they have several options: they can either shorten/reduce the commercial breaks, or start rigging the games (like the NBA and WWE) so that only the big market teams make it every year like in the past.

First, how would you put in the ball in the hoop for the opponent?

Standard deviation is lower in basketball than all other sports, the better teams generally win. It would take too long to go into why but part of it is "you can't teach height", individual impact isn't unequal--though you have the best offensive player w/ the higher usage rate, 82 games plus 7 game series to weed out the pretenders (MLB fails in comparison in using less games and 1-game to eliminate a wild card).

Recently you had the best all-around player teamed with someone who had around MVP numbers with a double-double threat with the best 3-point shooter of all-time coming off the bench (how do you rig that shot?) that went up against Dallas whose game-plan won their playoff series and finals then after that was Oklahoma City which is a very small market. They have one of the greatest of all-time as well who is either 1 or 2 of the greatest ball players in the planet. San Antonio made it back-to-back by excellent coaching, their strategy of resting & sitting got them the best record and their deep roster which includes someone who belongs in the greatest PF of all-time discussion, Tony Parker is especially difficult to defend, especially from scoring, and Kwahli Leonard who is one of the best defenders in the league. Miami actually had a down defense from their first 3 finals trips, what was also different is they lead the league in points per possession. SA was unstoppable on offense and their team defense put Miami in a hole so it was the biggest collective blowout in finals history.

Really the only thing it comes down to is there is no proof the NBA is rigged. A ref that had a gambling problem fixed games for gambling reasons which made those games rigged but he made all kinds of baseless claims, one involved Charles Barkley (whether you like him or not, he is brutally honest) which he denied. Game 6 of LA-Kings which involved Bob Delaney who was an undercover NJ state trooper deep into the mob, I can't see him being tainted by accusations from someone with trouble from the mob. I started watching the game and I see bad calls go against the Kings early but say it was case like that.

Jerry Porter accused the refs of Indy-Pittsburgh in 2006 of the same thing

"I know they wanted Indy to win this game," Porter said. "The whole world loves Peyton Manning, but come on man, don't take the game away from us.

"I felt they were cheating us. When the interception happened, everybody in the world knew that was an interception. Don't cheat us that bad. When they did that, they really want Peyton Manning and these guys to win the Super Bowl. They are just going to straight take it for them. I felt that they were like 'We don't even care if you know we're cheating. We're cheating for them.' "

The National Football League office is unlikely to be amused by Porter's comments, but the call was an odd one. It appeared that Polamalu had intercepted the ball at midfield and fell down. As he got up and began to run, Polamalu knocked the ball out of his hands with his knee. On the field, the officials ruled the play was an interception, a fumble and a recovery - all by Polamalu. But the Colts challenged the call, and replays seemed to be too inconclusive to overrule the call.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/16/sports/football/16indy.html?_r=0

There is a human element of officiating and human eyes miss a lot (especially when it comes to expectation which is the key behind magic), there may be a bias from the officials themselves but any idea behind teams advancing over others behind rigged is hard to believe. In a game Indiana from the 7-game conference finals, an Indiana defender hit Chalmers arm on an attempt to block his game tying 3. Refs could have easily called a foul on that, especially if they had orders to give Miami the win.

Now small market Cleveland with a more polished shooter in Lebron James, Kevin Love who had one of the greatest seasons a PF has ever had, and a PG who is on his way into Super Star status will be one of the top Eastern teams with Indiana suffering key player injuries will face Chicago with a healthy Rose & the addition of Gasol as toughest competition w/ maybe the Wizards as a distant 3rd. The better teams with the better players followed by coaching will routinely advance til they run into the better team or gameplan.

Most working people I know have to get up between 5am - 6am. They normally go to bed 9pm - 10:30pm. With first pitch approaching 8:30 for World Series games, they're not going to stay up until 11:30 - midnight to watch (unless they're a fan of one of the teams). Why bother tuning in just to catch the first 3 or 4 innings? As long as MLB wants to set late east coast start times, few people from the east are going to lose sleep to watch a mid-west and western team. MLB's choice.