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[nba.com] One and Done in the NBA Playoffs

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Hayesfan, Mar 18, 2010.

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Hayesfan Member

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http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/03/18/ncaas/

One and done in the NBA playoffs? Let's talk Madness

Posted Mar 18 2010 10:22AM

Want to see an NBA player get excited? Hand him a copy of the bracket for the NCAA Tournament and watch him pick out the winners.

It's about alma maters and hometowns, about friendships and rivalries. Some even like to think it's about that extra bit of insight they have playing the game.

Want to see an NBA player start to hyperventilate or turn blue in the face? Ask him if he'd like the NBA playoffs to be just like March Madness a single elimination tournament. One and done. Loser goes home.

"Are you kidding me?" said Denver Nuggets' All-Star Carmelo Anthony. "Well, the playoffs would be shorter, that's for sure.

"You wouldn't have any of this stuff where you get a week to get ready for one team and then you see them every night for a long time. You'd get one day, maybe two and then you play and move on to the next one. But I'm praying to God they don't ever go to that here. That's a tough thing to do."

Anthony did it, though, when he carried Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA title -- the only one in school history -- and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.

"I think the NCAA is harder to win," he said. "When you get a chance to play a team seven times, both teams figure each other out and it's just who wants it the best, the hardest, the most. In the NCAA Tournament, every possession counts. It always comes down to one play on one day."

Shane Battier of the Houston Rockets was the national college player of the year when his Duke team ran the table to win the NCAA Tournament in 2000. His eyes light up at the notion of March Madness or a June Jumble in the NBA.

"I would love it," Battier said. "I really would. America loves a do-or-die situation and that's why the NCAA Tournament is so fantastic.

"You have to be at your peak every game. Not that you mail in a playoff game, but if things aren't going your way, you can say there's a tomorrow, unless you're facing an elimination game. You have to be at your peak at all times."

Of course, the thing that makes the NBA playoffs so pure and often so dramatic is that the cream rises to the top. You can't often win four best-of-seven series without being the best team.

March Madness allows for the longshot, the upset, the flukes -- North Carolina State over Houston, Villanova over Georgetown, Danny Manning and the Miracles of Kansas.

Even though he played for one of the big name schools -- Kentucky -- Battier's teammate Chuck Hayes, closed his eyes, threw his head back and said he was tempted go with the March Madness format.

"Oooooooh, man! Man. As much as I think it might be, as much as I want, you can't play one-and-done in the NBA. Think about it. Your champion could be an eight seed. Think about when the Knicks went to the Finals in '99. You tell me all they have to do is win one game against San Antonio and they're the champs?," Hayes said. "Or if you had the Warriors in 2007 when they were No. 8 seed and beat Dallas in the first round. You tell them all they had to do was beat the Jazz once and the Lakers once and they're in the Finals. Who knows? Maybe they stay on the roll. Maybe they make it happen. You can't let that possibility happen, can you?"

Battier has no pity for the Goliath who gets slain by David.

"Boo-hoo," he said. "I hate to break it to you, but life ain't fair always.

"(In the NBA) the best team, usually with the highest payroll, wins. Let's level the playing field a little bit. Let's see who can perform on the ultimate stage -- you lose and your season's done.

"Look, I think they should shorten the playoffs. I liked the best-of-five series in the first round just because it gave the lesser team a shot. There's no shot for the lower seeded teams now -- six, seven and eight."

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins shook his head at the notion.

"Shoot, we went into Boston and won on one night," Hollins said laughing. "Now ask us to beat them three more times and it wouldn't matter where you play.

"I think our system is the best system when you're trying to prove who's the best team. The earlier rounds probably, for me, could be shortened.

Usually there's not a lot of upsets in any system in the first round, no matter what. So you're wasting energy on what is basically a mismatch. But overall, I believe the NCAA one-and-done works for the NCAA and our system works for us."

Denver's Chauncey Billups has survived the grueling gauntlet of the NBA playoffs to win a championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He felt the heartbreak of traveling so far only to lose Game 7 of the Finals to San Antonio In 2005.

He also played in the NCAAs at Colorado and knows the feeling of walking on that one-game tightrope.

"Very, very exciting," Billups said. "The stakes and the energy and emotion would be kind of high-level every game. Actually, it would be a lot of fun.

"Everything could be different if you played it like March Madness. This is the NBA, where everybody can play and guys can get hot. I know we've lost games to a lot of teams that we probably shouldn't have this year. That could happen in the playoffs if that was the case.

"The thing about a best-of-seven is you're eventually gonna get things figured out. You play a team seven times over a week and a half and you're gonna find out which one is really better.

"We came out of the series with the Lakers in the West Finals last year thinking we could have beaten them. But from top to bottom they were more mentally focused. They did the detail things. The best team takes care of all the details."

Aaron Brooks of the Rockets is in favor of the truer test of an NBA series.

"You don't get those lucky games," said. "And I'll take us in a best-of-seven series against anyone."

Hayes kept shaking his head and saying he couldn't go along with the injustice of a Valparaiso or Cornell getting a chance to ride a hot streak to the title game. But ask him about the rules if the Rockets can close fast this season and sneak in as the eighth seed in the West.

