NBA Going to 7 Game Series for 1st Round as Well
 

Great, now even less of a chance for a lower seed to pull an early round shocker in the NBA Playoffs.

Weren't the Playoffs long enough as it was?

BOO!

From ESPN.com...


"ATLANTA -- The NBA players' association and the league have agreed to expand the first round of the playoffs to a best-of-7 format starting this season, ESPN Insider's Chad Ford reported Saturday.

The players' association officially approved the change in format early Saturday. The league will make the official announcement tonight at a news conference in Atlanta.

Until this season, the first round of the NBA playoffs had been a best-of-5 format."

Agreed, BOO!

Neuqua

I prefer 3/5/7/7.

NBA is all about the money. Going to be hard explaining to some players how the salary cap is going down AGAIN this year yet alot of people have to play 2 more games.

Maybe the league is trying to give the Lakers every chance possible at another Title..

Hmmm..

Great, now the NBA playoffs will last till August.

There's no reason for this. Except that the NBA wants some more revenue that the extra first round games will generate. But it sucks for fans and lower seeded teams.

Now we can just have a non-stop NBA season, maybe they'll have a week off after the finals in October.

What a stupid change.

This is going to hurt the NHL too. More playoffs for the NBA means that they have to go head-to-head for more of the NHL's playoffs.

It seems as if the NBA, NHL and MLB are doing everything they possibly can to make their seasons last for as much of the 12 Month Calendar Year as humanly possible.

Give it a break.... More is not necessarily better, a lesson this sports entities obviously have a heckuva time figuring out.


The NFL and College Football & Basketball have it right..

Suggestion for the NBA gurus :
how's about an 8 game regular season, and then 8 rounds of playoff with best of 21 series ?

That'd be fun, wouldn't it ???
Duh.....................

Woohoo! Now the Timberwolves will get to play FOUR playoff games!

Don't say that mckerney... This is the Year the T'wolves finally get out of Round 1.. This time I promise.. ;)

Maybe.

Hey, Terrell Brandon could be ready to play by then.

And they might be able to pull of that Felipe Lopez for Brian Grant trade.

Oh, what not having a first round pick for 3 years can do to you. But at least we have Joe Smith back.

It could have helped if they were against the Lakers last year. I remember everyone in the local media was saying how lucky they were that they got the Mavs out of the 3 potential teams they could have gone against. Lucky to play the Mavs? The Wolves had blown out LA by about 20 twice last year, and they were lucky to go against the best offense in the league? Something didn't seem right about that, and low and behold they get swept.

Oh well, basketball wise at least we have the Gophers up here. Hey, they didn't blow their lead in the 2nd half to Purdue today, that's a start.

This sounds like a fishy Lakers-based rule. Why make the change midseason?

SI

I'm confused as to why they would change the format during the middle of the season...but I think it is a good change. I happen to like basketball, though I'd hardly call myself a die-hard fan, and I think this gives a better opportunity for a solid series. I think a best of seven series is a much better indicator of which team is better than a five game series.

I'd agree with those who have said so to this point...it's an idiotic change. Do you think Mutombo and the Nuggets could have upset Seattle (I believe it was...could be wrong on that one) in a seven game series? I like the fact that teams can pull a shocker off if they rise to the occasion in the first round. Making it seven games makes it that much harder.

Maybe I could start another direction of this thread...if the problem is revenues, how should the league go to addressing the problem? I have one possible solution...what do you think about making contracts instead of salaries and bonuses, making them team shares. For example, Player A gets 1% of total team profit for four years. Player B gets .4%, and so on, and so on. It would force players to be somewhat sympathetic to the manager's perspective and give them incentive to succeed wherever they might happen to be. In addition, I think that fines should be done as a percentage of salary and not by set prices. A $5,000 fine by a scrub is a big deal but to a star player with a big salary, it's a drop in the bucket. Imagine if you knew that making physical contack with a ref will result in a 10% salary fine. To the guy who has a multi-million dollar contract, that's a substantial loss. To the bench warmer signed off waivers, it's still a big loss but it's proportionate. One final note...what do you think about the idea that if a flagrant foul/intentional foul is deemed intended to harm is made against someone, and the player who is fouled is injured, that the player who commits the foul be suspended for the duration of the injury? Just a few thoughts that have been rolling in my head.

