In 1985, the NBA switched the Finals to a 2-3-2 format, to protect against repeated long cross country flights, which existed in the 2-2-1-1-1 format. Since that change, a couple very interesting things have happened.

First, in the 11 times a series has been tied 1-1, going into Game 3, the team that wins Game 3 has won the series every single time.

Second, the team without home court advantage, that hosts the middle three games of the series, has swept those games only twice. The 2004 Detroit Pistons and the 2006 Miami Heat.