The NBA In-Season Tournament was a Success!

There was a lot of skepticism when the NBA introduced the in-season tournament this offseason. There was little reward when it was released, so fans thought the players wouldn’t try. But unlike people expected, this was a big success. Let's go through everything from the best to the worst parts of this tournament.

The rules. There were three groups from each conference, so six total groups. Each group had five teams because there are 15 teams per conference. The group drawing was random (or so they say) and from each group in each conference, one team made it out. But with three teams from each conference, the bracket wouldn’t work, so they added a wild card. The team that got the wild card was the team that didn’t get out of their group but had the best point differential out of all the teams in their conference. The tiebreakers to get out of their group go in this order: most wins, best point differential, total points in the group stage, and prior season record.

The results of the group stage. Most people thought that teams like the Celtics or the Nuggets would win, but since teams played against other teams in their group, some teams didn’t make it because of tough groups. The team that came out of East Group A was the Indiana Pacers, East Group B had the Milwaukee Bucks, and East Group C had the Boston Celtics. But the Eastern Conference wild card was the New York Knicks, who were in East Group B. The team out of West Group A was the Los Angeles Lakers, West Group B had the New Orleans Pelicans, and West Group C had the Sacramento Kings. But the Western Conference wild card was the Phoenix Suns, who were in West Group A.

The knockout round. The knockout round results shocked people. In the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks played the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics played the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks dominated the Knicks, winning 146-122. Eek. The Celtics were supposed to win their game against the Indiana Pacers as they were widely considered the best team in the NBA, but the Pacers shockingly beat the Celtics 122-112.

Meanwhile, the LA Lakers played the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference and won 106-103. Also, the New Orleans Pelicans played the Sacramento Kings and won 127-117.

The semi-finals. Even more shockers came in the semi-finals. In the East, the Bucks played the Pacers and were again favorites to win but lost 129-118. The Western Conference’s game featured the Lakers playing the Pelicans and the Lakers blew them out 133-89.

The finals. In the finals, the Pacers played the Lakers. The Lakers were winning from the start, but the Pacers always kept it competitive the whole time. But in the end, the Lakers won 123-109. The tournament MVP was LeBron James because he was the best player on the best team. Everyone loved this tournament because it was actually competitive. It gave a fun twist to the game that added big stakes to every game.

Now, there were flaws. The main question was the tiebreaker system. Because teams needed a really good point differential, they consistently ran up the score against opponents when they were already winning. And that is really bad sportsmanship, so the NBA will probably change that rule next year.

Otherwise, this tournament was a complete success. Good job, NBA.