Below is a list of the seeds of the teams that have played in the NBA championship series since the year 2000: Western Conference is the first number, Eastern is the second. 

1 vs 2

2 vs 1

3 vs 1

1 vs 2

2 vs 3

2 vs 2

4 vs 2

3 vs 2

1 vs 1

1 vs 3

1 vs 4

3 vs 2 

2 vs 2 

2 vs 1

1 vs 2

1 vs 2

1 vs 1

1 vs 2

2 vs 4

1 vs 2

Hmm….. do you notice what number is missing? Uh, 5. And 6,7,8. In fact, despite forty possible chances, the four seed has only made the finals three times. The aging Celtics in 2010, the Heatseeking Mavs in 2006, and when Lebron took a midseason vacation from the Cavs in 2018. Only Dallas could truly be considered a surprise. The other two squads were just resting up for the playoffs and didn’t value the higher seed.

So what do these numbers tell me? I would say, in this unprecedented time of a global pandemic, the NBA cannot mess around with a playoff bracket that includes teams seeded five or lower when the season suddenly ended. Is it fair, no. But is 118,000 Americans dead and twenty million people suddenly out of a job fair? Nope. Fairness is over-rated these days. Get over it. And the numbers show you weren’t going to win anyway. I’d also like to add NCAA basketball plays just a thirty game schedule followed by a SINGLE elimination tournament and nobody says the March Madness champion isn’t legit.

Besides, many players on teams with no hope of winning don’t even want to live in quarantine and play in the first place. (Kyrie Irving) Let them stay home. They aren’t needed anyway.

The bracket would look like this. Heck, you could make the finals a nine-games series.

(1) Bucks vs (8) Heat

(2) Lakers vs (7) Jazz

(3) Raptors vs (6) Nuggets

(4) Clippers vs (5) Celtics

Doesn’t that look fun? Let’s hoop.

Colin Gawel is coming up with your sports-related solutions while working at Colin’s Coffee. Next up: How to bring fans into golf tournaments.