Yeah, i prefer the 5 games series in the 1st round as well.
I think the first round is completely unnecessary. Only five 8th-seeds have advanced past the first round since 1984, when they went to this format, and none have ever won the title. Only the '99 Knicks made it to the Championships. How many #7 seeds have ever advanced? None have won the title in the modern era, either. What's the point of involving these teams? You could do a wild card where the #1 and #2 seeds get a bye while the #3/#4 seeds (rounding out all the division winners) play two wild cards with the best records outside those division leaders, but unlike football, this round isn't just one game, and unlike baseball, teams get worn out by 7-game series, so I don't think it would be fair to the lower seeds.
Better to just get rid of the whole round, but of course, now that it's in place, there's no going back. In fact, in pursuit of higher revenue, baseball wants to destroy having the best playoff system in sports with more teams in the postseason. WTF? You have a 162-game regular season. If you don't know who the best four teams are in each league are by that point, then why hold a regular season at all?
The Houston Rockets in 1995 are the only #5 seed or lower (they were #6) that have won the title, and only because Jordan was off gallivanting in cleats. In fact, only one #4 seed has ever won a title.
Bleacher Report said:
...of the 66 NBA champions, 64 of them were either a No. 1 seed (47), a No. 2 seed (10) or a No. 3 seed (7).
It hurts me to speak the truth, but the first round of the NBA playoffs is utterly pointless.
