<P> The National Basketball Association has this format, too, with "2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 1" for all playoff rounds, and also the Finals; originally the championship round was "2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 1" as well (except 1971, 1975, 1978 - 1979), but was changed to "2 - 3 - 2" from 1985 - 2013 to cut down on travel expenses, as the league's "East - West" divisional alignment means the two teams are usually separated by great distances - indeed, the cities represented in the Finals' most frequent matchup, Los Angeles and Boston, are almost 3,000 miles apart . </P> <P> The "2 - 3 - 2" format, the "2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 1" format, and the "1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1" format are situated such that if a team "sweeps" the series (wins 4 - 0), it will win two games at home, and two games away . They are also set up such that the team with home advantage for the series plays at home for the first game and the seventh game if necessary . As previously stated, the "2 - 3 - 2" format reduces travel between the two venues, but it then gives the team "without" home advantage three consecutive home games . The "1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1" format is mainly used in the postseason tournaments of the Liiga in Finland and the Swedish Hockey League . </P> <P> The AHL and the ECHL do not use a set playoff format for their league championship playoff tournaments due to scheduling conflicts . For example, in the 2016 Calder Cup playoffs, due to scheduling conflicts in both arenas, the Pacific Division finals between the Ontario Reign and the San Diego Gulls used the "1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1" playoff format, with Ontario hosting the first, third, fifth, and seventh game . </P> <P> As noted earlier, the Chinese, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish and Turkish basketball leagues use a best - of - seven format in their championship series . The Turkish playoff has one unique feature . If one team in the championship series (or, for that matter, in any playoff series) defeated its final opponent in both of their regular - season games, the winning team is granted a 1 - 0 lead in the series, and the series starts with Game 2 . The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), aside from using the best - of - 7 series in its finals series, has also used it on most its semifinals since 2005 . </P>

How many games in an 8 team tournament