How Many Games Are In The Nba Playoffs First Round?

How Many Games Are In The Nba Playoffs First Round? The answer may surprise you!

How the NBA Playoffs Work

After the 82-game regular season, the NBA Playoffs begin. The playoffs consist of four rounds, the first round being the best-of-five series. The Conference Finals are best-of-seven, and the NBA Finals are best-of-seven. The team with the best record in each conference is seeded first and plays the eighth seed, the team with the second-best record is seeded second and plays the seventh seed, and so on.

The playoff seeding

After the regular season, the playoffs seedings are set. The top seeded team in each conference is matched up against the lowest seeded team, the second seed plays the seventh seed and so on. In the first round, which is also called the conference quarterfinals, teams play a best-of-seven series. From there, the winning teams advance to the conference semifinals, where they play a best-of-seven series. The winners of those series move on to the conference finals, where they contested a best-of-seven series. Lastly, the two remaining teams face off in the NBA Finals, which is also a best-of-seven series.

The playoff bracket

The NBA Playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament among 16 NBA teams, held annually after the conclusion of the regular season. The tournament brackets are set in advance and the final standings are used to determine which teams will play each other. The first round of the playoffs is known as the Conference Semifinals, followed by the Conference Finals and then the NBA Finals.

In order to make it to the playoffs, a team must first have a winning record. They must also have won at least 50% of their games against teams in their own conference. If there are more than two teams tied for a playoff spot, a series of tiebreakers are used to determine which team gets the spot.

Once the playoffs begin, there is no longer any difference between conferences. The eight teams with the best records in each conference are seeded one through eight, with the four division winners getting the top four seeds. Home court advantage in the playoffs goes to the team with the better regular season record.

The first round of the playoffs is a best-of-seven series. From there, each subsequent round is also a best-of-seven until a champion is crowned at the end of the NBA Finals.

How Many Games Are In The First Round?

The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven series. The first two games are played at the home of the higher-seeded team, and the following two games are played at the home of the lower-seeded team. If the series is tied at two games apiece, the final two games are played at a neutral site.

The number of games in the first round has varied over time

The number of games in the first round of the NBA playoffs has varied over time. In the early years of the NBA, the first round was a best-of-3 series. This was changed to a best-of-5 series in 1981, and then back to a best-of-3 series in 1984. The number of games in the first round increased to a best-of-5 series in 2003, and has remained that way since.

The current format

The NBA Playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament among the 16 teams that qualified for the playoffs, based on their regular season records. The tournament bracket is made up of six rounds of best-of-seven series. The first two rounds are the conference semifinals, the next two are the conference finals, and the last two rounds are the NBA Finals and the winner of that round is crowned the NBA champion.

Why Do The Playoffs Have More Games In The First Round Than The Second Round?

There are more games in the first round of the playoffs because each series is best out of seven games. The higher-seeded team will host games one, two, five, and seven; while the lower-seeded team will host games three, four, and six. This means that the higher-seeded team only has to win four games to advance, while the lower-seeded team has to win five.

To create more parity

The NBA has used a variety of playoff formats throughout its history. The most common format since 1983 has been a best-of-seven series in each round. Prior to that, the first round was a best-of-five (1949–50 to 1982–83), while the league finals were expanded to best-of-seven in 1957. From 1967 until 1984, excluding 1976, the first two rounds of the playoffs were intra-divisional. Through 2013, home court advantage in each round was determined by regular season record, unless two teams from the same division met, in which case it went to the team with the better head-to-head record; since 2014, it has been based on higher seed regardless of regular season record.

The number of games played in each round has varied. First round best-of-sevens were introduced in 1903 (during which only one series was played), followed by best-of-fives in 1905; both rounds were expanded to best-of-sevens in 1907. Best-of-fives were reimposed during World War I and its immediate aftermath (1918–21); thereafter, all rounds have been best-of sevens. Based on data from 1915 to 1967, prior to the introduction of divisional play and later conference play, it appeared that rounds after the semifinals converged towards a probable seven game length: for example, of 43 playoff series ending in five games between 1903 and 1967, only two were won by the team with home court advantage (the 1921 World Series and 1955 Stanley Cup Finals).

With divisional play now commonplace throughout major professional leagues in North America (MLB, NBA and NHL), and with conference play also used by the NFL and WNBA as well as MLB’s American League since 1969 and 1973 respectively), it became necessary for second round playoff matchups to be determined before the first round was finished: while four teams did not need to advance beyond their respective division playoffs before meeting each other in earlier incarnations of divisional play (such as when Major League Baseball’s National League split into an East Division and West Division for 1969 respectively), this would now prove impractical given that there would be odd numbers of teams advancing from each division if all four division winners met in conference semifinals without any byes being given – therefore only two teams could have reached their respective conference semifinals without playing any postseason games beforehand if all four division winners had advanced that far.

To eliminate this problem while still allowing for all four division winners to advance deep into the playoffs (thus ensuring fan interest remained high throughout much of the postseason instead of tapering off significantly after wild card weekend as had occurred during earlier incarnations of divisional play where only two teams per conference advanced past their respective divisional playoffs), it became necessary for at least one team per conference to receive a bye during wild card weekend while still ensuring that all four division winners advanced at least as far as the Conference Semifinals. This necessitated an increase in first round games from five to seven while second round games remained at five; this pattern held until 1989 when both rounds became best-of sevens.

To increase TV ratings

The answer, as it so often is in the world of professional sports, is television. Namely, the networks that air NBA games and the ratings they generate. The higher the ratings, the more advertising dollars the networks can charge. And since more people tend to watch television during the week than on weekends, it stands to reason that a seven-game series would generate more revenue than a five-game series.

Conclusion

The first round of the NBA playoffs is a best-of-seven series. The team with the better record plays the team with the worse record, and so on.