In talking about the Mavs collapse they said today that doing well in the regular is meaningless in basketball more than any other sport.

I fail to see the logic in that. What do you get for winning 98 baseball games or 15 football games and getting booted in your playoff series?

I would disagree with that as well. In fact I think the regular season is MORE important in basketball. Not necessarily for actually qualifying for the playoffs because yeah almost half the teams are going to qualify, including some that are at or below .500, but for home court. I think home court is more of an advantage in basketball than football or baseball.

You are entirely right! While this is the first time a "1" lost to an "8" in a 7-game NBA series (there was only one time when it happened in the best-of-5 era), it happens often enough in the NH of L. The Hawks had the best record in the NHL in 1991, and went out in the first round to the Minnesota No-Stars (who had the lowest point total among playoff teams and made it to the finals). It's common enough in baseball and football, too (2001 Mariners, 2001 Bears, 2005 Bears, probably other Bears teams...)

You get a bye.
Since everyone makes the playoffs and the playoffs take 7 months, the regular season means nothing because even someone with a season ending injury is back in time for the second round. A 7 game series should take no more than 10 days.

(OT)
They should stop calling them "officials" and "referees" in basketball and refer to them instead as "judges" because it has evolved into something almost as phony as figure skating.

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Colin Cowherd is a poor man's Jim Rome and you have to pity the poor man who aspires to be Jim Rome.