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Three Things To Know is NBC’s roundup of the night before in the NBA five days a week. Check back to NBCSports.com every weekday morning to catch up on what you missed the night before, plus the rumors, drama, and dunks that make the NBA a must-see.

1) Should the NBA look at overtime target scores?

Extra time should not only decide the winner of the match, but also provide drama to keep the fans on edge. they should be fierce. The NFL and NHL do it with their sudden death score-and-you-win system (the NFL is slightly modified, but still works).

Overtime in the NBA often lacks that tension and intensity.

But the league may have found the answer in this year’s G League. Wouldn’t overtime in the NBA be more dramatic and fun if the first team to score 12 points wins instead of playing five minutes?

This is an idea that could come to fruition in the next few years. The NBA is trying it out in the G League this season and all reports are that the teams love it. The NBA uses the G League as a petri dish to experiment with new ideas, and this ending is thriving there, so don’t be surprised if this ends in the NBA in the next few years.

The NBA has been using Elam endings (sometimes called target score endings) for several years. Fans will recognize it from the All-Star Game. The target score to win is 24 more than the team leading at the end of the third quarter (24 for Kobe Bryant, so if West has a 110-100 lead, the target score is 134). and the first team to reach that number wins). It worked well and added a bit of drama to an otherwise often boring and lackluster game.

So why not bring it into overtime for an NBA regular season game? The NBA has been experimenting with it this year in the G League (the first team to record eight wins) and the buzz is good. John Hollinger summed it up nicely when he wrote for The Athletic after the G League Showcase in Las Vegas just before Christmas.

The change was highly praised by the NBA reps I spoke with, and the consensus was that the NBA’s overtime is currently too long and the drama deflates from the end of the fourth quarter. Target scores also eliminated the possibility of multiple overtime and the crazy player situations they can cause, which we all love about the G League staff.

NBA overtime requires a number of 8 points or better. Hollinger noted that the new ending created its own strategy with his OT.

If your opponent is 3 points off your target score, do you foul on a 3-point shot to eliminate the loss? Concede a layup to do the same? (I’ve seen some teams hug all their shooters in this situation, leaving a gaping hole in Main Street).

This should only be a regular season thing. Think of it like the NHL, where during the regular season he plays 3-on-3 hockey with five minutes of overtime. However, the playoffs would feature his usual 5-on-5 hockey and sudden death, with the first team to score win. There is no reason why regular season and playoff overtime rules should be the same.

This doesn’t mean the NBA should set a target score at the end of the fourth quarter. 48 minutes he keeps 48 minutes. Don’t mess with your regular 4-quarter game. But NBA overtime often lacks the drama it should. Target Score can help change that.

2) Jokic, Denver beat Boston and are the Nuggets the best team in the West?

How about the Denver Nuggets at the wide-open western conference?

Denver showed just how dangerous it can be on Sunday night when Nikola Jokic completed a triple-double of 30 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. 1st place in each conference.

30 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists… Nikola Jokic wasted no time recording the first triple-double of 2023👀@nugget roll to home win pic.twitter.com/k4x0At3PrW

— NBA (@NBA) January 2, 2023

It was one night the Nuggets couldn’t miss, going 30-17 with a 57% shooting percentage overall. The bottom five defense before this run was his respectable 12th in the league in the last 12 games.

Jaylen Brown had 30 and Jayson Tatum had 25, but the Celtics shot 9 of 3 (27.3%) that night.

The game begins after Robert Williams III’s dunk knocks one of the rims diagonally, then a crew of six, plus a worker with two ladders and a level, has to come out and straighten things out. It was characterized by long delays after failing to do so.

The Nuggets players were 38 minutes late playing rock-paper-scissors with a fan😂💙 pic.twitter.com/0L3qL0jJPt

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 2, 2023

Brown wasn’t happy after that either.

“There was no contact. They spent the whole time trying to fix it, but when they came back it still looked, in my opinion, not level. “It’s going to affect the game. That’s how injuries and stuff happen. Luckily, it wasn’t.” [happen], but it was not good. In my opinion, that whole process was handled poorly and that was also affecting me. Fortunately, no one was injured. ”

The Nuggets are legal when defending like this. They could come out of the West this season.

3) Ja Morant marks Young Fan Day with 35 points in Grizzlies win

The Grizzlies went well on Sunday night as Ja Morant scored 35 points and his Grizzlies pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Sacramento Kings 118-108.