How Many NBA Teams Can Make the Playoffs?
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The NBA playoffs are right around the corner, and teams are jockeying for position. But how many teams actually make the playoffs? We break it down.
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What is the NBA playoff format?
The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the NBA regular season. To be eligible for the playoffs, a team must have finished the regular season with either a winning record, or a .500 record and be within four games of the final playoff berth in their conference. The final playoff berth in each conference goes to the team with the next-best record regardless of whether that team had a winning or .500 record as long as it did not finish more than four games behind the last playoff berth.
How many teams make the playoffs in the NBA?
The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament annually held after the NBA’s regular season to determine the league’s champion for that season. Eight teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs.
What are the NBA playoff seeding tiebreakers?
There are only a few NBA playoff seeding tiebreakers that can come into play during the final weeks of the regular season. Here’s a refresher on what they are, in order of most to least common.
1. Head-to-head record
2. Division record
3. Conference record
4. Record vs. opposing conference
5. Coin flip (used only if teams are still tied after all of the above)
The most common tiebreaker is head-to-head record, which is used to break ties between teams in the same division or conference. For example, if two teams are tied with identical records at the end of the season, and they split their season series, the next tiebreaker would be division record. If they’re still tied, it would then go to conference record.
If two teams have identical records and they’re not in the same division or conference, the next tiebreaker would be record vs. opposing conference. So if Team A and Team B both have 48 wins and 14 losses at the end of the season, but Team A has a better record against teams in the opposite conference than Team B does, then Team A would get the higher playoff seed.
Finally, if two teams are still tied after all of the above tiebreakers have been applied, then a coin flip will be used to determine who gets the higher seed. This has only happened once in NBA history, when two teams had identical records at the end of the 1979-80 season (the San Diego Clippers and Indiana Pacers).
What are the NBA playoff dates?
The NBA playoff dates are still to be determined.
How can I watch the NBA playoffs?
The NBA playoffs are telecast on ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV. You can also stream the games online through the ABC app, ESPN app, and Watch TNT app.
