Where Is Game 7 of the NBA Finals Played?
Contents
The NBA Finals are upon us and the question on everyone’s mind is: where is Game 7 played? The answer, of course, is at the home of the higher-seeded team.
Home-Court Advantage
If the series reaches a Game 7, the team with the better regular-season record will host the game. That means the Golden State Warriors, who had a league-best record of 57-25, would host Game 7 if the series goes the distance. The Toronto Raptors, who had the second-best record at 58-24, would host Game 7 if it’s necessary.
The NBA Finals are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format
The NBA Finals are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage — the higher seed — hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The other team hosts Games 3, 4 and 6.
The team with the better regular season record gets home-court advantage
In the NBA Finals, the team with the better regular season record gets home-court advantage. This means that if the two teams have identical records, the team with the better record would get to host Games 1, 2, 5, and 7. If one team has a better record than the other, they will get home-court advantage throughout the entire series.
Game 7
The game will be played at the home of the team with the best record in the regular season, per NBA rules. The Golden State Warriors had the best record in the regular season, so the game will be played at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
If the series is tied at 2-2, Game 7 will be played at the arena of the team with the better regular season record
If the series is tied at 2-2, Game 7 will be played at the arena of the team with the better regular season record. If the two teams tied for the best record split their regular season series, then Game 7 would be played at a pre-selected “neutral” site. That site is not announced until after the Conference Finals.
If the series is tied at 3-3, Game 7 will be played at the arena of the team with the better regular season record
The National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals is the championship series of the NBA and the conclusion of the sport’s postseason. All Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and contested between the winners of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference (formerly Divisions before 1970), except in 1950 when the Eastern Division champion faced the winner between the Western and Central Division champions.
Arena
The game will be played at the home arena of the team with the best regular season record. If the game is needed, it will be played on Sunday, June 16 at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ABC.
The arena for Game 7 of the NBA Finals will be the arena of the team with the better regular season record
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The winning team of the series receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
The NBA Finals was initially structured in 1947 to pit the division winners from the Eastern and Western Divisions in a best-of-seven series. The divisional playoff format persisted through 1970, after which both conferences were redesignated as “East” and “West”, respectively. As of 2016, the NBA Finals has used a 2–3–2 format, with the first two and last two games played at the arena of the team holding home-court advantage.
If two teams with matching records meet in the NBA Finals, home court advantage goes to the team with the better record in that season’s regular season. From 1947 to 1957, home court advantage in the NBA Finals went to a rotating arrangement of three division winners and two wild card teams (the top two non-division winners with the best records), with division winners hosting games 1, 2, 6, and 7, and wild card teams hosting games 3, 4, and 5. This arrangement continued through 1970. Following this system, if both teams had identical records in their respective divisions and conferences at the end of the regular season, a coin toss would determine which team received home court advantage for that year’s NBA Finals. For instance, if team A had a better record than team B both overall and in their head-to-head matchup during that season’s regular season, then team A would receive home court advantage for that year’s NBA Finals. If team A and team B had identical records both overall and head-to-head during that season’s regular season (e.g., if they each finished 46–36), then a coin toss would determine which team received home court advantage for that year’s NBA Finals. In 1971–73*, 1974*, 1975*, 1977*, 1978*, 1980*, 1982*, 1984*, 1986**, 1989**, 1990**, 1992** , 2001** , 2002** , 2008 , 2010 , 2015 , 2016 , 2017
and 2018 , because there were no divisional playoffs (due to either strikes or realignment),home court advantage for those years’ NBA Finals was determined by regular season records; if two teams tied for first place in their respective conference at seasons’ end (e.g., 48–34 each), then a coin toss determined who would receive home court advantage for that conference in that particular year’s playoffs. From 1951 to 1966 inclusive (except 1963), when there were nine playoff teams per conference due to expansion (*10 playoff teams per conference from 1967 through 1977 inclusive; *8 playoff teams per conference from 1978 through 1981 inclusive; *9 playoff teams per conference from 1982 through 1991 inclusive; *8 playoff teams per conference from 1992 through 1995 inclusive; *9 playoff teams per conference from 1996through 2001 inclusive; *8 playoff teams starting 2002 ; back to 9 playoff teams starting 2004 ), if one division champion finished with a better record than all but one other qualifying club(s) from its own conference while another division champion finished with a poorer record than at least one other non-division winner(s) from its own conference (e.g., 48–34 vs 46–36 ), such as occurred five times under this system – 1964 Western Division: Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards) vs Chicago Zephyrs (now Pelicans ) ; 1965 Eastern Division: Syracuse Nationals vs Cincinnati Royals ; 1966 Eastern Division: Philadelphia 76ers vs Baltimore Bullets – then acoin toss would determine who played whom among those intra-conference rivals as well as which club(s) hosted Games 1 & 2 . (*The 1963 playoffs featured only four qualifying clubs each from East & West as only eight clubs made playoffs altogether rather than nine.) In 1967 & 1969 when there were 10 qualifying clubs each from East & West due to expansion but not enough rounds to accommodate all 10 clubs playing each other without duplicating match ups en route to Conference finals thus requiring some preliminary intra-conference matchups among division runners up along with necessary preliminary matchups between third place finishers just like under prior rules where 12 clubs qualified instead of just 10 – 1967 Western Divisions: Chicago Bulls vs San Francisco Warriors & San Diego Rockets vs St Louis Hawks while 1967 Eastern Division: Boston Celtics played Philadelphia 76ers which was deferred until after West preliminary match ups were completed – Round robin tie breakers would be used only as needed among those several intra-conference rivals who finished tied for same place at end of regular schedule ere any interconference opponents could be determined thus avoiding any appearance of impropriety should it happen interconference opponents turned out already have been previously determined once all tie breakers were completed before all interconference match ups could possibly be set because some very good interconference opponents might otherwise have ended up playing significantly weaker foes coming off easy first round wins over inferior foes instead such stronger foes could play equally matched opponents more worthy foes while playing relatively weaker opponents might become discouraged over such unfairness had they known beforehand they could potentially draw much tougher foe en route Conference finals . Consequently 1976 saw creation new rule stating tie breakers used solely determine order draft picks not effecting pairing opponents postseason . Rule abandoned 1981 but reinstated 1985 now tiebreakers also affected seeding postseason matchups .
