FTW Explains: The history of the Elam Ending, which was a huge hit at the NBA All-Star Game

The Elam Ending, explained.

Welcome to FTW Explains: A guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. 

Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game was one of the best in recent memory, mostly because of the way it ended – via the Elam Ending.

That phrase was trending for most of the fourth quarter of the the game and had everyone wondering what the meaning and the history was behind this thing called the Elam Ending.

What if we told you it was created by a college professor who was frustrated by the drawn-out ending to basketball games while he was still a senior in college in 2004?

Sounds like a hero, right?

What is this now?

You weren’t the only one thinking that during the game

The easy explanation for the Elam Ending is that it’s a format where the final score necessary to win the game is predetermined. In the All-Star Game they took the team’s score that was leading after three quarters (Team Giannis) and added 24 points (in honor of Kobe Bryant) to that score, which brought us to 157. There is no clock, which means there aren’t a ton of fouls in the final minutes which normally take forever.

Team LeBron ended up winning the game, 157-156, in what was a really fun quarter of exhibition basketball… even if the game-winning shot came on a free throw.

Who invented the Elam Ending?

A fella named Nick Elam, who is a professor of educational leadership at Ball State University. He thought of it while watching a college hoops tournament game take forever to play out the final minutes of a game back when he was a senior at the University of Dayton in 2004. There had to be a better way to finish things up more quickly but without losing any of the drama down the stretch so he came up with one called – the Elam Ending, which was born in 2007.

This ending has been used the past few years by The Basketball Tournament, which is a winner-take all, $2 million tournament that has thoroughly enjoyed the Elam Ending.

Want to know more about this Nick Elam fella?

Of course you do. There are many stories out there about him, as he’s quite popular right now. Here’s one I liked while doing research on this thing:

What did players think of the Elam Ending?

They loved it!

What did fans/media think of the Elam Ending?

They loved it! Though some would offer one tweak to it that makes sense:

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