extra games of high intensity wear and tear?

They fill our schedule in with 2 extra games anyways if we don’t make it. The only way we add games is if we go to the championship and it’s just 1 game at that point. A game that I don’t believe counts in the standings

[JeremyG]

Is it just me or would anyone else not be all that upset to for our team to not advance have 1-2 extra games of high intensity wear and tear?

Well it would be better than advancing and not winning the cup. And I still don't know if I want our first NBA "championship" to be the "NBA Cup."

[JeremyG]

Is it just me or would anyone else not be all that upset to for our team to not advance have 1-2 extra games of high intensity wear and tear?

The way it's going and from what I understand of Split's breakdown, we don't have much to worry about. I also don't like the idea of winning this thing before our first NBA Championship either for some reason.

I totally get that--I thought it was just me!