New and Improved NBA Playoff Format

Nick Mandarano

Remember when the Spurs were stuck playing the Clippers in the first round last year? The Blazers got the fourth seed, despite having four less wins than both the Spurs and the Grizzlies! That should have been the Spurs spot! Then they got matched up against a tougher opponent and…IT’S JUST NOT FAIR!

Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images

Quit your whining. That won’t be happening anymore. It’s been reported that the NBA wised up and will be featuring a brand new playoff format beginning this season. Division winners are no longer
guaranteed home court advantage in the opening round. Actually, division winners aren’t even guaranteed a playoff spot anymore. Each conference will still admit eight teams into the bracket, but the seeding will now go solely in order of record, regardless of division.

Eight teams are still too many. It’s more than half the conference! “Wooo! We’re 46th percentile!” Obviously, the playoffs still aren’t perfect. However, this new format is a big step in the right direction. It’s, as a salty Spurs fan might say, only fair.

So why keep divisions? They’re basically irrelevant in basketball anyway. Well in the event of a tie, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. Then if a second tiebreaker is needed, we’ll consider division.

Say bye-bye to your division championship banners because if anyone cared before, they sure don’t now.

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