Wow. Two more games, no big deal. I believe the players can handle playing an extra two games in the playoffs.

I think the problem comes in that in between each game you have at least one day break. This translates to another 4/5 days to the already long season. There are 82 games in a season, then a possible 19 additional playoff games. It just reminds me of what my grandfather who served in the army said when he was asked about his service. He said that if he had the choice of serving one more day and receiving army pay for the rest of his life or not serving, he wouldn't serve any additional time in a hearbeat. I think the same principle applies here. Atheletes don't mind (and most enjoy) playing their game, but if the option of a half-week or rest at the end of the season is there, I guarantee you that they would take up the offer.

The NBA season is too long. This just makes a dull game even longer and duller.

It's no longer faaaantastic

What they really need to do is expand the number of teams that make the playoffs. It's so hard for a good team to make it as it stands now.

Sarcasm is lost on the Internet.

just a little more pocket change for the players and the league that is all there is to it.

Unlike Baseball...
:p

:D I know, the Griz have been so deserving these past few years. The NBA makes the old MLB fomat of only Divisional Champions getting Postseason invites, look like a piece of cake..

Let's call this new rule "The Laker Rule"...


Now, this is what's coming next..


"Kings Beat Lakers 4 Games to 2, Afterward NBA Announces Plan for Best of Nine Series to Take Place Immediately. Kings/Lakers Game 7 Tuesday."

...and then after Kings Win Next Game..

"Kings Beat Lakers 5 Games to 2, Afterward NBA Announces Plan for Best of Eleven Series to Take Place Immediately. Kings/Lakers Game 8 Thursday."

...and so on and so on... :D

If they played 20 games and went to the playoffs I'd support this. In the current environment it should be 3-5-7-7.

OK, I've held out on this as long as I can. Someone want to explain to me how this is designed to help the Lakers. The way I see it, this is designed to help the better team, which according to the standings, is not the Lakers this year. That said, do you think the Kings, Mavericks, Spurs or anyone for that matter, want to meet the Lakers in a five game series?

If you feel the league makes rules to benefit the Lakers, what about the zone defense rule. Lets see, Shaq has to be guarded one and one... lets change that so that three guys can drape themselves all over him, regardless of where the ball is.

I've battled Laker bashing on this board for a long time, but I'm really starting to think if they came up with a rule stating that the Lakers were only allowed to play 4 players, the comments would start with, "There goes the league, helping the Lakers again. Now they can rest more guys on their bench."

For the record, I think its an unnecessary rule change. I just dont see how this rule benefits the Lakers.

hey, brad

Brad, at the end of the day the NBA Higher-Ups would "prefer" to see the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2003 NBA Finals. I'm not saying the league is rigged, but the NBA does have its preferences, that's for sure.

I think this new adjustment, taking place at this particular time, only enhances the Lakers chances of getting out of Round 1.

If they are playing crappy I'm not sure 2 games makes much difference. If anything the Lakers would prefer a shorter series and 'turn it up' in the crunch time of the conference finals and finals.

This is purely tv and revenue driven.

Oh I agree rkmsuf, I just find it a bit fishy this takes place in a year where the umpteenth time Defending Champions are struggling and more than likely will end up without Home Court Advantage even in the First Round.

I may be totally off the ball here, but I think it needs to be said..

I understand Myles. I think the NBA wants the biggest markets possible. I also think that if the Lakers advance far into the playoffs or even win the whole thing again this year, it will really show what a sad state the league is in. They've basically taken the year off to this point.

I think this quote sums it up perfectly.

hey brad