If the winner comes from one of those bottom tier teams (unlikely, be we know anything is possible) I don’t know if we can say they didn’t deserve it. Sure they had a mediocre regular season and snuck in on virtue of a rule change, but the new rules also give them a massive uphill climb.
If the eventual winner comes from seeds 5-12, they likely will break the record for playoff games played having to claw through a 5 game series, and then four 7 game series all while playing away from home and their families.
Try telling that winner they didn’t deserve it.
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