By: Nick Elam | @ElamEnding
2021 will feature Games 168-230 of TBT’s Elam Ending era. But before the action tips off July 16, I’d like to look back on the first 167 games for my own Top 5. It’s pretty cool that even a small sample of 167 games was nearly impossible to condense into a Top 5 list (I somehow managed to include nine games in my Top 5). Your list might look a little different, but for me, each of these games featured something personal, technical, or dramatic to set it apart – or all of the above.
5. “Selby, wants the win…AND HAS IT!” (2017 Jamboree)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y-Vd9UUVwWA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>It was a glimpse into basketball’s future. TBT had taken the bold step to implement my proposed part-timed, part-untimed format on an experimental basis for 11 preliminary round games in 2017. All games would be played in one weekend in Philadelphia – with seven games on a Saturday and four games on Sunday. I made the trip. My parents made the trip. I finally got to meet Jon Mugar, Dan Friel, and all the good folks at TBT who I had communicated with in the preceding months, and who were taking a chance on my proposal.
The Elam Ending got off to a strong start. Game 1 ended with a medium-sized margin of victory (seven points) with NO deliberate fouling down the stretch – maybe a first in the history of high-level basketball. In Game 2, a leading team nearly found out the hard way that a passive offense can no longer be used to reach the finish line, seeing a ten-point lead dwindle down to one before ramping up their assertiveness and sealing a close win. In Game 3, the Elam Ending allowed a leading team to lean into the finish of a blowout victory, wrapping up the game in a more efficient way and ending it in style with an alley-oop dunk. In Game 4, a trailing team clamped down on defense, with the newfound ability to rely on legitimate stops rather than being forced to hand away free points at the foul line, giving them hope in a game that would have otherwise been hopeless – trimming a 13-point deficit down to two before seeing the game slip away.
Going into the day, my mind could barely handle the many best-case and worst-case scenarios racing through it. I had spent 10 years playing out these games on paper, and now I was finally seeing them play out on the court. But here, by the end of the fourth game, I felt a sense of calm. These evolutionary games felt strikingly familiar to me – like all the hypothetical games I had daydreamed about for years. The Elam Ending had a few solid games under its belt. Now it was time for a statement game.
In Game 5 of the day, Josh Selby and Brothers Dat Ball delivered. They found themselves down six points during the Elam Ending to ATL Hoops for Hunger, went on a 7-0 run to take the lead, and the game proceeded neck and neck all the way to a sudden-death finish. With a target score of 76, and BDB trailing 75-74, Josh Selby raced the ball down the court and hit a tough, contested, pull-up mid-range jumper to seal a thrilling victory. The moment had the look (thanks to Josh Selby’s genuine and spontaneous celebration), feel (thanks to a spirited crowd), and sound (thanks to a great broadcast call by ESPN’s Matt Martucci that I would hear later) of a buzzer-beater. And better yet, there was no need for a replay review that might dampen the celebration. It was evidence to support my broadest and boldest claim about the Elam Ending – that it can eliminate and alleviate what we don’t enjoy about late-game play, and still keep and enhance what we do enjoy about late-game play. The Elam Ending could be both sound and spectacular.
Entering the day, I knew there was a chance that this weekend might be the only chance for me to see the Elam Ending in action. I knew there was a possibility that 10 years of hard work might come and go just like that. But by late afternoon of Day 1, I knew the Elam Ending was going to live on beyond that first weekend – somehow, somewhere.
4. Epic Comebacks (Numerous)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WbzQ-5rssos" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Basketball’s timed format, and the associated warping strategies and styles of play (leading offenses content to play passively, trailing defenses desperately and deliberately handing away free points at the foul line, trailing offenses hoisting hopeless blooper-reel shots on the most important possessions of the game, etc.), provide more than enough justification on their own to explore an alternative format. But better still, by addressing these issues, the Elam Ending brings an additional important benefit – the outcome of games become less predictable. Under the timed format in the NBA and college basketball, when a trailing team has to resort to deliberate fouling, they only come back to win about 1% of the time. With the Elam Ending, trailing teams are offered a path to victory they’ve never had before – simply being able to play real basketball to mount a late comeback.
