INDIANAPOLIS–You might have heard about the “Elam Ending.” It’s a new way to end a basketball game.
The man who invented it is Nick Elam, a Ball State University Educational Studies Professor. The idea is to make the end of basketball games more exciting and put an end to the practice of intentional fouling.
“The Elam Ending, in a nutshell, is that you would play most of the game with a clock and you play the last part of the game without a clock. The idea is not to change the game, it’s to do the opposite. It’s to preserve a more natural style of play all the way through the end of the game,” Elam said to Kevin Bowen on 93.5 and The Dan Dakich Show Tuesday. That show airs weekdays from 12 pm-3 pm on 93.5 and 107.5 The Fan in Indianapolis.
As far as the settings of the format, those vary based on the league or the event. The teams play to a “target score” with the clock turned off at the end of the game. In the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, the Elam Ending began at the start of the 4th quarter, with the game clock turned off and the teams using the “target score” of 24 points above the leading team’s score (to honor Kobe Bryant). Typically, the score is much lower than 24.
“The concept is having a chance to speak for itself now. It’s not just me speaking on its behalf. I thought this ending would give the trailing team a better alternative than fouling. They would have the option and the ability to rely on stops and scores,” Elam said.
Bowen asked Elam about the concern of having no clock late in the game, which could make the game go longer.
“If a game goes a little bit longer, it’s almost guaranteed that the drama is building. That’s very different for the regular format because some of those drawn-out finishes are the ones where the drama is not building,” Elam said.
Elam says the format is meant to evolve. He says all things can be adjusted as necessary with the Elam ending.
You could see this type of ending happen at the 2021 All-Star Game, which will be in Indianapolis.
