Report: NBA likely returns to 2-2-1-1-1 format for Finals

Report: NBA likely returns to 2-2-1-1-1 format for Finals
Kurt Helin Sep 29, 2013, 4:59 PM EDT

If you’ve never been around an NBA Finals series, know that it is a traveling circus, a logistical nightmare. The number of media runs well into triple digits at every game, there are television cameras everywhere you turn, there are fan events all over town and the demands on players’ time can get oppressive. It’s hard for the league even to get enough wifi for all the demands in the building.

Which is one reason the league went to the 2-3-2 NBA Finals format in 1985, when moving the logistical circus cross-country from Boston to Los Angeles every year seemed daunting. But it also never seemed fair — it dilutes the home court advantage and was an odd change after every series to get to the Finals was 2-2-1-1-1.

Now we could be headed back to the old system: The NBA’s Competition Committee — made up of a group of owners, general managers, coaches and one player — voted unanimously to return the Finals to 2-2-1-1-1 format, reports Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.

This still would have to be approved by the owners, but likely will be.

It is not known if this would begin this season or next one, although there really is no reason not to start it this year.

The Finals run on a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday schedule (the first game is usually a Thursday night) and that means a week in the middle city (last season San Antonio). Winning three games in a row against high level competition is hard to do even at home, but that was often the spot the team in that middle city was faced with if they couldn’t win one of the first two. They couldn’t just go home and even the series, they needed Game 5.

This new/old format is going to mean more flights for the media (the players fly charter, they’ll somehow survive) but it creates a more fair competition, especially a close series. Would Game 6 of the Finals last year turned out differently if it were in San Antonio rather than Miami? Maybe this year we’ll find out.

---

KJ

Long overdue

Hated the 2-3-2 format. That meant the team with the better record and homecourt advantage in the series had to play 3 of its first five games on the road. Ridiculous.

I agree, Steve. Moreover, since the pivotal game in the majority of series is most usually game 5, it seems unfair that it's played at the home of the lower-seeded team.

Sam

The main advantages of homecourt advantage are:

1. Four out of seven games on your court
2. Crucial game 5 on your court
3. Decisive game 7 on your court

As Sam pointed out, the 2-3-2 takes away one of those.

On the flip side, due to the ebb and flow of the series in a competitive series, the team without homecourt advantage usually can't win three in a row at home and therefore has to win two on the other team's home court, which is extremely hard to do. That was the case in the 2013 finals, and San Antonio almost pulled it off, but didn't seal the deal in game 6.

The 2-3-2 just screws everything up. Good riddance.

Thank God. This rule was just about as stupid as the MLB World Series rule that is now in effect with the team that wins the ASG, the league in the WS gets HFA. Completely idiotic.