"Oh, man! If you tell me that all we've got to do is beat the Lakers one game -- and we've already won one out there this season -- I wouldn't mind that at all," he said. "If we're in at No. 8, change the rules and bring on the March Madness, baby."
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For or against? What say you all?

#1 Hayesfan, Mar 18, 2010

The_Yoyo Member

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i was wondering how the heck did a nba.com article get so many quotes from rockets players and then i saw the author

#2 The_Yoyo, Mar 18, 2010
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Hayesfan said:

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/03/18/ncaas/

For or against? What say you all?
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I like the playoffs. I just wish they made them shorter. Go back the best of 5 first round series, and play back-to-backs.

#3 juicystream, Mar 18, 2010
Hayesfan Member

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The_Yoyo said:

i was wondering how the heck did a nba.com article get so many quotes from rockets players and then i saw the author
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LOL yep, Fran doing work!

#4 Hayesfan, Mar 18, 2010
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Against the one and done. The NBA, much like MLB usually has the better team winning the chip.

#5 BucMan55, Mar 18, 2010
redao Member

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Shane Battier said:

America loves a do-or-die situation
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not true. America loves the best gets everything situation.

#6 redao, Mar 18, 2010
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They should just do it one year. Maybe the year the hard cap gets instituted.

#7 rockergordon, Mar 18, 2010

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I think they should at least bring back the 5 game first round, 7 games for every series has made the playoffs too damn long!

#8 GRENDEL, Mar 18, 2010
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Nah, the sample size is too small to get anything close to an accurate picture, like Chuck was implying.

I would like to see the playoffs shortened though and less teams make it in. No team with a losing record should ever make it into the postseason, that's just ridiculous.

First and second place in each division would be better. Or first place in every division + two wild cards. Eight teams in each conference is too many and cheapens the regular season.

#9 OremLK, Mar 18, 2010
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The_Yoyo said:

i was wondering how the heck did a nba.com article get so many quotes from rockets players and then i saw the author
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You betch ur ass!

#10 famicom, Mar 18, 2010
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juicystream said:

I like the playoffs. I just wish they made them shorter. Go back the best of 5 first round series, and play back-to-backs.
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I mostly agree with you and everyone, but since Fran went Rocket-centric in this article, consider this:

In '81 the first round in we were the lowest seed (6th at that time?) and met the mighty Lakers in a three game series. The game was shown live at 9:30 CDT and that game was a street fight - nothing like our game 1 in LA last year.

We won, but the Lakers and the NBA and CBS were chuckling. Game 2 was in Houston (travel expenses) and well, "talent" prevailed.

Then game 3 was hell for us and the Lakers and when we won it was also hell for the NBA & CBS.

Does anyone want to mention '94 or kneel before Mt. Mutumbo? Fran (apparently) & I don't want to do the former, but I'd happily do the latter (I know sophomoric posts are inevitable).

I think the NBA sold it's soul when The Finals went to a 2-3-2 format, but hey, we won 2 rings since then. So...

#11 declan32001, Mar 18, 2010
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The first round needs to go back to 5 game series!!! The playoffs are way to long now.

#12 RocketRick, Mar 18, 2010
saleem Member

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redao said:

not true. America loves the best gets everything situation.
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One and done is not a barometer of the best team. I concur with you.

#13 saleem, Mar 18, 2010

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OremLK said:

Nah, the sample size is too small to get anything close to an accurate picture, like Chuck was implying.

I would like to see the playoffs shortened though and less teams make it in. No team with a losing record should ever make it into the postseason, that's just ridiculous.

First and second place in each division would be better. Or first place in every division + two wild cards. Eight teams in each conference is too many and cheapens the regular season.
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fk that.
they should take away the east and west.
just have the top 16 teams compete for championship.

#14 devilsdandruff, Mar 18, 2010
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devilsdandruff said:

fk that.
they should take away the east and west.
just have the top 16 teams compete for championship.
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That would help with the problem of losing teams making the playoffs, but it wouldn't fix the problem of the playoffs being too long.

#15 OremLK, Mar 18, 2010
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Regardless of 1, 5 or 7 games...you would find out who was better regardless.

I'd love it, but it's too much paper going around for it to ever happen.

#16 ThaShark316_28, Mar 18, 2010
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It wouldn't be a thorough beating with just one and elimination game. Other sports like soccer and NFL it makes more sense, if you lose those games...most likely it wasn't because of bad luck but because of skills. But basketball game is different...there is a such thing as lucky shot in basketball..that's why it doesn't make sense to do one and out.

#17 Yao4REAL, Mar 18, 2010
saleem Member

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ThaShark316_28 said:

Regardless of 1, 5 or 7 games...you would find out who was better regardless.

I'd love it, but it's too much paper going around for it to ever happen.
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Any team can win on a certain day,but the best team usually comes through in a series.

#18 saleem, Mar 18, 2010

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No, I don't think it will every happen. More games=More revenue. Thats what the NBA is

#19 TMackin713, Mar 18, 2010
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I like it the way it is.

The only change I would make:
seed teams 1-16 by records, where west could play east in round one.

If the NFL can think about changing the overtime rules in the playoffs, then the nba has nothing to lose to just considering this option.

#20 conquistador#11, Mar 18, 2010

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