Devin Booker addresses NBA teams upset with running up score for In-Season Tournament tiebreakers – The Arizona Republic
Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker wonders what the fuss is all about over the points tiebreakers for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament group play.
“I’ve seen teams upset about it, I don’t know why,” Booker said after Wednesday’s loss at Toronto. “I’ve seen players upset about it. I don’t know why. I mean, honestly, I wish every game was like that where you could play until the end and it wasn’t viewed as disrespectful. Just high competition.”
The tournament has drawn increased interest largely due to the point differential tiebreaker that factored into teams like the Phoenix Suns reaching the Dec. 5 quarterfinals to play the Lakers.
The point differential is the second tiebreaker after head-to-head record in group play.
Teams having starters late in the game to increase their point totals or ensure they advance hasn’t set well in multiple instances.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan: ‘In a tough spot’
Bulls coach Billy Donovan was bothered in one instance. Boston intentionally fouled Bulls big Andre Drummond, a career 47.6% free throw shooter, in the fourth quarter to help ensure it would win by 23 points to take a three-team tiebreaker over Orlando and Brooklyn to finish first in East Group C and advance.
“They got to deal with the rules too,” Donovan said about the Celtics. “If they’re trying to get into Vegas, there’s things they got to do and for me, it was just the fouling.”
The Celtics posted a 27-point margin of victory, 124-97, as Drummond missed four free throws during the seven-minute mark in the fourth.
Donovan and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla had an eye-to-eye conversation about the situation.
“Joe was great when I talked to him,” said Donovan as Mazzulla apologized to Donovan. “He understood. He wasn’t trying to do anything, but I also understand the situation he’s in in terms of they’re trying to get to Vegas. It’s just a tough situation, right?”
The Dec. 7 semifinals and Dec. 9 championship game will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Celtics were leading by 32 points when they fouled Drummond for a second straight time with 7:02 left in the game. Donovan said was fine with the Celtics keeping in their starters, but felt Drummond was put “in a tough spot in a 30-point game” and didn’t like that.
Suns coach Frank Vogel: ‘It’s unusual’
With teams playing just four tournament games, tied records are inevitable.
The Lakers, Kings, Pacers and Bucks each went 4-0 in group play while the Cavaliers, Knicks, Celtics, Magic, Nets, Suns, Pelicans and Timberwolves all finished 3-1.
Tiebreakers will remain necessary under the current tournament format.
So, expect people to continue taking offense to teams playing their starters to the final second to improve their game score and tournament point differential.
“It’s unusual,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “To play when you’re up 20 and you’re trying to score again and still get stops, but in the final minute of the game, it doesn’t feel good. I know it doesn’t feel good for the team that’s down. You try not to disrespect teams. It’s kind of like the unwritten rule in the NBA, but I would think that everybody understands what they’re doing.”
Knicks guard Josh Hart felt uneasy about New York running up the score against Charlotte (5-11) to win the wildcard. They crashed the Hornets, 115-91, to finish group play 3-1 with a plus-42 point differential.
“It was interesting,” Hart said. “I didn’t really like it. We were just focused at first just about winning and then — I don’t know. The last couple minutes — it feels weird. At a certain point, you have to start chasing points and doing all that stuff. So it just kind of messes with the integrity of the game a little bit.”
The Magic and Hornets also went 3-1 with a plus-22 and plus-20 point differential, respectively.
The wildcard goes to a team from each conference with the best record in group play that finishes second in its group.
“But I get it,” Hart continued. “We either go by points or play more games. And we’ve got a long schedule. So, it was interesting. It was very interesting.”
Suns star Devin Booker: ‘We need it’
The Suns kept in their starters last week at Memphis to build up their point differential. They were vying for the West wildcard as the Lakers won West Group A.
Booker took and banked in a 3 with 13.3 seconds left to give the Suns a 21-point win and improve their point total to plus-34.
He and Josh Okogie later trapped Grizzlies guard Shaquille Harrison, who was once teammates with Booker in Phoenix.
Then Ziaire Williams took a 3 with 3.3 seconds, which he missed and Suns 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic rebounded.
As time expired, Booker, who scored a season-high 40 points, grabbed the ball from Nurkic, heaved it full court and it misfired off the glass.
The near full-court sling came after the buzzer, but Booker was thinking about the point tiebreakers. However, his final 3 he increased Phoenix’s point differential and factored into the Suns advancing.
