I liked the old best of 5. But nba wants 7. Ok keep it BUT If you go up in the 1st round 3-0, don't play the 4th game. Just declare that team the winner. Or let them do an Elam ending at the end of game 3 if must needs be. Playing games 4-5 is meaningless. With the concern of load mgmt, injuries, other than a comparatively tiny revenue boost from ticket sales and probably lowish tv ratings - it isn't worth it
Why stop at that? If Game 3 is a blow out at the end of 3rd quarter, the refs should just call a technical knock out and declare the winner.
i actually prefer ncaa tourney style. one game per round. that way the best team don’t always win and we can get randos like grizz or cavs winning it all. would fit well if we have mid season tourney so playoffs don’t last 3 months
So now the 76ers (and likely, the Celtics) have to play another useless warm-up game before one of what should be a huge series - one of the main "eliminators" for the title. What is the point of this? Harden, Embiid, Tatum, Brown all of them could get hurt, and you're just putting more stress on them so that they are more likely to get hurt in the next round or teh round after or the round after. Is allowing a tiny bit of extra revenue for the Hawsk & Nets worth this, especially now since we have a midseason tournament? The answer is obviously no. This is just stupid.
Doesn’t solve the problem of why the 7 game rule is there in the first place. Owners want at least 2 home games, and possibly more of revenue.
They just added more games for the midseason tournament. Those 2-3 games probably replace unccessary game 4-5's that generate little interest. Second, I'm pretty certain you could put togetehr a study that said the short term revene gain of havign a few useless game 4's in round 1 < the potential revenue lost by risking superstar injuries, increase load mgmt, the fact taht the last 2 weeks of the regular season are now a weird mix of tanking & teams going all out, etc. Some of them large language models could prove this out easily. I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see "load management" in the playoffs - when teams are load managing in the playoffs, it's a good sign the first round is unnecessarily long and you are devaluing the competition.
I think Morey (or was it JVG) mentioned about a one-game elimination tourney. It's a lot more exciting. Each game is a must win.
There was a 1 game elimination for the Nets last night. They lost. Oh also: PHILADELPHIA -- Joel Embiid will sit out because of a sprained right knee when the Philadelphia 76ers try to complete a sweep of the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. Load management in the playoffs because of unnecessary games - well done NBA
