The NBA In-Season Tournament was always going to work, even if not everyone was convinced out of the gate.
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This weekend we crowned our first NBA In-Season Tournament Champion the Los Angeles Lakers after they defeated the Indiana Pacers in what was a dominant Lakers performance from beginning to end. While a lot of us were confused about why it was even happening, the pooling, the point system feeling like a calculus equation sometimes, and again, why it was happening, it seems like NBA fans everywhere had a blast.
What Adam Silver knew was that we would always have a blast, and deep down knew we would too, not just because we had NBA stakes in December which is usually a time when we watch basketball because football isn't on, it was because of the excitement of single elimination games. The word "eliminate" adds extra embarrassment just by itself so add the most competitive players in the world to it they were going to try hard even without a prize. We had players chucking three-pointers up 22 points with seconds left in the fourth quarter, breaking "unwritten rules" because of point differentials, so maybe not every player was a fan of it but we had a very good time.
We have always loved single elimination in any form, it's the ultimate competition. You add those two words to anything and you have a hit: March Madness, Wimbledon, College Football, FIFA, Bloodsport, Bloodsport 2, Mortal Kombat, Hunger Games, any horror movie. Yes a lot of those involve murder but those are the stakes we love. The best compliment we could give Adam Silver for this is that he made a layup with a simple-ish concept (the pooling thing was weird and confusing sometimes), and fan bases loved it because they all felt like their team had a shot.
For anyone that was skeptical of how serious the players would take the tourney all of that was put to rest by how serious LeBron James took it from the start, yeah there were jokes about how cheap LeBron is and how even with all money he's made the $500k was still calling to him, which might be true, but even in his 21st season and 39th birthday coming up he just really enjoys putting on a show for the fans. Phoning it in for a tournament that has no impact on his legacy at all would have been very easy, he didn't do that though and I think a lot of players might have followed that lead. Even after winning the entire thing James didn't celebrate like it was anything more than what it was, it isn't June, he did it for the love of the game and because the beginning of the NBA season is REALLY boring.
I look forward to many of the next In-Season Tournaments. The spectacle of the ridiculous courts and new jerseys for us to all buy was a little goofy, but getting somewhat important games on a random Friday in November is good for the game, and people tweeting "How much do the Suns need to win by tonight to make the tournament?" is good for the game.
Now if the next tourney is missing the Andy Warhol paintings on the basketball courts, that would be dope too.
