Dan
Years ago
Change the NBA Playoffs
This is just my opinion, but i think that the NBA should change it's playoff format. Playing 82 games and then letting 16 of the 30 teams into the playoffs is ridiculous.
I think they should abolish the conferences and just take the six division champions plus six wildcards into the playoffs. They would be seeded 1-12, with the six division champs plus two best wildcards seeded in the top eight according to their win-loss record. the other four wildcards would be 9-12.
The first round would be 5v12, 6v11, 7v10 and 8v9. It would be best-of-three with the first two games played at the team with the most win's court, the third if necessary at the other team's court.
Round two (quarter-finals) would be best-of-five with the top four seeds hosting the winners of round one, matchups done according to seeding. All series would be played using a 2-2-1 format.
Round three (semi-finals) plus the NBA Finals would be best-of-7 played using the 2-3-2 format.
I think this format would make the regular season more interesting and it would also make the playoffs more exciting. With the shorter series to start with every game would be of vital importance.
Looking at last season's standings the 12 seeds would have been:
1. Dallas 67-15
2. Phoenix 61-21
3. San Antonio 58-24 (wc)
4. Detroit 53-29
5. Houston 52-30 (wc)
6. Utah 51-31
7. Toronto 47-35
8. Miami 44-38
9. Cleveland 50-32 (wc)
10. Chicago 49-33 (wc)
11. Denver 45-37 (wc)
12. LA Lakers 42-40 (wc)
The first round matchups would be:
#12 LA Lakers @ #5 Houston
#11 Denver @ #6 Utah
#7 Toronto @ #10 Chicago
#8 Miami @ #9 Cleveland
If Houston, Utah, Chicago and Cleveland were to win you'd have these quarter-final matchups:
#5 Houston @ #4 Detroit
#6 Utah @ #3 San Antonio
#9 Cleveland @ #2 Phoenix
#10 Chicago @ #1 Dallas
One other thing I would also change is the schedule. To increase the chances of each division champ having a good record, I'd schedule six matchups against each division opponent (a total of 24) three each against the other ten teams from your conference (30) and two each against the teams from the other conference (30), a total of 84 games.
What do you think?