Minnesota needed to beat Oklahoma City by 38 points and Sacramento had to top Golden State by 30 to have the point differential tiebreaker advantage over the Suns.
The Warriors lost to the Kings and Minnesota only defeated the Timberwolves by three in West Group C.
They both came up way short, but Booker’s late-game efforts would’ve really paid off had Houston won West Group B with a win Tuesday over Dallas and New Orleans finished second in West Group B.
The Pelicans finished 3-1 in group play with a plus-33. Booker’s 3 would’ve been the difference as the Suns compiled a plus-34.
After the Memphis win, Booker let it be known that he wasn’t trying to embarrass Memphis (4-13).
“No disrespect to the Grizzlies,” Booker said. “I wouldn’t take shot if it wasn’t In-Season Tournament, but we need it.”
At the time, the Suns didn’t know the Pelicans’ final point differential as they played before New Orleans did last Friday against the Clippers.
Suns superstar Kevin Durant: ‘They weren’t satisfied’
The NBA wanted the In-Season Tournament games to mean more even though they’re being played during the regular season schedule.
Let’s start with a cash incentive – $500,000 for each player on the championship team.
There are different cash prizes for the squads that reach the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals: $200,000 for each player on the runner-up team; $100,000 for each player for the losing semifinal teams; $50,00 for each player on the losing quarterfinal teams.
“Fans love seeing high-intensity games in the regular season,” Suns superstar Kevin Durant said. “I think that’s really why we got the In-Season Tournament. It’ll please the fans. They weren’t satisfied with the level of ball we were playing in the regular season. Hopefully they get excited.”
Durant believes the full-color courts and personalized jerseys for those games have given “a different vibe,” for those watching the tournament action.
“It’s not really about how we feel,” Durant later continued. “It’s really about how the consumer feels about what they see. That’s what they enjoy.”
The point tiebreakers have certainly given the In-Season Tournament a “different vibe,” too and created some friction as well that started earlier in the group play.
“There may be another way (to break ties),” Suns big Drew Eubanks said. “The court is different. So, you know you’re playing a different game. You should just know they’re trying to run up the score because that’s going to help them. It’s not like they’re trying to be disrespectful. You’re all competing for something. Guys are competing for money. So they’re trying to do the best that they can. I don’t get how people can be upset when you know there’s a point differential.”
Bulls star DeMar DeRozan: ‘Just respect for the game’
Bulls star DeMar DeRozan took exception to Raptors forward Pascal Siakam attempting a 3 with three seconds left in Toronto’s 121-108 victory Nov. 24 in Canada.
Having stern words for first-year Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković and their bench, DeRozan received his second technical and was ejected from the game with 1.4 seconds left.
“I don’t care about no In-Season Tournament points, none of that,” DeRozan said. “Just respect for the game. If the roles were flip-flopped and I had the ball, hold it. It is what it is.”
The Raptors had already been eliminated from “knockout round” or quarterfinals contention, but apparently didn’t know they were.
“I knew that (Toronto was eliminated), but I didn’t care about that, either,” said DeRozan, who played his first nine NBA seasons with the Raptors. “Everybody yelling over there, ‘Score, score, score, score.’ Take the win. Get out of here. They up.”
Under normal circumstances in an NBA game, teams usually dribble the ball out when there is less than 24 seconds left and comfortably ahead.
“Like I said, if roles were reversed, needing In-Season Tournament points or not, just for the respect I have for my opponents, I hold the ball, especially if there’s no shot clock,” DeRozan concluded. “That’s just me.”
Before that, the Pistons took issue with reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid taking a 3 in the final seconds with the 76ers ahead by eight points in their 114-106 victory Nov. 10 in Detroit.
The shot was waved off as it came after the final buzzer, but Embiid was thinking about the point tiebreakers on the second night of the In-Season Tournament.
Embiid heard Pistons players and coaches were trying to follow him back the visiting locker room as they were yelling at him after the game.
The Pistons are coached by former Suns head coach Monty Williams.
“The only thing I noticed was people trying to fight me because they don’t know the rules,” Embiid said in a Philadelphia Inquirer story. “When it comes to the tournament, points matter. I wish that shot would have counted — and I actually didn’t know that they were trying to fight me. So, I wish I would have seen that, but everything counts.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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