I personally liked the top-6 finals format with all six teams playing against each other. Otherwise why can't we have elimination finals like the 2009 season.

Highest loser seed will go through to the semifinals.

Qualifying-finals:
1st vs. 6th, 2nd vs. 5th, 3rd vs. 4th. (best-of-3)
Or
Elimination-finals:
3rd vs. 6th, 4th vs. 5th. (best-of-3)

Semi-finals:
(best-of-3 or best-of 5)

Grand Final:
(best-of-5)

If you compare NBA playoffs to NBL, if all seven games are played in each series by one team there are 28 extra games on top of the normally 82 regular season games. That's 34% of all games being playoff games in theory.

The NBL should aim for the same. If there is a top 5, have three games to separate 4/5 then a best of 5 semis and best of 5 GF. There could be a playoff game every night for a 10 day period followed by a further 10 day GF series.

Not a bad way thinking. Extend the playoffs because I know in the LBA in Italy all their playoff games are best of 5 I think. Their grand final may be best of 7.

It just sucks we don't have enough teams to make a proper finals series. Quarter finals were the best format like the NBL use to have from 1992 to 1996 respectively.

I'm Not a fan of lucky loser but I do like
3v6 (best of 3)
4v5 ( best of 3)
1&2 Bye

Semis 1v 4or5 ( best of 5)
2v 3or6 ( best of 5)

Grand final (best of 7)

10 teams was mostly top-6 Anonymous #859145?

They had top-8 from 1992 to 1996. 2004-2008 format was dumb. Single elimination finals were terrible.

Keep it the way it is.

There was clear daylight between the top two and the next two. You don't want another dud being a playoff team.

Have elimination finals and top 5 or 6

This year, there may have been 1 or 2 dud teams. That does not include the 5th, 6th and even the 7th team. Daylight between top 2 and the rest, I agree.

This year, there may have been 1 or 2 dud teams. That does not include the 5th, 6th and even the 7th team. Daylight between top 2 and the rest, I agree.

I am with Giacontigers, back in the '90s with the top 8 QF were the best.

I probably wouldn't go top 6 until we have 11 teams though.

6 out of 11
6 out of 12
6 out of 13 (maybe 8)
8 out of 14 and above

Finals need to be longer, best of 5 each round. Surely Larry is looking to expand on this once we get at least 1 more team.

4th vs 5th is a pointless waste of time.
You've got everyone sitting around for a week, waiting on the result of a game that will probably be irrelevant, and that nobody cares about.
That's a good recipe to get fans of 6-10 to switch off, take no further interest, and start watching the AFL pre-season.
Then the winning team is on a hiding to nothing, as they have to back straight up and play the number one team.
It's also pointless. To work you need 4th and 5th to be strong teams, either capable of taking to team 1. Highly unlikely.

If you have top 6, with 3-6 playing off, and 1 & 2 having a by.
You risk making it too easy for teams 1 & 2. A week off, plus HCA.

I will admit to certain level of OCD, but I like the current format. It's simple, it's clean, it's fair.

Upsets do happen, but they don't generally improve things. Wildcats got a couple of titles because 1st blew it against 4th, gifting Perth HCA against an easy opponent. Do we really want to watch the result if 6th manages to upset 1st?

This isn't pee-wees. The NBL isn't giving out participation trophies.
We all get to enjoy the season, but the idea is that the cream rises slowly to the top, and the finals need to have just enough teams to make it interesting. If you can't make it into the top half, you don't deserve to be there.
I would accept a final 5 just, if it worked, but I don't see how it can.

Week 1
Wed/Thur
Game 1: 2 vs 3
Game 2: 4 vs 5

Loser of Game 2 eliminated

Sat/Sun

Game 3: 1 vs winner of Game 1 (2 vs 3)
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 (2 vs 3) VS winner of Game 2 (4 vs 5)

Week 2:

Winner of Game 3 vs Loser of Game 4- Best of 3

Loser of Game 3 vs Winner of Game 4- best of 3

Week 3 and 4:

Grand Final best of 5, home court based on seedlings established in playoffs

Seedings* not seedlings

My system has these advantages

- 5 teams. The right amount for a 10 team comp.

- The buzz of one off games- playing to avoid elimination, or playing for playoff seeding and home court

- genuine advantage for the minor premier, then 2 and 3, then 4 and 5. This tiering of advantages within the playoffs structure seems fair

- Increases rivalries by meaning you can meet the same opponent multiple times in the same playoffs. If we had a dominant 1 and 2, they'd meet in Week 1 (with semi final and GF home court advantage on the line) and then again in the GF.

Leave it at 4 until we expand more. Make getting to the playoffs mean something

"4th vs 5th is a pointless waste of time...To work you need 4th and 5th to be strong teams, either capable of taking to team 1. Highly unlikely."

