The NBA held their annual Board of Governors meeting and unanimously voted for a return to the 2-2-1-1-1 format for the NBA Finals, David Stern announced via live stream on NBA.com. The group also agreed on adding an additional day between Game 6 and 7 of the series to accommodate additional travel time.
NBA Finals format officially voted to return to 2-2-1-1-1
David Stern and Adam Silver held a press conference to officially announce the change to the NBA Finals format.
Mike Young
In September it was reported that the change had been suggested by the NBA competition committee. The format was 2-2-1-1-1 prior to a change in 1985 to better serve teams dealing with commercial travel as well as economic considerations for marketing and newspapers.
Both Silver and Stern cited “basketball reasons” as a conclusion regarding the change, acknowledging the perception that the two home games, three away games, and two final home games format was unfair to the team with the better record.
“In a 2-2 series, it’s sort of not fair to the team with the better record to be away,” Stern said. “It’s difficult for the better team, in terms of record, to spend as many as eight games on the road.”
There was no “dissent” and it was an “easy sell”, Stern said.
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