Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Where do Heat belong in playoffs?
It’s time to number playoff spots 1-16, then re-seed, setting up first-round Heat-Thunder matchup
It was a playoff proposal that predated pandemic. It also would have been the road more traveled.
So the NBA continually has tabled the intriguing notion of seeding the playoffs Nos. 1-16 — the 16 teams with the best records getting in, regardless of conference.
For most, the mileage made it impractical, with the NBA Finals, with the 2-2-1-1-1 playoff format, singularly becoming a tedious coast-to-coast exercise. Then multiply that by four.
Consider, for example, a Miami Heat four-series grind first versus the Sacramento Kings, then the Portland Trail Blazers, then the Los Angeles Clippers and then the Los Angeles Lakers.
But put all those teams in a bubble at Disney World, and it would be the ultimate road less traveled.
Which makes this most imperfect of times the perfect time for the NBA to experiment, something Adam Silver has not shied away from since taking over for David Stern.
Freeze the standings and move directly into a postseason seeded Nos. 1-16 and you
wind up with the No. 8 Heat (41-24) against the
No. 9 Oklahoma City Thunder (40-24), arguably as telegenic as any openround pairing under the format:
■ A pair of Coach of the Year candidates, in the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra against the Thunder’s Billy Donovan.
■ Oklahoma City’s Chris Paul against the team that drew a line when it came to Paul’s offseason desire to relocate to South Florida.
■ The Thunder’s Danilo Gallinari facing the team that attempted to acquire him at the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline, before he balked the extension terms that Andre Iguodala accepted.
■ A rematch of the teams’ 2012 NBA Finals, with everyone gone but the Heat’s Udonis Haslem.
Granted, it also might be a reason the Heat might move forward with a “nay” vote from owner Micky
Arison on Nos. 1-16 conference-less seeding, with the Heat otherwise currently seeded to face the Indiana Pacers in the No. 4 (Heat)vs.-No. 5 (Pacers) series in the East — with all due respect to Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner.
That, as much as travel concerns, is why Eastern Conference owners have been reluctant to assist in the two-thirds vote needed to change the playoff format. In several recent seasons, it would have shut out several East playoff teams.
This season, at this moment, such would not be the case. The same eight teams that would advance from each conference, if the standings remain frozen, still would advance to the 16-team field — the 30-35 Orlando Magic as the last team from the East, the 32-33 Memphis Grizzlies as the last team from the West.
But if the NBA is going to move into something different, then go all in — re-seed after each round, lining up the eight firstround survivors and then re-seeding from there. Same with the semifinal round.
It is an idea the NBA already has considered with its final four. The
NFL conducts its rounds by re-seeding, as the NHL previously had done.
If the NBA had a conference-less bracket and moved directly to the playoffs, the winner of that No. 8 Heat-No. 9 Thunder series would play the winner of the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks-No. 16 Magic.
Under the current format, the winner in the East of No. 4 Heat-No. 5 Pacers would also play the winner of No. 1 Bucks-No. 8 Magic. So it’s not as if that element would change for Spoelstra’s team.
But what re-seeding after each round would do is keep the best teams in the best possible position to thrive. Granted, there has never been a No.
16-No. 1 upset in the NBA playoffs (let that marinate and you’ll appreciate why), but if the No. 1 Bucks were to go out, there is no reason that LeBron James and the No. 2 Los Angeles Lakers shouldn’t ascend as the top seed in the second round.
Seeding, in fact, should count more than ever, considering there would be absolutely no homecourt advantage in the games to be played in the void of fans at the Wide World of Sports Complex.
Yes, it all could be a one off. But this season is a one off, hopefully never to be duplicated under these circumstances.
As it is, teams have not completed all of their conference play, the Heat left with two postponed games apiece against the Pacers and Boston Celtics. So concerns about reducing conference rivalries — a Heat concern in such considerations over the years — already are at play.
So instead of 2019-20 being remembered as the season that infected basketball, let it be known for its novelty and uniqueness. And if it works, then perhaps, as well, as a roadmap to the future.