If you watched the New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks this past Saturday, you saw a surprisingly exciting game. Well, actually, let’s rephrase: You saw a surprisingly exciting 47 minutes and 40 seconds. The final 20 seconds of the game, however, featured 12 free throws that did little but ruin the flow of the game which, up to that point, had caused basketball fans to think, “Hey, maybe a Knicks-Hawks game can be entertaining!”
This year, the NBA decreased its maximum number of timeouts per game from 18 to 14. The league understood the need to improve the flow of its games in order to increase excitement. But 12 free throws in 20 seconds? Nothing halts the excitement of a thrilling fourth quarter like such a high volume of shots from the charity stripe. Free throws will always be a huge part of fourth quarters of NBA games, but if the league really wants to improve the excitement of its games, it needs to figure out a way to make these shots a little more exciting. It’s thrilling when the first 46 minutes of an NBA game takes just two hours. It’s boring when the final two minutes seemingly take another two hours.
Adopt the 1-and-1 Free Throw Format From High School/College
The quality of an NBA game will always trump the quality of a college basketball game. But the excitement of the final two minutes of a college game often exceeds that of an NBA game. The 1-and-1 is a huge reason for this paradox. Unlike with many NBA free throws, it’s impossible to look away from the front end of a 1-and-1 late in the second half of a college basketball game, no matter how good the free throw shooter is. But when James Harden shoots the first of two free throws, do you really watch the first one as intensely?
Imagine if NBA games were often decided by 1-and-1s. No longer would your friend try to convince you to turn the game off because “it’s just going to be all free throws at this point – we already know who will win.” Instead, the intrigue of the first free throw would almost match the intrigue of any normal possession.
In addition, late-game comebacks would become more feasible. The ability to stop the clock by fouling helps the trailing team, but the 1-and-1 would only help even more. It’s pretty annoying when a team is still intentionally fouling even when they’re down by seven with 15 seconds left. But if the leading team could potentially miss the front end of a 1-and-1, then those fouls become much more understandable and much less irritating. Of course, the pace of the last few minutes would only increase, which would interest the NBA and its fans.
Reducing the number of timeouts is awesome, but let’s go one step further. There is still one more important tweak the NBA could make to improve the excitement of its product.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
