‘Integrity’ questioned with in-season tourney’s point-differential tiebreaker

Point differential took on real meaning in the NBA on Tuesday night, when some teams looking to stay alive in the season’s opening tournament had to win — and win big — 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, the Knicks earned the Eastern Conference’s only wild card spot via tiebreaker due to their point differential in the preliminary round.

New York guard Josh Hart said after Tuesday’s game that he didn’t really like the idea that to advance, the Knicks had to outscore their opponent.

“It was interesting. I don’t really like it,” he said. “At the beginning we were focused on winning. The last few minutes, it’s weird. At some point you just start chasing points, doing all that. It kind of ruins the integrity of the game.” .

Like the Knicks, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished group play at 3-1, but the Cavs’ point differential was not great enough to advance to next week’s quarterfinals. But they fought.

Trailing by 20 against Cleveland, Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder pulled his starters with 3:54 remaining. However, Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff stuck with his first team until the end, hoping it could open up an even bigger lead moving forward.

While some Cleveland assistants monitored out-of-town games from their headquarters, the Cavs didn’t let up.

Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell admitted the final moments were awkward.

“I feel like we were all trying to score but also respect the game,” he said. “So it’s different, especially when they pull their starters, you try to balance it out. But at the end of the day, you play to win.

“You’re playing to get to Vegas, to get into the tournament. But it’s definitely a little weird.”

Snyder acknowledged that the late-game situation was somewhat uncomfortable.

“To be honest, I try to focus on my team,” he said. “I’m sure you can understand that. In this situation, it’s not ideal.”

Perhaps the strangest situation occurred in Boston, where the Celtics needed a win and a huge scoring night against the reeling Chicago Bulls to have any chance of reaching the tournament quarterfinals .

They had both.

The Celtics beat the Bulls 124-97, with star Jayson Tatum playing the final 9:33 and all five starters playing at least five minutes in the fourth quarter despite Boston leading by 29 early in the period.

“To be honest, it was a little weird, but the ultimate goal was to go out and get a win tonight, and that’s what we did,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said, noting that this concentration on the points difference was more than a little unusual. “It’s difficult because that’s just not how the game is supposed to be played.

“You have to respect your opponents.”

Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said he also wasn’t comfortable running up the score and told his Bulls counterpart Billy Donovan as much during a lengthy discussion that they had during a stoppage in play during the last quarter.

Donovan said he was particularly upset by the Celtics’ decision to repeatedly foul Andre Drummond in the fourth quarter to send him to the foul line, where he made 1 of 6 free throws.

“But I also understand the situation he’s in. He has to coach his team and do what’s right, but I think it put Andre in a tough situation being 30 points behind,” Donovan said. “But that comes from the league. This is what the league did, by creating this point difference.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.