Can I sell you on the Fatality Rule then? Keep the 4 of 7 format, but.....if a team loses by 25 or more - even if it's the first game of the series - they are out. You show no pride & embarrass yourself, GTFO!!! None of this "We got blown out by 30 today, but they have to beat us 3 more times. We'll try then."
It is different in the NBA Playoffs with a 7 game series. The 7 loss Giants team probably would not have made it to the Super Bowl if each playoff round was a series. It is not really an equal or fair comparison. Winning 5 games in a row gets you the Super Bowl. In the NBA you can play up to 28 games and have to win 16 games to be champs. If a team in the NBA wins 4 different 7 game series against the top teams in the league then they deserve the ring. I don't know how much more fair and accurate the playoff system can be. They are not perfect but I don't see how you improve. I also don't think I understand (not trying to sound like a jerk here) how you can call for the playoffs to be more challenging. If you are referring to the higher seeds getting it "easier" then you need to think of the reverse. If you rewarded lower/worse teams with home-court advantage then you remove a lot of incentive to perform at the highest level. Teams would be fighting for the 8 seed and not the 1 seed. I understand it lowers the risk of an upset and technically lowers the difficulty of the playoffs but its the best way.
This year's playoffs hasn't been as good as the recent past, but it's early. The difference is recent seasons have featured better First Round matchups. Only thing really bad about this postseason is the injuries to key players. I like the between time. Makes the season last longer.
I want the first round to go back to a best of 5 series. Atl would have advanced last night and TOR would have won the series last night in a great game. Clippers, Blazers and Heat and Hornets would all be in an exciting close out game. Instead, we might have to put up with potentially another week and a half of this crap. Of course Rockets fans don't want that right now, but once we get destroyed tonight, you might see if it was a best of 5, we would have had more incentive to tie the series last game and go to Oakland for a closeout game without Curry. Instead, it's nearly impossible to come back 3-1. We caught our break last season. Go back to best of 5 first rounds.
The problem is the first round takes too long, but it will never be shortened because that will lose revenue for the owners. I've been checked out on every series so far; the OKC-SAS series will have me interested though, so I'll probably watch a good bit of that.
You could just, you know, not watch the playoffs? Besides, why wouldn't a favored team not be allowed to adjust to a game 1 loss? Losing the first and then winning in 5 or 6 is a credit to the coaching staff and the players. March Madness format of a one-and-done is fine and all, but should players really be punished for a bad game? Nobody would, because tennis players would be too tired to even do a best 2 of 3, for every match. That's a bad example. One-and-done in the NFL is the same vein. Why can't there be a mentality of a "they have to beat us 3 more times?" If you want championship-quality basketball, a team should be able to dominate. If you go to a best 2 of 3 or single-game elimination, I don't believe that accurately portrays the better team, in that series. Let's say Curry and Klay had two cold shooting nights, and are knocked out in the first round. Harden and Howard 'miraculously' defeats GSW because of this. Does that make the Rockets a better team than GSW? No. Championship teams should be able to beat a team 4 out of 7 times, therefore showing consistency. March Madness is fun because of all the potential upsets, but a one-and-done format, as stated above, could provide excuses for top teams not being able to beat lesser teams.
That series has been the most consistently entertaining series for me. iirc, all of the games were competitive and close. CLE's big 3 had to show up and play well - definitely not a "let's slack off" round for CLE at all.
Best of 5 was always a bit more intense I think (at least to me, in round 1)... But, I'm sure the NBA will never go back to that, they like the extra TV time and ticket sales etc.
Again, there is this big contingent of the fanbase that wants to minimize an upset to as little as possible, making the playoffs tournament less of a challenge. You don't have to show up for every game. That's BS.
This modern "no defense" NBA is just not cutting it. A 20 point blowout is no longer an embarrassing loss. Teams are consistently getting beat by 30 points. Its getting time to make adjustments to the 3 point line.
