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The current format has been in place for 2 years. This is the answer given by Marc Howard of the NBL when questioned about how the format came about:
"Each of our teams has a representative at our quarterly Participants Meetings, where issues such as playoff formats are discussed and approved. Generally it is a representative of the owners group and in Adelaide's case, it is Brenton Higgins."
Its these representatives that need to realise that there is a problem with the current format and vote for a change.
But the Champions League and UEFA Cups have one off finals. As do the majority of the European Cup finals (ie FA Cup etc). It's tradition more then anything. Same goes for bball.
What he said about the NBA was true - it has gone 7-7-7-7 for the finals series, so potentially there will be 7 game First Rounds.