How Do The NBA Finals Work?

The NBA Finals are the 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.

What are the NBA Finals?

The NBA Finals are 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. As of 2020, the NBA Finals have been played 70 times (70 championship series). The winning team of the series receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

The home-court advantage in the NBA Finals goes to the team with the better record in the regular season. If both teams have identical records, then home-court advantage goes to the team that had the better record in head-to-head matchups during the regular season.

In prior years, home-court advantage alternated between the conferences each year. From 1985 to 2013, home-court advantage in any given Finals was determined by which team had earned it during the playoffs. The change was made so that teams would compete harder for regular season wins, awarding an incentive for finishing with a better record.

How do teams qualify for the NBA Finals?

In order to qualify for the NBA Finals, a team must first win their respective conference championship. The two teams that win their conference championships (Eastern Conference and Western Conference) will then face each other in the NBA Finals.

The NBA Finals is a best-of-seven series, meaning whichever team wins four out of the seven games will be crowned the NBA champion. If the series is tied at two games each, then a Game Five will be played to determine who will advance to the next round.

What is the format of the NBA Finals?

The NBA Finals is a best-of-seven championship series played between the Western Conference and Eastern Conference champions to determine the National Basketball Association (NBA) champion for the given season. The Golden State Warriors are the current defending champions, having won four consecutive finals.

The format of the NBA Finals has changed over time. The first finals were played in 1947 between the Philadelphia Warriors and Chicago Stags, with the Warriors winning the series four games to one. In 1949, the format changed to a best-of-seven series. The next three finals were played between teams from only one conference; all three were sweep victories for the Western Division’s Minneapolis Lakers over Eastern Division playoff qualifiers (the Syracuse Nationals in 1950, Rochester Royals in 1951, and New York Knicks in 1952). From 1953 until 1955, both finals teams came from one conference, but due to rule changes surrounding post-season play that favored division winners over wild cards or runners up in regular season record, both finalists were from different divisions within their respective conferences.

In 1966, when Boston and Los Angeles (then representing two separate divisions within the same conference) met in the final for a third consecutive year, league owners decided to change the playoff format to give division winners a automatic berth in the conference finals while allowing runner ups to compete for the remaining berth. This led to some interesting Finals matchups – such as when an Eastern Division team with a worse record than a runner up in another division made it to the Finals simply because they had won their division while other better teams were eliminated earlier. Due to this phenomenon occurring several times throughout NBA history – most recently in 1999 when an 8th seeded New York Knicks team made it all the way to The Finals – starting with 1999 NBA playoffs all teams regardless of seed or regular season record entered into a single elimination tournament where they competed for their respective conference’s championship trophy with only 16 teams total making it as far as The Finals.

The current form of NBA Finals has been used since 1985: it is a best-of-seven series between Conference Champions that is held annually every June. If necessary due to scheduling conflicts, games 1, 2, 5 and 7 are played on consecutive days (usually Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays). Games 3 and 4 are played on consecutive days (usually Wednesdays and Fridays), but will only happen if game 5 is necessary; if game 5 is unnecessary then games 3 and 4 will be played on consecutive days but two days off will separate them instead (usually Saturdays and Mondays).

How many games are played in the NBA Finals?

The NBA Finals are a best-of-seven series between the two teams that made it through the NBA’s championship playoffs. The team with the better record in the regular season (based on winning percentage) gets home-court advantage, meaning they get to play up to four games at home. If the series is tied after seven games, then there is a seventh and deciding game played at a neutral site.

Who has won the most NBA Finals?

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 teams aspire to win four games to win a series. Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 are played in the team’s home arena. Games 3, 4, and 6 are played in the home arena of the other team.

The winning team of the series receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. Traditionally, the MVP of The Finals receives The Bill Russell Finals MVP Award. All players on The Finals-winning team receive championship rings.

The Boston Celtics have won the most championships with 17 titles, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers with 16 titles. The Chicago Bulls have earned six championships, all consecutively between 1991 and 1998.