R
Ryan McDonald
Guest
Over the past two years, the Houston Rockets have become the Utah Jazz’s primary nemesis, beating them soundly in the playoffs both seasons, with a number of their players becoming severely disliked by Jazz fans in the process.
Now, if one proposal for the NBA’s return in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic comes to fruition, they would square off once again in the first round of the playoffs.
In a podcast released Monday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst Bobby Marks and Tim Bontemps discussed a possibility that would see just the 16 teams that are now in playoff standing go to a bubble in Orlando and play out the postseason. As part of that, teams would be seeded 1-16, regardless of conference affiliation.
That format would pit Utah and Houston against each other, with the Jazz being the No. 7 seed and Houston being the No. 10 seed.
Given that the NBA’s Western Conference has had more good teams for a number of years than the Eastern Conference, many have wanted the NBA to seed teams for the playoffs without thought to conference affiliation, but excessive travel has been a concern.
That, of course, wouldn’t be an issue if all of the teams were staying in a “bubble” in Orlando, and Windhorst said seeding teams this way is something league commissioner Adam Silver has wanted to do.
In this format, the Milwaukee Bucks would be the top seed and play the Orlando Magic. The first intraconference matchup would see the 2-seed Los Angeles Lakers face the 15-seed Brooklyn Nets.
If the league went straight to postseason play but teams were seeded traditionally by conference, Utah would play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round (the Thunder would be the 4-seed and the Jazz the 5-seed). The Rockets would be the 6-seed and would face the 3-seed Denver Nuggets.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported last week that a survey was sent by the league to team general managers asking a number of questions related to how a return to play should be formatted. According to Charania, some options beside advancing straight to the playoffs include a play-in tournament and resuming the season with all 30 teams.
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