Several Brooklyn Nets players gathered on the court for a conversation with their coaches at HSS Training Center during shootaround Tuesday. They were discussing the pesky point-differential tiebreaker that has been a focal point surrounding the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament. Earlier, Brooklyn entered their matchup with Toronto with a plus-8 point differential and had hoped to win the game and potentially secure an even greater point differential than both the Celtics and Magic to advance out of their opening pack.
Head coach Jacque Vaughn admitted to the players that the intricacies of the tiebreaker were a bit overwhelming, so they collectively decided to focus on securing a win against Toronto. Assistant coach Ronnie Burrell, who also heads Brooklyn’s G League affiliate in Long Island, drew from his experience playing overseas to explain the significance of the tiebreaker and point differentials, which are commonly used in Euroleague and FIBA games.
Despite the NBA’s intentional tournaments, the concept of running up scores to achieve greater margins contrasts with the league’s unwritten rules of sportsmanship. Vaughn was uneasy about leaving his starters in late into a game, purely to chase more points, emphasizing that pushing for points puts players’ health at risk. Nonetheless, the Nets managed to clinch a 115-103 win against the Raptors.
The Celtics, who entered the evening with an even split through three games, also played an influential game to secure the fourth Eastern Conference spot in the knockout round. Despite initial reservations, head coach Joe Mazzulla and player Jayson Tatum orchestrated specific game strategies to bolster Boston’s chances, even though they had expressed disdain for point differentials themselves.
The night wrapped up with the New York Knicks securing a plus-42 point differential to clinch a wild-card spot. Coaches and executives across the league watched the games closely, with the in-season tournament creating a much larger, wonkier and weirder viewing experience for everyone involved. For instance, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau suggested that the tournament has indeed met its intended purpose.
