Latest news with #ElamEnding
Calgary Herald
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Calgary Herald
Calgary Surge stage late rallies, stun Edmonton Stingers in CEBL opener
The Calgary Surge opened up the 2025 Canadian Elite Basketball League campaign with excitement. Article content And a dramatic victory. Article content Tied heading into the Elam Ending and then by five late in the end-game scenario, the Surgemade up the stagger and soared past the host and rival Edmonton Stingers in an 86-84 triumph Sunday. Article content It was Jameer Nelson Jr.'s layup that was the difference in the CEBL's season-opener for the visiting Surge at Edmonton EXPO Centre. Article content Article content One of the team's new members in a lineup full of them raced coast-to-coast for to seal the win in his first-ever CEBL game. Article content Article content 'I didn't know I was gonna get that open,' Nelson Jr., who was named game MVP, told sideline reporter Sarah Ryan. Article content 'I got full speed, so there was no reason to stop.' Article content Nobody could stop Nelson late, as he finished with a game-high 22 points, highlighted by the final three buckets for the victors, including a three-point make to push them one field goal shy of next-one-wins territory. Article content His points came on 7-for-12 shooting, adding five rebounds and four assists. Article content Nelson was part of a starting five that proved productive for the visiting side, with veteran Sean-Miller Moore, Greg Brown III — including seven rebounds and four blocks — and Gabe Osabuohien each scoring 14 points in the victory. Article content It didn't matter that they were in enemy territory. Article content 'I thought the crowd was great,' Nelson said. 'I thought that was a lot of adversity for us. And it's a rivalry, so I feel like we're gonna be tested, but that was definitely a tough test to start the season.' Article content Article content Indeed, the Battle of Alberta picked up right where it left off last year. Article content For the Stingers, their season starts in the same bitter way that the last two campaigns ended after they fell to the Surge in the Western Conference semifinals each time. Article content Meanwhile, the retooled Surge still seem to have the upper hand on their provincial rival. Article content The Stingers took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter, but the Surge responded with an 11-1 run to tie things up. Article content The rivals remained knotted at 77 apiece when the clock was stopped for target-score time. Article content The Stingers again raced to an advantage, scoring the next five points. But the Surge battled back once more with a 7-0 run before the Stingers tied the game at 84, setting the stage for Nelson's heroics.
Winnipeg Free Press
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg basketball team to tap Dr. Elam for Target Score Time strategizing
No one knows the Elam Ending better than Dr. Nick Elam. He is the innovator behind the popular end-of-game format used in basketball leagues across North America, after all. So it's easy to understand why the Winnipeg Sea Bears have tapped the brilliant basketball mind to help them prepare for the most important minutes of games, known as Target Score Time, in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. SUPPLIED Nick Elam is the innovator behind basketball's Target Score Time, also known as the Elam Ending, to mitigate a foul and stoppage-filled end to a game. Elam will work — primarily from his home in Indianapolis — as the club's Target Score Time strategist, analyzing trends and using his expertise to inform head coach Mike Taylor how to game-plan in crunch time this summer. 'What I can bring to the Sea Bears is that, even though there's not a single strategy that can 100 per cent guarantee a win, what I can do is share with them the things that have been most effective, what are most likely to put them in a position to succeed,' Elam said Monday. The customized format cuts the traditional ending of a game — often monotonous and filled with fouls and constant stoppages — by forcing teams to play to a specific score instead of a timed ending. The clock is turned off following the first play stoppage in the final four minutes, and the game ends when either team reaches the target score — equal to the leading team's point total plus nine. Elam, who created the rule in 2007, has had his brain picked many times by coaches in passing but has never been hired by a team. Taylor tried hiring him last season, but that never materialized. When the offer was presented earlier this spring, he eagerly accepted. 'I'm a little surprised that hasn't happened more, and I'm surprised that, here we are in 2025, it's the first time that a team (has) officially and formally wanted me to be part of their team, but I knew that that was going to happen eventually, at some point. I'm excited that the Sea Bears are the first team to look for my insight,' Elam said. The Elam Ending was implemented in the CEBL in 2020 and has delivered some thrilling finishes to contests over the years. It's a welcome routine by many fans, but a more polarizing topic among players and coaches. Taylor, whose first run with the format came in 2018 at The Basketball Tournament (TBT), is in favour of the late-game strategizing it demands. 'It was my first experience with the Elam Ending and I loved it,' said Taylor. 