Quit ripping NBA format
NBA fans and players and media continue to rip the NBA Finals format in which the team with homecourt advantage gets the first two and last two games, while its opponent hosts the middle three games.
Critics say the format hurts the team with homecourt advantage, unless, of course, it hurts the team without homecourt advantage. Mostly, people just like to gripe.
The truth is, the format is fine. The team with homecourt advantage gets four home games. That’s all that really matters. The only thing that could possibly be unfair is if a team got the first four games at home; then the other city’s fans might not even see any basketball. But otherwise, this format is completely fair.
From the third game on, there is never a time in any series in which one team has played two more home games than the other. What could be more equitable than that?
The 2-3-2 format makes much more sense than 2-2-1-1-1, which in a seven-game series requires four cross-country trips, unless the Finals are Minnesota-Milwaukee.
There’s way too much angst over details like the playoff format. Just play. Just show up and play. Boston had the NBA’s best record, earned homecourt advantage and has homecourt advantage. What exactly is the problem?
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
Berry — The thing that used to be so great about the 2-3-2 format for a fan was that it allowed a 7-game series to be played in 9 days. Remember back when games one and two would be on Saturday and Sunday; three, four, and five were played on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; and games six and seven would be on Saturday and Sunday? For just over a week, the world seemed to revolve around the NBA Finals, and it was great fun following each night. Now, the series is so spread out it doesn’t feel a whole lot different than following the races of the triple crown!
the problem is this blog sucks.