NBA changes playoff format, no reward for division winners

AP

Clippers coach Doc Rivers is critical of the NBA playoff format that gives division winners a higher seed despite a worse record than lower seeds. The league changes that Tuesday.

Winning division isn’t what it used to be in the NBA. Not anymore.

The league announced Tuesday that it will seed the eight playoff teams in each conference based strictly on their regular-season records. In other words, division winners will no longer be assured a top-4 seed, as voted by the NBA’s owners.

Also, head-to-head results will now be the first criterion to break ties for playoff seeding, replacing the previous rule that gave division winners homecourt advantage in a series.

The changes – which were teased by Commissioner Adam Silver last season – comes on the heels of a Western Conference playoff bracket that left the Clippers feeling cheated. Despite winning 56 games with the third best record in the conference, Doc Rivers’ squad had to play the Spurs in the first round (because the Trailblazers got a top-4 seed for winning the Northwest Division) and lost homecourt advantage in the second round because its opponent, the Rockets, won the Southwest Division.

“That’s a flaw,” Rivers said at the time. “I think the divisions are important. They’re nice to have. They’re nice to be celebrated, for some and some not, but I don’t know if they should be celebrated as far as in the standings. I think it’s something that the league will absolutely look at and try to fix. You shouldn’t be rewarded if your record [isn’t as good as others].”

The NBA owners did not address another hot-button issue regarding the playoff seedings. The Western Conference has produced by far the better records and therefore eliminates above-.500 teams from playoff consideration, while the Eastern Conference annually gets in teams like last season’s Nets (38-44).

But the owners were only willing to diminish the divisions, not the conferences.

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