'I was intrigued by the strategy, and over the past few years in the CEBL, we've stayed in touch. Nick would always make time to answer my questions and talk about target score time. We're really happy to have him officially join us.' Changes to the support staff can go under the radar, but this could be a championship-calibre move by Taylor, whose squad might have a distinct advantage at the end of contests while hosting the CEBL's Championship Weekend in August. The Sea Bears were 6-4 last summer in games decided by five points or less, including their first-round playoff loss, which was decided by two points. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS The Winnipeg Sea Bears have hired Nick Elam to help inform head coach Mike Taylor how to game-plan in crunch time this summer. Elam, who has watched and analyzed nearly every game that has involved the Elam Ending since it was first implemented in 2017, said he sees exactly where many teams go wrong, and it drives him crazy. 'I think it's because none of these teams has watched as many of these games as I have,' said Elam, who will implement an untapped element of his research with the Sea Bears. 'From my standpoint, I don't think it's hard to strategize for, because I've studied it more than anyone else. No one else in the world has watched and analyzed as many games (as) I have. So I think that that's possibly one reason why there are still a lot of teams that navigate the end of games in a misguided way.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The Elam Ending continues to find traction in some of the best leagues. Along with the CEBL, it's been used in the NBA G League, the NBA all-star game, NBA Summer League, the Unrivaled three-on-three women's league and the NCAA women's all-star game. Elam's goal remains to one day see it used in the NBA. 'I think there's been tremendous progress. Most notably, the NBA G League just wrapped up their third straight year of using a version of the Elam, and the NBA has used the G League as a testing ground for playing rules for many years now. So, for them to stick with it for three years means that there are elements of it that they like a lot, that they're still considering it very seriously,' he said. 'I think that there's still a lot of momentum for the idea.' Joshua Frey-SamReporter Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh. Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
USA Today
16-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
NBA All-Star game format, explained: How the 2025 tournament works
The NBA blew up its All-Star Game format after some complaints about last year's score-a-palooza, so instead of two teams of the league's best, we have four squads in a tournament format. So how's it all going to work? We've got you! Two teams — Charles Barkley's Global Stars and Kenny Smith's Young Stars — will face off. Shaquille O'Neal's OGs will be playing Candace Parker's Rising Stars. The winners of those games will then face off in the finals. Each game will be played to 40 points, with no clock (yup, the Elam Ending is back!). Winner takes home prize money — $125,000 apiece. That's all you need to know. It's fairly simple, but we'll see if fans like it more than previous formats. We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. FTW operates independently, though, and this doesn't influence our coverage.
USA Today
15-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Social media savvy NBA offers global All-Star clip show daily, making annual affair moot
Despite the NBA's best efforts over the last decade to juice up its All-Star Game to a vague level of competitiveness and credibility, it's hard to see the league's newest gimmick generating significantly different results this weekend than the Elam Ending or having LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo drafting the teams. If that's the case, NBA commissioner Adam Silver will likely see it as a failure. He has made it clear he wants the All-Star Game to be something other than a glorified pickup run, and the league hopes that this year's format — dividing players into four teams and having a first-to-40 tournament — will be more satisfying for fans in the arena and more attractive for those watching on television. But the real problem with the All-Star Game is not something the NBA can fix with a new format, or even shoveling money into the bank accounts of the players. The problem is us. Or, to be more precise, the way our collective consumption of the NBA has evolved. What's the point of an All-Star Game when you can get one every morning in a 10-minute YouTube clip that gives you all the best parts of the NBA, cuts out all the boring bits and is delivered to your phone to watch at your convenience? How many people under age 30 do you know who will sit in front of a television and watch a 2½-hour NBA game? For that generation, it's almost unthinkable. Sure, the allure of being in the arena and feeling the action in person hasn't changed much over the generations. But if you ask a teenager these days if they're going to watch a game, the typical response is: 'Why would I? I'll just watch the highlights later.' Nobody understands this phenomenon better than the league itself. During the NBA Cup, Silver gave an interview to a handful of media outlets where he expressly disassociated the league's sagging television ratings from the league's cultural reach. 'We're at a point where our social media audience is at the highest of any league and continuing to grow exponentially,' he said, according to The Athletic. 