Silver's announcement sounds promising after the poor reception to the tournament structure applied to this year's All-Star Game. Whatever the format of the game, Silver's decision to pivot to a format with a global identity appropriately accommodates their media partner's broadcast plans for the Milano Cortina Games in Northeast Italy.

The Game 1 win gives the Pacers a 1-0 series lead, and even more belief in their ability to deliver under pressure.

Silver also said that he didn't "see really the benefit to reducing the number of games" in the regular season.