Nellie Ball has a number of critics, who claim that the strategy is fatally flawed. Some critics contend that no team can ever win a championship playing Nellie Ball, mainly because the strategy puts such an emphasis on offense and scoring that a team playing Nellie Ball will not have the energy to play defense. Nellie Ball also tends to rely very little on basketball's defensive fundamentals. In addition, these critics argue that Nelson's offense, while innovative and exciting, is only successful to a point. Skeptics contend that his offense is unable to disguise deficiencies, such as the inability of an undersized power forward or center in Nelson's system to dominate in terms of defense and rebounding. Plus, they claim that it is even more difficult to play Nellie Ball when guards are on a cold streak in terms of shooting the ball, making it difficult for teams running the offense to win basketball games. Nowhere is this more evident than during playoff time, where teams tend to get more serious and play tougher defense. Of note, teams have adopted a variation of Nellie Ball, with point forwards orchestrating some of the most prolific offenses in the current NBA.