Page 10 - Sports Illustrated Kids (October 2018)

professor Nick Elam, who came up bucket. Players
with the idea back in 2007. The Elam
Ending calls for the game clock to shut
off with three or four minutes left.
Then the two teams race to whatever
number is seven more than the
current leading squad’s score.
In Game 3 of last season’s NBA
Finals, for instance, the clock could
have stopped with three minutes to go
and the score 97–96 in favor of the
Cavaliers. Then, the first team to get to
104 points would be the winner.
Would Kevin Durant hit a dramatic
game-winning three in the face of the
defense? Or would LeBron James go
into shutdown mode, keeping
Golden State stuck at 103 for two
minutes as he ground out the win?
In real life, Durant did make a
three-pointer to get the Warriors past
the 104-point barrier. Instead of
that shot marking a walk-off win,
though, it led to a J.R. Smith miss
followed by several intentional fouls
of Steph Curry.
Not only does the Elam Ending
remove the tedium of basketball’s final
minutes, it replaces it with the best
ending possible: a game-ending
UNBOXED
PRESENTED BY
Taking the lid off the
coolest sports gear.
How do you spend the
summer after winning
your third NBA title in four
years? If you’re Steph
Curry you play in a pro golf
tournament (he missed
the cut), try to recruit
DeMarcus Cousins to the
Warriors (he got his man),
and release a new shoe.
10 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS
who normally
don’t get to take
the final shot can
live the experience
of throwing up the
ball and walking
straight to the
dressing room.
When every
game ends on a
game-winning
shot, however,
game-winning
shots become less
special. Taking
away the clock also
SAME OUTCOME,
reduces some of the tension. Whether glamorous.
NEW TWIST
it ticks down while Batman defuses a Imagine a bad Errick McCollum
bomb or James Harden drives to the call leading to a (brother of
hoop, a timer makes everything more free throw that Portland’s CJ)
helped Overseas
exciting. Under the Elam Ending, a automatically
Elite to a fourth
buzzer beater becomes impossible. ends the game straight win at
That means the desperate full-court with no hope of TBT, which this
year used the
heave that somehow goes in would an answer—or a
Elam Ending.
also go extinct. make-up call.
So should the NBA switch? For The clock may make basketball
most games, the Elam Ending does boring for the outside observer.
sound better. But there are inevitable But for the fans and players of the
outcomes that would make it seem less trailing team, it’s hope.
The Under Armour Curry 3
ZER0 II is a futuristic
high top with a knit tongue
for max comfort. The
pull tab runs all the way
around the shoe, serving
as eyelets for the laces
while providing a sleek
racing-stripe effect.
KICKS TRICKS: Let’s say
you’re out for a run and BRIAN MCWALTERS/TBT (MCCOLLUM); COURTESY OF UNDER ARMOUR (SHOE)
it starts raining, but you
don’t let that stop you going to end up with wet pieces of newspaper and
because you’re tough shoes. So what’s the stick them inside. You’ll
and dedicated. Or maybe easiest way to dry them be amazed how much
you just like to jump in out? Take out the insoles, moisture the paper
puddles. Either way, you’re then crumple up a few will absorb.