'So it's not a lack of interest in this game.' Silver is right. No matter what the ratings say — and clearly the NFL overwhelms everyone in that department — the NBA is unquestionably the most potent cultural force in American sports. And it's not limited to this country. Walk through any city in Europe or Asia these days, and the number of young people you'll see wearing NBA merchandise dwarfs any of our other sporting exports. But a huge part of what makes the NBA so popular these days is also what makes the All-Star Game so superfluous. Just consider for a moment that the NBA's official 13-minute highlight package of the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Utah Jazz from Monday night has 3 million views on YouTube. Not to mention millions more views on copycat highlight channels, highlights that specifically tracked Luka Doncic's debut and highlights of every other game played in the NBA that night. That is a staggering number of people who, every day, are consuming professional basketball primarily — if not exclusively — through games that are cut down to mostly slam dunks, fast breaks and 3-pointers. Every now and then, they might throw in a good defensive play, too. It's a great way to understand what happened in an NBA game without having to invest more than two hours watching one. But it's also, in a way, corrosive to people's expectations of what the experience of watching sports is supposed to be. For those of us who grew up before there was Internet access in nearly every home, being a fan meant investing in all of it — the good nights, the bad nights, the fouls, the timeouts, the stretches of missed shots, the commercials and all the rest of it along with whatever magic Michael Jordan was producing for the Chicago Bulls. The NBA All-Star Game was special precisely because it stood out from the trudgery of the 82-game regular season. It was just all the good parts and the great players turning their routine talents into an endless series of highlights. That's the only thing about it that was ever inherently great — not that the All-Star Game had some existential meaning or that players were super competitive in that environment, but because it was different. Now, as the league's TV ratings slide but its social media reach explodes through a never-ending stream of easily consumable highlights, there is no way to "fix" the All-Star Game because it would require a return to exclusivity that the NBA knows would be bad for business. Among all the great things the league has done over the last 15 years, nothing has been more transformative for its brand and popularity than embracing social media, new media and making sure the talents of its players are seen across the globe. As much as that mentality helps the NBA for 364 days a year, it will crush it Sunday. Why would any fan get excited about an All-Star Game when they see one every night? Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Dan Wolken on social media @DanWolken
USA Today
14-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
NBA Rising Stars rosters 2025: Players, format, rules and coaches
Before the 2025 NBA All-Stars come out to play in San Francisco, we'll get to see the young studs tearing it up. That's right, it's the annual Rising Stars event, which has gone from being a game to a whole tournament. Here's how it works: four teams will play each other, and they'll have a target score to hit (the Elam Ending!), and the winners of the first two games will play each other for the title. And the winning team will play in the All-Star Game tournament on Sunday. Got it? Good. Here's a look at the four rosters coached by some NBA legends, with one team made up of G Leaguers: Team G League — Jeremy Lin, coach Leonard Miller, Iowa Wolves JD Davison, Maine Celtics Mac McClung, Osceola Magic Bryce McGowens, Rip City Remix Dink Pate, Mexico City Capitanes Reed Sheppard, Houston Rockets/Rio Grande Valley Vipers Pat Spencer, Golden State Warriors/Santa Cruz Warriors Team T — Tim Hardaway Sr., coach Anthony Black, Orlando Magic Tristan da Silva, Orlando Magic Gradey Dick, Toronto Raptors Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami Heat Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta Hawks Alex Sarr, Washington Wizards Brandin Podziemski, Golden State Warriors Team M — Mitch Richmond, coach Toumani Camara, Portland Trail Blazers Julian Strawther, Denver Nuggets Bub Carrington, Washington Wizards Bilal Coulibaly, Washington Wizards Yves Missi, New Orleans Pelicans Amen Thompson, Houston Rockets Ausar Thompson, Detroit Pistons Team C — Chris Mullin, coach Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs Ryan Dunn, Phoenix Suns Zach Edey, Memphis Grizzlies Keyonte George, Utah Jazz Trayce Jackson-Davis, Golden State Warriors Dalton Knecht, Los Angeles Lakers Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies What's the format for the 2025 Rising Stars tournament? See above — it's a tournament with the first round having a target score (40 points) and the second having a target score of 25. Winner goes to Sunday's All-Star Game. What time is the 2025 NBA Rising Stars tournament? It's on Friday at 9 p.m. ET. What channel is the 2025 NBA Rising Stars tournament on? Where is it streaming? It'll be on TNT and streaming on TNT overtime or Max. You can also watch it on Sling! We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. FTW operates independently, though, and this doesn't influence our coverage.
