How the Playoffs Should Be...Kinda

[LBPTarHeel27]

The best solution to fixing the playoffs is to eliminate a few preseason games, add a few regular season games, allowing each NBA team to play 3 times. Take the top 16 teams and have them play as one conference instead of two.

The records likely are not what they would be if those were the circumstances...but here is how the playoffs would look if we did a seeding of 1-16...

(1) Boston Celtics vs. (16) Portland Trailblazers
Interesting because it gets a team that isn't currently in the playoffs in. Not only that, but it presents a much tougher matchup for the Boston Celtics.

(8) Phoenix Suns vs. (9) Orlando Magic
I think we can all be thankful for the fact that this is not the system this year. A matchup of Shaq/Amare vs. Dwight would be fun to watch though.

(4) New Orleans Hornets vs. (13) Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron's Cavs would likely get made look silly at the hands of Chris Paul. Cleveland goes from a very winnable series to an insanely tough one, while New Orleans goes from Dallas to Cleveland.

(5) San Antonio Spurs vs. (12) Golden State Warriors
Old vs. New. Would be interesting to see how the styles played out. Could the Warriors knock off another big favorite in the first round?

(6) Houston Rockets vs. (11) Denver Nuggets
Very competitive series. Would expect to see a lot of big stat lines from McGrady, Iverson, and Melo (if he isn't in Jail).

(3) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (14) Washington Wizards
Life would be a little easier on LA if this were the case.

(7) Utah Jazz vs. (10) Dallas Mavericks
Would be a great series to watch, another very competitive series.

(2) Detroit Pistons vs. (15) Toronto Raptors
Bosh and the Raptors are a scary team and this could very easily be the biggest upset in the bunch.

[LBPTarHeel27]

Another thought...

With Stern expecting the NBA to expand to Europe in the near future...It seems like each team playing an equal amount is going to be a must unless Stern plans on having 3 different conferences...which would just be stupid and not really work.

What would need to be done is...

There would have to be at least 5 teams over in Europe to create a standard new division. Each NBA team would play every team in their division 3 times, equalling 12 games. Play each other team twice, equalling 60 games. It would end up being 72 games instead of 80, which would be needed anyway due to extra traveling.

However, his would require much longer road trips as far as duration of time goes.

Euro teams could split their season in to 6 segments...
Games 1-12: Home & Away games vs. other Euro Division teams & visiting US teams.
Games 13-24: Away games vs. US teams
Games 25-36: Home & Away games vs. other Euro Division teams & visiting US teams.
Games 37-48: Away games vs. US teams

and so on....

[ivDT]

guokas mentioned this during one of our games recently, iirc.

this solves the issue of good teams missing the playoffs and bad teams missing the lottery (yes, you read that right), but introduces some logistical issues that normally don't come up until the finals.

in the bos-por, orl-phx and lal-was series, you'd have to play a 2-3-2 format to reduce the amount of travel from coast to coast.

those first two games would be a lot more important for phoenix, boston and la than they would for any of the other top 8 teams.

i mean, i guess it's no big deal for elite teams, but i can't imagine a team wanting to do something like that more than once or twice in the same postseason.

[TheGlyde]

Can't see them ever changing the number of regular season games from 82, and I hope they don't.

It would be kinda cool to just scrap east/west and take the top 16 teams to the playoffs... I remember in the 90s it always sucked a Bulls/Magic NBA finals wasn't possible... but again due to increased travel costs it will probably never happen.

[UCFJayBird]

Will never happen, simply because Stern loves to have conferences and having the playoffs 1-16 would eliminate the need for conferences.

Also, would teams get anything for winning the division? Would Orlando still be a top 6 team them because they won the conference?

Like ivDT, there is travel issues.

By the way, I would HATE playoffs like that. People would like them cause the best teams would always get in no matter what. But the problem for me would be that the playoffs first series would be boring as hell. 1 vs 16? YAWN!

[LBPTarHeel27]

Will never happen, simply because Stern loves to have conferences and having the playoffs 1-16 would eliminate the need for conferences.

Also, would teams get anything for winning the division? Would Orlando still be a top 6 team them because they won the conference?

Like ivDT, there is travel issues.

By the way, I would HATE playoffs like that. People would like them cause the best teams would always get in no matter what. But the problem for me would be that the playoffs first series would be boring as hell. 1 vs 16? YAWN!

Something is going to have to happen if Stern wants to expand. Better to have a smooth transition than jump right in to it, that way if there are kinks...they can be worked out.

I admit it won't happen, it makes too much sense to actually happen. But it would make the league much better, IMO.

And how is Boston Portland a horribly boring series but Boston Atlanta not? Boston could actually lose a game or two to Portland.

[LBPTarHeel27]

If you look at it, the #1 and #2 seeds have tougher games than they do now in the conference format.

And an idea to fix the expensive travel issue...

Set up four different sites to start off. The 1-16 & 8-9 games at 1 place, the 4-13 & 5-12 at another, 6-11 & 3-14 at another, and 7-10 & 2-15 at the final location.

The highest seed in each group would have the home court advantage. So Boston would host not only their game vs. Portland, but also our game against Phx. The highest seeded winner would then have home court advantage. It would make the fight for home court advantage insanely important and competitive.

So for example, Boston beats Portland & we beat Phx (all games played in Boston). We then beat Boston in a normal 7 game series, home and away. The rest of the playoffs would proceed in that fashion. It would eliminate a large amount of traveling and also help the transition to European teams even more.

[Dwightmare]

if you think detroit/toronto would be a likely upset, how you feeling about orlando/toronto?

