NBA Should Rework Playoffs

By: Zac Boyer

Posted: 4/24/06

Figure this out - the Denver Nuggets are the No. 3 seed in the NBA's Western Conference this season, yet they don't have home-court advantage and likely won't at any time throughout the playoffs.

How does that work? Give the enormous advantage to the Los Angeles Clippers, who, despite being the No. 6 seed, have been rewarded with the advantage in that opening-round series simply due to their better record during the season.

That's one of the flaws in the new NBA playoff system, which was developed last year when the Charlotte Bobcats entered the league to become the 30th team. As a result, the two conferences of 15 teams each are now broken down into three divisions, with the division winners taking each of the top three seeds in the playoffs.

Thus, the Nuggets, who finished the season at 44-38 and a whopping 19 games back from the regular season champion Spurs, take the No. 3 seed, when they should have had to fight for their right to reach the postseason. Chalk that reasoning up to the weak Northwest Division, which, besides Denver, only saw the Utah Jazz reach .500 on the season.

This is the same playoff format that, barring an upset by the Memphis Grizzlies or Sacramento Kings, will see the top two teams in the Western Conference - the San Antonio Spurs (63-19) and Dallas Mavericks (60-22) - meet in the second round of the playoffs and not in the more appropriate Western Conference Finals. Of course, that's because the two teams are in the same division and only one team could capture the top-three bid.

There were some grumblings earlier on in the season about the system when it became clear the West's top two teams would face off in the second round, but nothing was changed. It's still up in the air as to whether or not the playoffs will be changed next year, as well.

This playoff fiasco then brings up the inevitable question of finding the best way to crown a champion. The NBA format has been solid in recent years, ensuring that one of the top seeds indeed makes it to the NBA Finals and wins the championship. Plus, a long, best-of-seven format through all three rounds makes it so that the odds are stacked against the lesser team. The NHL also uses the standard best-of-seven format, but the teams are ranked by record, not by division championships.

Perhaps the best way to determine a national champion is in the NCAA, where the men's and women's basketball tournaments are as simple as "win or go home." The only drawback is that the top teams may never make it all the way to the championship game, as evident this season, when none of the No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four and the championship was won by No. 3 seed Florida.

And of course, we're all familiar with the debacle known as the BCS in college football. This year is one of few when the two best teams in the nation made it to the championship game, but there have also been situations where, like in the 2004 season, USC, Oklahoma and Auburn all went undefeated. USC went on to top Oklahoma in the championship game, while Auburn, who many viewed as the strongest team, was left to toil in the Sugar Bowl.

Then, of course, there's the method of figuring out who is the worst team and who deserves to have the top pick in the entry draft after the season. While the NFL and MLB simply go in reverse order of finish, the NBA and NHL have instituted a draft lottery, where the teams that don't make the playoffs have a chance to obtain the top pick by random chance. This is a chance to make sure teams don't tank at the end of the season to obtain the next rookie phenom, which, in some cases, has drawn questions to whether or not the lotteries are fixed.

There may not be a great way to determine who is the champion and who is the worst team in any given year, but the NBA is going to have to change their system if the best teams are going to truly have the best shot.

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