(05-21-2017 02:00 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-21-2017 11:23 AM)Love and Honor Wrote:  The lowest seed to win the finals in league history was a 6 and only one 8 has even made it to the finals IIRC.

That's because the NBA playoffs are best-of-7 series, which tend to minimize upset winners. It's a lot to ask for a team that's not even in the conference's top 4 to win 4 best-of-7 series.

Hockey is different because about half the goals scored are just good luck for the scoring team or bad luck for the team giving up the goal. I suppose that if the only reason you watch is to see lower-seeded teams win more often that the NHL playoffs are entertaining for that reason, but that's not the primary reason I watch any sports.

I realize that baseball only has eight (ten if you count wild cards) teams in the playoffs instead of sixteen, but they have lengthy series as well yet a wild card team has won six World Series and won six other pennants since starting in 1995. The Cubs were the best team in the league last year and big favorite to win it all, yet were on the ropes by the Indians last fall. I think a bit of the problem is that basketball has only five men on the court and smaller rosters overall so it easier for a few teams concentrate power and dominate with how advanced the athletes are in the pros; college ball has power teams too, but the talent is so dispersed that it makes for a far more interesting game. There's an element of randomness there and the NHL (as you specifically mentioned), but also the MLB and even the NFL too.

I don't watch sports just for upsets either, I watch because the game is entertaining. But when your conference finals are over after the first quarter and the two teams in the finals are virtually determined at the start of the playoffs, it not very captivating to me. A hockey series can still be pretty interesting even if the favorite wins and it doesn't go to seven games, just look at Washington vs. Toronto this year. Dynasties aren't inherently bad, but extreme competitive balance is imo.