How Many Teams Get In The Nba Playoffs?

The NBA playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the regular season to determine the league’s champion. Eight teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs.

How the NBA Playoffs Work

The NBA playoffs are a postseason tournament held every spring in which the top teams from the Eastern and Western Conferences compete for the NBA championship. The playoffs are a bracketed tournament, and each series is played best-of-seven games.

The regular season

The NBA regular season is when all 30 of the league’s teams play 82 games each. This phase of the season starts in late October, and runs through early April. The regular season is important, because it’s used to determine which teams will make the playoffs.

At the end of the regular season, the team with the best record in each conference is crowned that conference’s champion, and is awarded the top seed in that conference’s playoffs. The other playoff spots in each conference are filled by the next seven best teams in each respective conference, based on their regular season record.

The playoffs

The NBA Playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament held after the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) regular season to determine the league’s champion for that year. The playoffs were first held in 1947. The team that wins the NBA Finals championship is awarded the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

Teams that did not make the playoffs are given odds based on their regular season record to obtain a top-four draft pick in the next NBA draft; teams that did make the playoffs are not given any odds, with their position dependent entirely on their playoff results.

How Many Teams Make the Playoffs?

The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the NBA regular season. Qualification into the playoffs works on a conference system, with the top eight teams in each conference (East and West) qualifying for the playoffs. As of the 2019–20 NBA season, 47 teams have qualified for the NBA playoffs in its 70-year history.

Eastern Conference

In the Eastern Conference, there are 15 teams. The top 8 teams in each conference make the playoffs.

Western Conference

As of the 2019-2020 NBA season, the Western Conference has 14 teams that make the playoffs. These teams are the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers.

What Happens if Two Teams Tie?

If two teams have the same record, the tiebreaker goes to whomever the teams played most recently. If the teams played each other recently, then it goes to whomever has the better record in divisional games. If the teams are still tied, it goes to whomever has the better record in conference games.

The tiebreaker system

In the event that two teams tie for a playoff spot, the NBA has a tiebreaker system in place to determine which team gets the spot. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. If the two teams played each other an equal number of times, or if they didn’t play each other at all during the regular season, the next tiebreaker is division record. If the two teams are still tied, the next tiebreaker is conference record. Finally, if the teams are still tied after all of that, the tiebreaker is decided by a coin flip.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that there is much confusion surrounding the NBA playoff process. Different sources can provide conflicting information, and the rules seem to be constantly changing. However, the bottom line is that sixteen teams make the playoffs each year. Eight teams from each conference qualify, with the seedings being determined by regular season record. From there, the playoffs are a best-of-seven format until a conference champion is crowned. This champion then goes on to compete against the champion of the other conference in the NBA Finals.