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As an example, TBT: The Basketball Tournament uses a version of the Elam Ending where:

• At the first dead ball at/under 4:00 remaining in the 4th quarter, the game clock is shut off for the rest of the game
• The game’s target score is set equal to the leading team’s score + 8
• The first team to reach (or exceed) the target score wins

To illustrate, suppose Team A leads Team B, 65-60, at the first stoppage at/under the 4:00 mark of the 4th quarter. The game clock is shut off for the rest of the game, and the first team to reach (or exceed) 73 is the winner. Team A can’t rely on stalling, passive play, and free trips to the foul line to win – they must continue to play assertively and earn their points. Team B must mount a comeback, and doing so will require legitimate defensive stops and solid offensive execution – not deliberate fouling and hopeless heaves. The most important stretch of the game features the highest intensity, athleticism, and suspense of the game – exactly as it should – all capped off by someone putting the ball through the net to win the game.

The Elam Ending has proven to meet each of its primary aims:

•       Eliminate deliberate fouling
•       Reduce stalling
•       Eliminate rushed/sloppy possessions
•       Provide greater hope for late comebacks
•       Provide more memorable game-ending moments
•       Eliminate late-game clock controversies and reviews

Recommended versions of the Elam Ending for other levels of play (generally, the rationale is based on the current timing of the last media timeout at that level, and the average scoring rate at that level):

• NBA: shut off game clock at last stoppage at/under 3:00 of the 4th quarter; set target score equal to leading team’s score + 7
• WNBA: shut off game clock at last stoppage at/under 3:00 of the 4th quarter; set target score equal to leading team’s score + 7
• Men’s College Basketball: shut off game clock at last stoppage at/under 4:00 of the 2nd half; set target score equal to leading team’s score + 7
• Women’s College Basketball: shut off game clock at last stoppage at/under 5:00 of the 4th quarter; set target score equal to leading team’s score + 9
• Olympics: shut off game clock at last stoppage at/under 4:00 of the 4th quarter; set target score equal to leading team’s score + 8

On paper, the Elam Ending might seem like a gimmick at first. But then you see it in action, and you realize the Elam Ending is the ultimate anti-gimmick – fostering fundamental, crisp, and intense basketball when the game is on the line. You realize that the timed format was consistently giving us the gimmicky version of basketball all along, with a warped and inferior style of play with the game on the line – repeated fouling, stalling and passive play, and regularly determining the outcome of the game with the ugliest shot of the game.