NBA playoffs are trash. 4 of 7 makes sense in baseball where the different pitchers make a huge difference. What's the explanation for a team beating their opponent one night & then losing by 30 to the same team two nights later? You don't get that luxury in football. You can't just cave one game & then get several more chances. They should have a Fatality rule in the playoffs. First one to 4 or the first to beat the opponent by >25.
A championship team should come through when it counts, not get time after time to get it right. An upset is not a fluke. One team earned it on the floor. The "better" team did not earn it. Tired of these blowouts. Need a sense of urgency in every game. Stop wasting fans' time.
it's my favorite postseason. while i enjoy the ncaa tournament from an entertainment perspective, it's a terrible way to determine a champion.
NBA has become 3 point shooting heavy, and its a "Make or Miss" league now - if one team gets hot from 3, the other doesn't play enough inspired perimeter defense then they try to answer with 3's of their own but MISSES, it can lead to extended scoring runs and really widen the scoring margin Look at the last Rockets - Warriors game. Game was TIED at the half. Warriors got scorching hot with makes, Rockets responded with misses, Rockets got demoralized, game got out of hand quick. I tend to agree that NBA playoffs are too LONG with 7 game series. Right NOW ALL the series besides Hornets-Heat should be DONE and 2nd round starting. But we have to wait for teams to sludge it out. (And yes I'm saying last years Rockets 3-1 series comeback as nice as it was it shouldnt have even existed lol)
They should reduce the playoffs to 10 teams, with the last 2 teams in each conference playing in a one game playoff to get in. As is far too many mediocre teams make the postseason, and the regular season is utterly meaningless. They will never do it because the league loves all of that extra revenue, but it would greatly increase the quality.
If the most absolute important thing is to ensure the best team is crowned champion, then why don't we just cancel the playoffs and crown the team with the biggest point differential in the regular season the NBA champion? Right now, winning the playoffs is not a big enough challenge for the best team. Take a tennis Grand Slam. Would you advocate each round be best 4 out of 7 matches? Nobody would. You should be able to fight through some adversity and compete even if it's not your best day. This is garbage that there are so many 30 point blowouts sprinkled throughout the playoffs. This format makes the most money, so it won't change
Two years ago when 5 of the 8 first round series went 7 games (and the Rockets-Blazers nearly did as well), people were loving it. Stop trying to change things just because the most recent iteration of those things isn't the best thing ever.
I thought I read that since the playoffs expanded to 16 in 83, the 7 and 8 seeds have only won 10 times, and a few of those were because of injury. It is nothing more than a glorified warm up, and I have virtually never cared for them unless the Rockets are involved. Get back to me when the actual good teams start playing each other.
That would make champions of: OKC in 2013 (Miami won) Chicago in 2012 (Miami won) Miami in 2011 (Dallas won) Orlando in 2010 (LA won) Cleveland in 2009 (LA won) That is 5 straight seasons where a team leading in point differential did not win the championship. Three of those teams didn't even make the finals. To be fair the last two seasons (SA in 2014 and GS in 2015) the team leading in point differential was the champion. Right now we have one of the best teams of all time dominating the game and skewing perspectives. It is incredibly rare for a team to be this good. If they changed the format, many in-game strategies would change (i.e. Spurs resting players) and it may be a little more accurate but I think the playoff format is far superior. In a game like basketball, where scores can easily be ran up in certain games, I don't think you can fairly and accurately rely on point differential. It is indicative of a team's quality level but nowhere near what a 7 game series can bring out.
Or maybe the best teams would actually take the regular season seriously instead of the we'll be ready by March mentality they have now. The first round sucks, the rest is fine because it's usually really good teams playing each other and the best comes out of top. I don't need 2 weeks of trash teams like the Rockets who have no business calling themselves a playoff team.
I enjoy them. Moreso than any other sport, the best team truly does win out. I honestly couldn't care less about baseball or hockey postseasons, always too boring for me
Couldn't disagree more, I love the current playoff format. I love the dynamics of a 7 game series. I will grant you that this year the first round hasn't been as great as other years, but there are still some entertaining series going on.
This is a bad place to ask this question. But I was just talking to several friends the other day about this. Everyone agreed that NBA might not be the worst post-season, but it's far from the best. I don't think the NBA can beat the NFL or NHL playoffs. NHL does have a best of 7 series format, plus a lot more intensity and upset potential, even in the early rounds.
Then don't watch the first round, I personally love the first round of the playoffs. The Rockets this year may be pretty weak but not all 8 seeds are created equal. The 1999 8-seed Knicks made the Finals, it does happen. Some notable 8 seed team records: Dallas 49-33 in 2014 OKC 50-32 in 2010 Denver 50-32 in 2008 They aren't all hovering around .500 and mediocre.
Well, in those years, the best team didn't win the championship. I guess they really should have had best 6-out-of-11 game rounds. There should be a balance. Yes, you don't want a 7 loss Giants team getting hot during the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. At the same time, there should not be teams getting blown out by 30 one or two games in a series, advancing to the next round. You don't want to allow an undeserving team to get lucky & win it all, but the tournament itself needs to be a challenge. The tournament does not need to be designed to ensure the least probability of an upset. If a great team gets upset, it's on them - not because they didn't get enough do-overs. I would advocate eliminating the first round & going to a best 2 of 3 format. Absolute pie-in-the-sky dreaming, because that would go against the first rule of the NBA - maximize revenue at all cost.
