NBA All-Star 2023 - Thank the Elam Ending for the thrilling fourth-quarter finish in Salt Lake City

AMONG THE SELLOUT crowd packed into Chicago's United Center for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, Nick Elam and Jon Mugar couldn't believe what they were witnessing.

The league had decided to make a radical change for the league's midseason showcase, and the excitement was palpable as the fourth quarter played out.

«It was legendary,» Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell said earlier this week.

Instead of playing until the clock hit zeros in the fourth quarter, the two teams of NBA stars would instead play to a final target score — a play on the Elam Ending, which had grown in popularity over the prior few years after being used in The Basketball Tournament (TBT).

The NBA's annual All-Star Weekend is happening in Salt Lake City. Here's ESPN's coverage of the events:

• Thrilling finish? Thank the Elam Ending • Grades:Standouts in Rising Stars • Celebrities:DK Metcalf the MVP • Betting: Picks and best betsMore: Schedule, rosters and news

Elam, who initially conceived the idea, Mugar, who agreed to implement it in TBT and TBT co-founder Dan Friel were invited to Chicago by the NBA.

Elam was giddy. Who knew the idea that germinated in the mind of a high school math teacher while watching a college basketball game nearly 20 years ago would become a fixture in the G League, a million-dollar tournament and now one of the NBA's signature events?

«The intensity in the arena for that fourth quarter was just off the charts,» Elam, now an assistant professor of educational leadership at Ball State University, told ESPN.

«It was absolutely amazing to see.»

The NBA will hold the 2023 All-Star Game on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET at Salt Lake City's Vivint Arena. And for the fourth consecutive year, the game will be played to a