Miserable free-throw parade ruins Celtics vs. Cavaliers finish, and here’s how the NBA can fix this problem

The Cleveland Cavaliers knocked off the Boston Celtics 115-111 on Sunday in what should have been, and easily could have been, thrilling fashion. With his Cavs trailing by five with a little over three minutes left, Donovan Mitchell proceeded to rattle off three 3-pointers and 11 points over the next two minutes. But instead of ending the game on that high note, we were subjected to the all-too-familiar and frankly torturous conclusion of watching 17 free throws over the final 34 seconds — which, in real time, lasted almost a half-hour.

It was the latest piece of evidence admitted into the case against traditional, timed basketball endings. Or, put another way, in the case for the Elam Ending, which eliminates the running clock at the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter. From that point forward, the game is played to a target score of seven points greater than the leading team’s total.

For instance, if Team A is beating Team B 104-100 with four minutes to play, the clock stops and the game becomes a race to 111 points.

From an entertainment standpoint, it’s a no-brainer. Not only does it guarantee a game-winning shot, but it more importantly eliminates all incentive for the trailing team to intentionally foul as more free throws would only provide opportunity for the winning team to move closer to the final total.

We’ve seen the Elam Ending in a pair of NBA All-Star games and it’s been used for years in The Basketball Tournament, which was created by Jon Mugar, who explained the logic behind the Elam Ending to CBS Sports’ James Herbert prior to its NBA introduction at the 2020 All-Star Game.

“If [James] Naismith invented the game 130 years ago with the Elam Ending and someone came along 130 years later and tried to implement the timed ending, it would be like the biggest, most massive failure of all-time, with players hitting each other, everything going to the free-throw line. Fans would storm out after one game and say, ‘This is the dumbest thing ever,'” Mugar said.