What if the playoffs used this system?

[Christopherson]

I think we should be seeing fewer teams in the playoffs. I would like to see it go to a 8 team playoff. All three division winners plus a wild card. Get rid of the first round completly, since it never matters much anyways. This years playoffs would start out with detroit vs. cleveland and NJ vs. Miami in the east and Dallas vs. SA and Phoenix vs. Denver in the West. No need to reward all these sub .500 teams and let them into the playoffs. Expand the lottery.

[Andrew]

That seems a bit extreme to me. I wouldn't mind a change back to the 5-7-7-7 format since I was never a huge supporter of the change to 7-7-7-7 in the first place but I think with 30 teams in the league, the 16 team playoff format is fine.

[Blacknack]

I think the best system is like now but reordering in 2nd now the teams and not following the syste, of winner of 1-8 vs 4-5 winner, like NHL. I don't know if you understand me. For example:

1st Round:[b]1[/b]-8, [b]2[/b]-7, 3-[b]6[/b], 4-[b]5[/b].
2nd Round: 1-6, 2-5

[The X]

as for the system suggested at the top of the post, it's just stupid....if that was the case you would win enough games & then start tanking them so you could get a coveted No. 7 seed....if this was the case, what's the point of even having a regular season....makes no sense, does it?!? didn't think so....

as for playoffs, should go back to a 5-7-7-7 format....for those people that say the better teams should go through, baloney....if a 'supposed' better team can lose 3 times out of 5 it really means that they're not really much better than the team that beat them & don't really deserve to go through....the 5-7-7-7 format allows series like the '94 Sonics-Nuggets series that shaped the decade and besides, what's the difference between the Pistons winning 3-0 & 4-0....let's not delay the inevitable....back to the golden formula of 5-7-7-7....

as for the current situation that has allowed the Nuggets a No. 3 seed, but not homecourt advantage, it's an interesting dilemma....I believe they deserved a Top 3 seed....the divisional rivalries will increase as the years go on if this format is kept....just check out how much coverage the Spurs-Mavs' coverage got....

[Andrew]

I think the best system is like now but reordering in 2nd now the teams and not following the syste, of winner of 1-8 vs 4-5 winner, like NHL. I don't know if you understand me. For example:

1st Round:1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5.
2nd Round: 1-6, 2-5

It's an interesting idea, re-seeding the teams in the second round but on the whole I'd still prefer the current bracket system.