I have to dissent from Noah on the issue of the playoffs extension. The NBA playoffs are ridiculously long already, and they should contract to 12 or fewer teams. The last thing they need to do is get longer. As for the issue of the good teams getting beaten in a best of 5 series, I don't think the numbers bear out an unreasonable number of upsets. Since this playoff system was instituted in the 1983-84 season, there have been seven upsets involving number one or number two seeds in the first round of the playoffs, according to my count. That's about one upset every 11 series, which seems like a low enough number to me. Furthermore, of those seven upsets, four of them were accomplished in under five games (Indianapolis sweeping Atlanta in 1995, the Chris Mullin-led Golden State Warriors beating San Antonio in 4 games in 1991 and Utah in 3 in 1989, and Seattle topping Dallas in 4 in 1987). If you get beat in three or four games, you clearly did not show up to play in the playoffs. Of the remaining three upsets, the higher seed choked in two of them: Seattle lost with a 2-0 lead to Mount Mutombo and the Nuggets in 1994, and Miami blew a 2-1 lead to the Knicks in 1998. The remaining upset was the rematch to that series the following year, when New York again beat the Heat in five games.

In summary, I think that first round upsets are rare, and when they do happen they're usually decisive enough that the favorite has only itself to blame. The NBA playoffs do NOT need to get any longer than they already are. Interestingly, the playoff format before 1984 was a best of 3 series in the first round.