. . . the NBA doesn't re-seed teams after each round of the playoffs.  The NHL does.  So does the NFL.  In baseball—as well as collegiate sports—it’s a non-issue with limited rounds of playoffs or fixed brackets, respectively.  But in a league driven—and obsessed—with ratings and stars, it is odd (and, from fan's viewpoint, disappointing) that the playoff's best match-up—the winner of which is the odds on favorite to take home the title in June—is currently playing out in the conference semifinals between San Antonio and Phoenix.  
 
By re-seeding you are rewarding the teams that performed the best during the regular season.  Now certainly it could be argued that the shocking loss by Dallas was an aberration, that only in extreme cases does the No. 8 seed oust the conference's premier squad.  But it happened.  And instead of rewarding the Suns for their 61 win campaign—and treating fans to a Phoenix-Golden State series that would have harkened back to the storied UNLV-Loyola Marymount shootouts of the early '90s—they give them the playoff-tested, indomitable San Antonio Spurs.  (The San Antonio-Utah series, while played at a more deliberate pace, would also have been intriguing on many levels.)  
 
In researching this odd didactic, the one reason mentioned most often is television.  Long known—yes, laddies, even before the NFL wrapped itself in that whorish blanket— as a slave to the networks, the NBA's official spokesperson, commish David Stern, finally admitted as much when questioned about the lack of re-seeding on the eve of the Suns-Spurs showdown.  That explanation—that the three networks (ABC, ESPN, and TNT) couldn't logistically handle such a drastic alteration of the playoff landscape—is ridiculous.  How is it more difficult to plan for Warriors-Suns than Spurs-Suns?  Are those two time zones in between that big a bridge to span?  
 
Just last season, a similar instance occurred.  Dallas, who finished with the second most conference points but was tabbed with the fourth seed because all division winners are automatically awarded the top three seeds, had to play top-seeded San Antonio in the second round, even though the Spurs won only three more games than the Mavs during the 2005-06 regular season.  The NBA fixed it this year, ranking the teams—including the three division winners—by record, one through four, insuring that the top two regular season teams would not meet until the conference finals.  
 
Unfortunately for the NBA—and, more importantly, us the fans—they never considered this year's debacle.  Here's hoping they make one last change so as we reconvene next year at this time, all that's left to (still) wonder is why the Lakers can't get Kobe Bryant some major help—or at least a few players that can knock down open jump shots.