Photo Credit: Getty Images/David Liam Kyle

Timeout Rule Change Puts LeBron In Driver Seat To Win The Title

I ‘ve got to be honest with you guys: I missed most of the beginning of this season. Alright, I know, I’m sorry! Moving on. So… when I came back, I realized how faster and more fluid the game was due to the lessened timeouts, even more at the crunch time. It was only when I was watching the Sixers @ Cavs later this week that I got myself thinking that LeBron James is who’s going to benefit the most with this timeout rule change.
Explanation: LeBron James probably has the highest basketball IQ in the entire association. Arguably, I know, and that too, coaches apart obviously. I’ll take Ben Falk’s opinion to support me on that regard. Taking that as a premise and after watching the King passing or scoring on the last Cleveland 22 points to help them win that Sixers game coming from behind, made me realize he has an edge over everyone else, now there’s lesser game stoppages.
The NBA board changed the timeout rule and now all timeouts are 75 seconds long rather than 100 seconds, as they were originally. Two have been taken away from each coach, dropping the amount from 18 to 14. In addition, during the last three minutes of a game, teams are now limited to two team timeouts each, instead of the previous rule that allowed three per team in the last two minutes.

“These changes will help us fulfill our goal of improving game flow and pace of play,” said Byron Spruell, NBA President, League Operations back in July, during the Las Vegas Summer League. “Fewer stoppages and less time without action, especially at the end of a game, will further enhance the viewing experience for our fans.”

The mass spread opinion across the league, after the rule change announcement was that “Nobody loses more with the new timeout rule than LeBron James“, basically, because he’s old(er) and because fewer stoppages means fewer rest during the game, and so on.
After watching a handful of games, including that Sixers x Cavs, I firmly believe that with fewer timeouts the latin puts its better than any other language “in regione caecorum rex est luscus“. Meaning, “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”, and we all know who’s been the King in the last 15 seasons.
With the rule change there will be fewer chances for smart coaches like Steve Kerr to break the game flow and draw a play to keep the Warriors back in game with a three from Klay; There will less chances for guys like Brad Stevens to draw the perfect inbound play to straighten the game differential from 7 to 4 points;
I’m sorry to break the news for you, but the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coach is on the court. This is not a slap in Tyronn Lue’s face, he’s a champioship coach, no one will ever take that away from him. However, LeBron knows too much, he’s too smart, he sees things ahead of time, he sees the mismatch before it’s even there. I do believe that in crunch time and with less chances for coaches to put their insight in the game, LeBron has a better chance at the end of games. He’s the best in terms of readeing the game and he’s the best at pushing and controlling the tempo. Obviously this is not an analytical kind of thing, it’s an eye test kind of thing, and those last minutes against an younger Sixers teams maybe gave me a hyper-glance at it but this rule change, in my opinion, gave guys like LeBron James and Chris Paul a better chance to dictate the outcome of games.
Time will tell…