When Did the NBA Playoffs Start?
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The NBA playoffs are underway and the competition is fierce! But when did it all start? We did some digging and found out that the first NBA playoff game was played on April 24, 1947.
2019 NBA Playoffs
The NBA Playoffs are a postseason tournament held annually to eliminate the bottom teams of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was first held in 1947, and has been held every year since. The tournament is single-elimination, and each team is seeded according to their regular season record. The team with the best record in each conference is given the top seed, while the other teams are seeded according to the next best records.
Eastern Conference
The NBA playoff system is a best-of-seven series. The eight teams with the most wins in their conference are seeded one through eight, with the team carrying the best record being awarded the top seed.
In the first round of the playoffs, the matchups are as follows:
The first seed plays the eighth seed
The second seed plays the seventh seed
The third seed plays the sixth seed
The fourth seed plays the fifth seed
Those series are played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format, meaning that if one team wins four games before their opponent, that team will win the series and advance to the next round. If both teams win three games, then there will be a Game 7 to determine which team advances. If a team loses four games before winning three, that team will be eliminated from playoff contention.
Western Conference
The 2019 NBA Playoffs began on April 13, 2019. The playoffs are set to conclude on June 16, 2019, with the 2019 NBA Finals. The playoffs will consist of four rounds of best-of-seven series.
The first round of the playoffs will see the following match-ups:
(1) Golden State Warriors vs. (8) Los Angeles Clippers
(2) Denver Nuggets vs. (7) San Antonio Spurs
(3) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (6) Oklahoma City Thunder
(4) Houston Rockets vs. (5) Utah Jazz
2018 NBA Playoffs
The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament held annually to decide the league champion of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The playoffs began on April 14, 2018, and will end on June 17, 2018, with the NBA Finals. A total of 16 teams (eight from each conference) will qualify for the playoffs.
Eastern Conference
The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of two conferences that makes up the league, the other being the Western Conference. Like the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference is made up of 15 teams, organized in three divisions.
The NBA began its playoff system in 1947, when the playoffs consisted of three rounds. In 1949, the Divisional Semifinals were added as a fourth round, and in 1951 the Divisional Finals were added as a fifth round. The conference finals were added as a sixth round in 1953. In 1975, the NBA playoffs expanded to include eight teams from each conference (24 total), organised into four rounds. The number of teams expanded again in 1984 to 10 from each conference (30 total), with each conference final now consisting of seven games instead 16 in order to reduce travel costs and because television contracts were only for six games. Finally, in 1993 it once again expanded to include 12 teams from each conference (24 total).
Western Conference
The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff system is a best-of-seven elimination tournament among the eight first-round winners in the NBA playoffs, which is held after the conclusion of the NBA’s regular season. The winners of each series advance to the next round, until the final round, whose winner becomes the NBA champion.
In 1979, the NBA expanded its playoffs to include sixteen teams. Eight from each conference qualified regardless of their regular season records. In 1983, the tournament expanded to include seventeen teams with nine from each conference qualifying regardless of their regular season records. This expanded tournament seeds 1-8 in each conference regardless of record for all rounds except for the Finals, which are still seeded 1-4 based on respective conference records. From 1984 to 2015, it was most common for only eight teams from each conference to qualify for the playoffs, but occasionally there have been nine or even ten qualifiers.
2017 NBA Playoffs
The 2017 NBA Playoffs began on April 15, 2017. It was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association’s 2016–17 season. The playoffs concluded on June 12, 2017, with the Golden State Warriors defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1 in the NBA Finals.
Eastern Conference
The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of two conferences that makes up the league, the other being the Western Conference. Like the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference is made up of 15 teams, organized in three divisions.
The 2017 NBA playoffs began on April 15, 2017. It concluded on June 12, 2017, with the Cleveland Cavaliers defeating the Golden State Warriors 4–1 in the NBA Finals. LeBron James was named NBA Finals MVP for a record third consecutive time.
Western Conference
The Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of two conferences that makes up the league, the other being the Eastern Conference. Like the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference is made up of 15 teams, organized in three divisions.
The divisional alignment began in 2004, when the now Charlotte Hornets began play as the NBA’s 30th franchise. Prior to that season, the Eastern and Western conferences each had three divisions of five teams each. It was common for a team to move from one division to another based on geography; for instance, when Indianapolis (now Oklahoma City) joined the league in 1976 as part of a merger with the American Basketball Association (ABA), it was placed in the Midwest Division; however, it moved to the Central Division eight years later when Kansas City hosted a franchise.
