Point differential took on real meaning in the NBA on Tuesday night, when some teams looking to stay alive in the inaugural in-season tournament needed to win – and win big. Not everyone liked how it played out.
Point differential took on real meaning in the NBA on Tuesday night, when some teams looking to stay alive in the inaugural in-season tournament needed to win — and win big — in order to advance.
Not everyone involved was in love with the situation.
The New York Knicks finished second in Group B behind the Milwaukee Bucks, but after beating the Charlotte Hornets 115-91, they secured the sole wild card spot in the Eastern Conference by tiebreaker because of their point differential in the preliminary round.
Josh Hart said after the game he wasn’t too fond of the idea that in order to advance the Knicks had to run up the score on their opponent.
“It was interesting. I don’t really like it,” he said. “We were focused at first just about winning. The last couple of minutes it feels weird. At a certain point you just start chasing points, doing all that. So it kind of messes with the integrity of the game a little bit.”
Like the Knicks, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished group play at 3-1 but their point differential wasn’t large enough to advance to next week’s quarterfinals. They went down with a fight, though.
Trailing by 20 against Cleveland, Atlanta coach Quin Snyder pulled his starters with 3:54 left.