I don’t necessarily believe the Elam Ending will bring an avalanche of additional comebacks, but it provides a healthy uptick of comebacks and near-comebacks that makes the late stages not just cleaner and more fluid/athletic, but more dramatic, too. In fact, there have been so many great comebacks and near-comebacks, I can’t decide on just one. The best I can do is narrow it down to my favorite comeback from each year.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_2Hl_2pz684" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>- 2017 Jamboree – uKnighted vs. Silver Spring’s Willows Runners: Game SIX of the Elam Ending’s debut brought even more drama. uKnighted, a Rutgers alumni team, faced a 13-point deficit at the outset of the Elam Ending – the kind of late deficit that would offer zero hope and zero drama under a timed format. But a funny thing happened – as soon as the clock was shut off to start the Elam Ending, uKnighted got a stop, then a score, then another stop, then another score. Before you knew it, they had gone on a 14-0 run to take a one-point lead. The pro-uKnighted crowd was going absolutely bonkers. The action was back and forth the rest of the way, before SSWR won 74-71 on a daring lay-up. The game introduced a simple notion never seen before in high-level basketball – a trailing team can’t always win, but they can always control their fate all the way to the end.
- 2018 First Round – PrimeTime Players vs. Always a Brave: This 8AM game woke everyone up in a big way. PrimeTime Players trailed 59-50 entering the Elam Ending, and later trailed 64-57 with a target score of 66. They then went on an amazing 11-0 run to win the game, stopping Always a Brave on eight potential game-winning possessions, and sealing victory with a Mike Davis three-pointer.
- 2019 Regional Final – Eberlein Drive vs. Team Challenge ALS: Trailing 65-60 with a target score of 68, Eberlein Drive prevented Team Challenge ALS from winning the game on their next six possessions, buying enough time to mount an 8-2 run to win the game. Taylor Braun sealed the 68-67 victory with a cutting lay-up, made possible by a clutch offensive rebound and sharp pass by Osiris Eldridge.
- 2020 Round of 16 – Herd That vs. The Money Team: Herd That trailed by nine points entering the Elam Ending, and later trailed by 11 points, before going on an incredible 16-2 run to win on a sudden-death driving, contested lay-up by Ryan Luther. After The Money Team had closed within two points of the target score of 101, Herd That prevented them from winning the game on their next five possessions.
3. Sideline Cancer Overcomes Overseas Elite (2020 Semifinals)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MO CREEK SENDS SIDELINE CANCER TO THE TBT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!!!!!!<a href="https://twitter.com/SidelineTBT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SidelineTBT</a> <a href="https://t.co/bwU2ziNiWP">pic.twitter.com/bwU2ziNiWP</a></p>— TBT (@thetournament) <a href="https://twitter.com/thetournament/status/1282463114093637635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>The Elam Ending was always meant to evolve. Continued implementation would allow for the scrutiny and fine-tuning necessary to find the best version of the format. Entering TBT2019, the Plus-8 setting replaced the Plus-7 setting for determining the target score. Free throws were administered differently in games where the timed portion happened to end with a shooting foul. Entering TBT2020, fouls on the floor would be handled differently – resulting in one free throw and possession, instead of two free throws. This latest modification brought the possibility of multiple benefits, and the key benefit applied to a very specific sudden-death scenario – where the offense is exactly three points from the target score, and the defense is exactly one or two points from the target score. Without this modification, the defense might be inclined to foul and prevent a game-ending three-pointer. With this modification, there would be no inclination to foul. The design was to allow these sudden-death scenarios to play out in a more fluid and dramatic way. On paper, the defense would need to guard relentlessly against the three, and if the offense opted to take a three, we would all hold our breath while the ball sailed through the air.
Testing labs come in all forms. But there’s no testing lab more fun than a basketball court. And there’s no trial more fun than seeing two TBT mainstays – Sideline Cancer and four-time champion Overseas Elite – come down to exactly the kind of sudden-death scenario this new rule modification was meant to address. Overseas Elite led 65-64. Sideline Cancer had possession, with a target score of 67. And just as the rule modification intended, Overseas Elite had no inclination to foul, instead guarded with all they could against the three, Sideline Cancer’s Mo Creek released a high-arcing three, we all held our breath, and a swish sent Sideline Cancer into a frenzy, with their entire team running to the opposite end of the court for a celebratory dogpile. Experiment: Successful.
