It’s been some years since the NBA used “byes” in its opening playoff round for the top regular-season finishers. Back when an 82-game slate was being shoe-horned into as few as 22 calendar weeks, a brief respite at the start of a championship run was generally deemed worthy of the effort it took to achieve.
Contrarians would argue, though, that even a short spell of “rest” produces “rust” – or if not rust, at least some diminishment in the collective team “rhythm” that had enabled such effective on-court performance.
The 2017-18 Boston Celtics might be lending some credence to that contrarian opinion.