A Case for the First Round

The NBA Playoffs kick off tomorrow with a best-of-seven First Round. There are fans and media members than tend to find this round to be pointless. Statistically, it is. There have only been three instances ever where a team lower than the fourth seed has made the NBA Finals. It is fair to ask if the Playoffs should be shortened by a round. However, I think the playoff structure is mostly fine as-is.

While I would shorten the First Round back to the best-of-five format it carried from 1983 through 2002, I think that its existence is justified. It gives eight fanbases a week or two more of exciting basketball to care about. If the First Round didn't exist, then a fair amount of those eight markets would probably stop caring just after the trade deadline, deading any excitement for the playoffs in over 2/3 of the league. The NBA isn't as regional as Major League Baseball, but in most markets people only care about the team in town. Leaving them out kills the excitement in a lot of places.

Keeping the field at 16 teams also allows a fair amount of markets to stay engaged in the NBA through the end of April but also keeps things competitive as nearly half of the league is left out each year.

For the league, the excitement converts into revenue for member teams and the hive mind itself. You get to sell a captivating experience for two more weeks through packed arenas and [team's secondary color]-outs. The First Round feels more like a party for teams in the middle, instead of just being an exclusive club for the über-best if the round didn't exist.

It also serves as a training ground for rising teams. For rising teams, such as the Pistons and Celtics, they get their first cracks at playoff experience. These experiences could pay dividends down the line, as these teams will be better situated if they return to the playoffs in the future.

I personally enjoy the extra basketball that the First Round provides without being too overwhelming. Nights with three or four games are much easier to keep track of as opposed to nights where there's as many as 13 games. At it's the better half of the league playing for the same goal, so the energy and level of play is top notch.

Tomorrow is the beginning of a two-month journey that - while it may be a foregone conclusion - will most likely still be compelling on a game-to-game basis. Enjoy the games, everyone!