2. Double Dose of Diener (2019 Semifinals, 2020 Championship)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b4uhzfBWmIk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Golden Eagles have a team full of clutch Elam Ending performers. Jamil Wilson and Elgin Cook are just two that quickly come to mind. But Travis Diener has put the ball through the net for Golden Eagles’ last win of 2018 (Quarterfinals), 2019 (Semifinals), and 2020 (Championship). The last two of those stand out to me, because they exemplify another appealing type of unpredictability inherent in the Elam Ending. When the clock goes dark, and the target score is set, you might be in for a lockdown battle featuring, say, 10 or more full possessions, or you might see the game end with a jawdropping bolt of lightning in just three or four possessions.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TRAVIS DIENER FOR $1 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!!<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/GoldenEaglesTBT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GoldenEaglesTBT</a> are your TBT 2020 CHAMPIONS <a href="https://t.co/rFQj9kEBFG">pic.twitter.com/rFQj9kEBFG</a></p>— TBT (@thetournament) <a href="https://twitter.com/thetournament/status/1283201291519438849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>It’s the mere possibility of the latter that gives the Elam Ending a special imminence. When the Elam Ending begins, you can feel the finish line nearby. It’s why in many cases, after the clock is shut off, fans get on their feet and stay on their feet until the final shot goes through the net. In the two games that make this list, Travis Diener delivered that bolt of lightning (and Bob Rathbun provided the perfect play-by-play accompaniment to both). At the 2019 semifinals, with Golden Eagles leading 65-62, Diener pulled up from beyond NBA range on just his team’s fourth offensive possession to hit the target score of 68, send Golden Eagles to the championship game, and break the hearts of Team Hines. At the 2020 championship, with Golden Eagles leading 75-73 and a target score of 78, Diener hit a corner three on just his team’s third offensive possession to end Sideline Cancer’s Cinderella run and secure a long-awaited title for Golden Eagles. The celebration was on.
- Devin Oliver Slams Home a Sudden-Death Win for Red Scare (2019 Round of 32)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Devin Oliver (<a href="https://twitter.com/The_Underdog5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@The_Underdog5</a>) with the PUTBACK DUNK FOR THE WIN! ✈️✈️✈️ <a href="https://twitter.com/FlyersTBT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FlyersTBT</a> <br><br>Was this the best <a href="https://twitter.com/ElamEnding?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ElamEnding</a> finish of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TBT2019?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TBT2019</a>?!? <a href="https://t.co/43MCxdzKqO">pic.twitter.com/43MCxdzKqO</a></p>— TBT (@thetournament) <a href="https://twitter.com/thetournament/status/1165015858210648064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>If I listed the ingredients to my perfect finish to a basketball game, it might include:
- A packed gym in my native state of Ohio
- My alma mater’s alumni team on the floor
- My parents and friends in the stands with me
- A tight game heading into the Elam Ending
- An epic defensive stand and comeback in the Elam Ending
- A sudden-death scenario
- A potential game-winning shot for one team that cruelly rattles in and out
- An ensuing rebound/fastbreak/missed lay-up/putback dunk sequence for the other team to win the game and blow the roof off the place
- A clip of footage to perfectly capture the finishing sequence, to rewatch a bazillion times for years to come
All of this happened in a 2019 second-round game between Red Scare (the Dayton alumni team) and Mid-American Unity, with a pro-Red Scare crowd selling out the gym at Capital University in Columbus. Mid-American Unity led 72-71 heading into the Elam Ending, with a target score of 80. Mid-American Unity later got within reach of the target score at 77-74, but Red Scare prevented them from winning on their next seven possessions. The last of those stops came after Red Scare had tied the game 78-78, as Mid-American Unity’s deep three-point attempt rattled in and out. Red Scare’s Kyle Davis gathered the rebound under the basket, and without hesitation, sprinted to the other end of the court for a would-be game-winning lay-up. The shot was well-contested and missed, but Devin Oliver was there to follow with a thunderous putback dunk to win it. The ESPN broadcast was great, but there’s something that just can’t be matched about the raw footage captured from the baseline by Dayton Daily News reporter David Jablonski. Make that a bazillion-and-one times.
Here’s hoping your team has its perfect moment at TBT2021.