[TheGlyde]

ugh, no way... the current system isnt perfect, but playing all our playoff games in another city would be terrible.

[ivDT]

If you look at it, the #1 and #2 seeds have tougher games than they do now in the conference format.

bingo. this format would actually improve the overall quality of the postseason matchups for all rounds.

the two semifinals matchups under this format could be potential finals matchups under the current setup.

very nice, imo.

And an idea to fix the expensive travel issue...

Set up four different sites to start off. The 1-16 & 8-9 games at 1 place, the 4-13 & 5-12 at another, 6-11 & 3-14 at another, and 7-10 & 2-15 at the final location.

The highest seed in each group would have the home court advantage. So Boston would host not only their game vs. Portland, but also our game against Phx. The highest seeded winner would then have home court advantage. It would make the fight for home court advantage insanely important and competitive.

So for example, Boston beats Portland & we beat Phx (all games played in Boston). We then beat Boston in a normal 7 game series, home and away. The rest of the playoffs would proceed in that fashion. It would eliminate a large amount of traveling and also help the transition to European teams even more.

er. wow. no.

all kinds of problems with this one, bro.

it's bad enough that portland fans would have to watch their team play an entire 7 game series on the road in boston, but forcing phoenix and orlando fans to do the same is also pretty brutal.

who would be at the arena for those games?

12 of the 16 teams playing in the first round would get no money whatsoever from their home crowd.

do the travel savings under this plan, which don't appear to be that great to be honest, offset the amount of money that teams would lose?

i'm not so sure...

[Gerhalt11]

I am so adamently against the 2-3-2 format, which, like ivdt said, would have to be implemented a lot more frequently in order to accomodate the bicoastal series. At no point in a series should the team with home court advantage have played fewer games at home than their opponent. I understand the need to cut down on travel, but, assuming you win your home games, when game 6 goes back to the arena with home court, you'd better believe the away team is much more motivated to win that game to seal the deal.

I'd be interested to see the series record of the home court advantage team in the Finals since that format was implemented. I imagine it's much different than those series playing the 2-2-1-1-1 format.

[KingRobb02]

Whats wrong witht he way that the playoffs are set up now? Seven of the top 16 teams are in the east, who cares that the Hawks are in while the Warriors are out? Even if there was a way to swap the Warriors with the Hawks, the Celtics will just sweep them. Plus, the Sixers are a lot better than the Trailblazers. Just look at the second half of the season. Would you rather have a team who peaked in December, or a team that is an actual threat at an upset?

[Gerhalt11]

Seven of the top 16 teams are in the east

Can you clarify that statement? If you're talking about records, then there are only six eastern teams (1. Boston 2. Detroit, 9. Orlando, 13. Cleveland, 14. Washington, 15. Toronto) in the top 16 in the league, and it's a reasonable assumption that any Western playoff team could beat any Eastern playoff team (with the exception of Boston and Detroit).

[LBPTarHeel27]

Something is going to have to happen eventually...this is just a very rough idea on how to solve the issue. I personally think travel costs are the least of the NBA's worries and that would not be an issue, but it was just an idea to "fix" that.

[KingRobb02]

Something is going to have to happen eventually...this is just a very rough idea on how to solve the issue. I personally think travel costs are the least of the NBA's worries and that would not be an issue, but it was just an idea to "fix" that.

What is there to "fix"? Do you honestly believe that the Warriors have a shot at winning the title? They haven't been hit by injuries this year, and still didn't beat out the Nuggets when their season on teh line. Sure they may be better than the Hawks and more deserving, but they knew the rules heading into the season. The top 8 in each conference make it to the postseason. Why is it such a forgone conclusion that any east team will lose to any west team in a 7 game series? Boston is having a season of histori proportions and Detroit is the second best team in the league. Washing ton has beaten teh Celtics 3 times this year and just got their best player back. The Magic have beaten the Celticas and the Pistons twice each, and have a team that can give any team in teh league fits with shooting and rebounding. The Cavs are living proof that anything is possible when Lebron James is on the floor. By round two, the east's 4 teams will be as good or better than the west's 4 teams.

[magicmamma]

There is something inherently appealing in champions meeting champions to determine the grand champion. Think World Series. To do that you must have subdivisions of some kind, and they are not always going to be equal in quality. The situation this year in which so many teams are so close in the west is an aberration that doesn't require a reaction.

It's really interesting to consider the proposal to add European teams to the NBA and think about what that does to the system. Initially, it would probably be two new teams, making 32, which suggests either 4 conferences or two with 4 divisions each.

[Gerhalt11]

The truth is, at the end of the day, the best team in the playoffs is going to win the championship, regardless of who they play.

[maginno]

its not just travel costs that kill ideas like this its jet lag. Who wants to be going back and forth like that. The most I could see being feasible is having the two best in each conference face each other in a tournament setting after the initial playoffs. East goes out west and plays their games and then west comes out east. that way you could see say Boston versus La and Spurs versus Detroit in the same playoffs. Finals would be between the surviving home teams as usual ( except you could have two teams from the same conference. in the finals)

Just don't see it being broken enough to do all that and nix the idea of doing anything but alternating home games at home sites. owners want the revenue at their own home site.

However if the NBA is truly serious about extending to Europe or outside the US then you have to go to a tournament style. Theres no way teams are going to travel back and forth from europe during the regular season.

[craig01]

The truth is, at the end of the day, the best team in the playoffs is going to win the championship, regardless of who they play.

More often than not.

[Optimus_Steel]

The NBA just needs to invent teleportation so that they can do the 16 seed playoff system instead of the 8 in each conference system.