Think of it this way - the In-Season Tournament presents the first ever genuine incentive to run up the score as much as possible. This is due to the limited number of games in the group stage combined with the heavy importance on point differential to decide seeding/wildcards in the (common) event of ties in W/L record.
It may not happen this year, but it’s entirely possible that some great scorer in the league will be scorching hot, and even if the result of that particular game is assured by a massive score disparity, the structure of the tournament will incentivize his coach to keep him in and run up the score as much as possible. Even a 50+ point win isn’t absurd for point differential’s purposes.
I’m reminded of Booker scoring 51 in 3 quarters last year, but he didn’t play the fourthe because the game was a blowout. Somebody else gets hotter and I could see a score of 101+ as a possibility.
The single game player scoring record came to mind first for me, but this unique tournament structure could lead to other unique scoring circumstances too, I imagine.
Kobe’s 81 was a legendary performance that hasn’t been matched since, even with the explosion in scoring the last decade, and he was still 20 points away from breaking the record.
Julius Randle had 52 in 3 quarters last year and i just want to remember that. We lost and he ended with like 57 but it was fun.
Force feeding one player is not conducive to winning with the highest point margin. He will tire and the opposing team will start selling out to stop him.
You do realize double teams exist right?