We've seen a few seasons where there has been a team making a charge to fall just short.. arguably performing better, at the end of the season, than the team hanging on to 4th.
But yeah - otherwise I'd agree there'd be years when the team in 5th would be a dud.

For me I just hate overly complex structures, where you have multiple teams playing qualifiers. The way the AFL do things I can handle - just - but still think going up to 6 teams out of 10 sets the bar too low.. almost certainly taking on a team with a losing record further than they should go.

Just have top 4, and if 5th/6th are close then have a play in tournament like the NBA, if they aren't close then they aren't good enough.

#212 not at all, it's an easy format. Was used in the VJBL when I was a junior. Great system. The rivalry thing would be huge for the NBL, has potential to add interest.

I like that idea. But instead of having a series for the play-in games they should only have two games which will be home, away and legged. Meaning every point counts.

Then whoever makes the top-4 you keep it the same format. But, I would personally like the semifinals to become a best of 5 series like the grand final series.

I know the British Basketball League does legged games for their finals. It would be ideal for the first round of basketball. Much better then a single elimination final or best of 3 series which would be too long for the number 1 and 2 seeds.

It's obvious that with the league expanding back to 10 teams, there is no choice.

We simply must return to a final-8 system

I agree, even though 8 seems crazy, but it's what the NBA does every year and it works.

I would love to attend all finals in Melbourne if that will be quarterfinals, semifinals and the Grand Final. Be great if an 8 seed, say like Cairns could knock off a top team like Perth, Sydney or Melbourne.

Top-6 is likely, but it makes no sense giving the top seeds advantage in the quarterfinals if they lose.

I don’t necessary agree giving teams byes to the semifinals either.

Most European leagues have a top-8 finals format. I know one European League I follow has 10 teams like the NBL does now. They always have a top-8 finals format. I remember my team lost to the 8 seed in the quarterfinals in 2019. It did suck, but it was amazing an 8 seed could knock off a top seed. Brings excitement to finals for every NBL team.

Let's do a stupid structure where there are 5 conferences of 2 teams and the top 5 plus the next best three teams make it to the quarters and who plays who goes into a complicated lottery scenario.

Announced anything about what?

What new finals format? There's no reason to believe there is one.

Will have to wait and see?

What I want from my playoffs is firstly that they get called playoffs as this is basketball!

Secondly I don't care how many games we play, the more the better but I want it to remain affordable for those that want to attend the games. I'd welcome best of 5 series if the price isn't jacked up too much.

Thirdly and I'm sure this a,ready an contingency within NBL and teams but I don't want the travel to cost too much when the uncertainty of an extended game for a series happens and both teams need to travel (surely QANTAS being a league sponsor means this isn't an issue but I think we've had times in the past when the league was struggling where teams were struggling to pay for flights come end of season)

Lastly I would like the NBL to make serious money from their playoffs and I'd love to see more advertising absolutely everywhere to really get everyone excited and eyeballs on games and bums in seats. We as a league lose a lot of momentum when the AFL and NRL start and whilst having 5 and 7 game series in theory sounds epic, they mean nothing if the NBL itself isn't making money from the most important time of the season.

... who cares if the imports want to check out early and pick up a contract overseas, they get paid well here and let's keep them around and get the value out of them and continue to create a vibe that will have imports and locals wanting to play and stay here.

Any chance for an All-star game at all?

I heard today on NBL.com.au that the nbl are considering play-in games to the nbl finals.

Newscorp's Matt Logue has reported the "NBL is looking to introduce an NBA-style play-in tournament for the playoffs in a bid to shake up the finals structure".

Source: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=HSWEB_MRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fsport%2Fbasketball%2Fbasketball-2022-nbl-keen-to-emulate-nba-playin-tournament-and-expand-finals-structure%2Fnews-story%2F688edaca76729960cf036f8958d23084&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-cold-control-score&V21spcbehaviour=append

I heard the NBL will do play-in tournament games. I wonder which seeds would qualify. My guess would be 5th and 6th seeds play each other then the winner would play the 4th seed for the final 4.

Will this be for next season or this?

Can they just change the finals format whilst a season is in progress?

I'm hearing this season. It must be NBL’s strategy so each team stays competitive early in the season.

Will this be for next season or this?

Can they just change the finals format whilst a season is in progress?

I see.

I'd be happy for it to be extended to the top 9.

That way NZ supporters can say hey I was only one away from getting playoffs.

Does anyone know the new NBL play-in finals format?

I don't get why it’s taking the league so long to release their new fixture.

My guess is that the league will go with top-5 and only have one or two extra games.

Personally I like top-6 with only 3 games. Have 3rd verses 4th for 3rd seed and the loser plays the winner of 5th verses 6th for the 4th seed.

July 26