Sports

Could This Rule Change Make The End Of NBA Games More Exciting?

Phillip Young Contributor
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The NBA is considering a major rule change that could help them increase viewership, ESPN reports.

Using The Basketball Tournament as a reference, the NBA has been looking at ways to improve the interest levels of the ends of close games. For those who know basketball, when there is less than a minute to play and the winning team has the ball, the losing team might commit a foul to stop the clock and force the leading team to shoot free throws. Not only does this slow down the game, but often times the fans start to lose interest in the game.

To keep the game fast-paced and interesting, TBT implemented a rule in which following the first dead ball after the clock hits four minutes remaining, the officials will turn off the clock and the leading team will need to score seven more points than they already have. Once that score is reached, then the game will end. So, if Team A is leading Team B 82-79 with 3:24 remaining, the game will end once a team reaches 89.

The NBA has been made aware this successful rule change as TBT’s CEO, Jonathan Mugar, stated, “Fans loved it. There were instances in which they stood for the whole thing,” reports Zach Lowe.

Should the NBA seriously consider adopting this rule change? The league should certainly poll its fans for this one, but for now, the rule-change has the support of some team owners.