Playoff Format Bullish On Chicago

It's amazing what one two-hour period can do in the NBA.

The Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers, division rivals, couldn't have claimed the second and third seeds in the Eastern Conference playoffs because they're both in the Central Division.

And because we live in America, where we're a bunch of soft little bitch boys obsessed with sensitivity and fairness toward and inclusion of everybody, the four divisions have to represent each of the top four seeds, even if, say, Team 2 from Division B has a far better record than the winners of Division C and D. Got me?

So, because Chicago won the regular-season tiebreaker with Cleveland, the Bulls would have claimed the No. 2 seed and an opening-round series with a fast-fading Washington team. The Cavs, meanwhile, were headed toward a Miami Heat team that just got Dwyane Wade back from injury, and those fools are clicking at the perfect time.

But all that changed on Wednesday night, the final evening of regular-season games. The Bulls had their stranglehold on that No. 2 seed for the last two weeks of the season, and all it needed was a win at New Jersey or a loss by Cleveland to Milwaukee.

Neither of those things happened, so Cleveland gains the easy first-round waltz over Washington, then probably a second-round defeat of Toronto. Sorry, Marcus.

Chicago will lose to Miami in the first round, and the Heat and Pistons will beat each other up in the second round, the winner of which will face the Cavaliers in the conference finals. Either of those squads would probably beat the Cavs, but it's insane how just two hours had such a drastic effect on the postseason fortunes of two divisional rivals.