How about if they flipped coins for playoff positioning and just played one 5 minute game for each round. Think of all the time we could save. We'd could play Utah Jazz Survivor!!! for 51 weeks a year!
Any time I start watching any sporting event I've recorded my wife always tells me I should just fast forward to the last minutes. I think she was serious at first, but she now just says it as a joke since she knows I insist on watching the whole thing.