How the NBA Playoffs Work

The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament annually held after the NBA’s regular season to determine the league’s champion.

Introduction

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the premier professional basketball league in North and features 30 teams from across the United States. The NBA regular season runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. The top eight teams in each conference (Eastern and Western) qualify for the NBA Playoffs.

The NBA Playoffs are a single-elimination tournament consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series. The first round matches the 8th seed against the 1st seed, the 7th seed against the 2nd seed, the 6th seed against the 3rd seed, and the 5th seed against the 4th seed. In subsequent rounds, seeds are re-ranked according to their playoff standings, with the higher-seeded team always being matched up against the lower-seeded team.

The NBA Finals is the last round of the playoffs and features the two teams that have advanced from their respective conferences. The Finals is also a best-of-seven series. The team that wins four games first is declared the NBA champion.

Format

The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven series of games played between the eight best teams from the Eastern and Western Conferences. The playoffs follow a tournament format. The four teams from each conference with the best record in the regular season qualify for the playoffs.

Regular season

In the NBA, the regular season is when each team plays 82 games. These games are used to seed the teams for the playoffs. The higher a team’s seed, the better their chances are of making it deep into the playoffs.

The regular season starts in late October and ends in mid-April. During this time, there are a few days off for Christmas and the All-Star break. The All-Star game is when the best players in the league play against each other for fun.

The regular season schedule is made up of games against teams in your own conference and games against teams in the other conference. Each team plays every team in their conference 4 times, and they play every team in the other conference 3 times.

Playoffs

The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament annual contest among the conference winners (the top eight teams in each conference). The first round of the playoffs, or conference quarterfinals, consists of four best-of-five series. The two winners from each conference advance to a best-of-seven series for the conference semifinals. Conference semifinals are carried by TNT and ESPN/ABC in even numbered years, with ESPN/ABC having exclusive rights to the Western Conference Finals. In odd numbered years, ESPN has exclusive rights to the Eastern Conference Finals while TNT airs the Western Conference Finals. The NBA Finals is carried by ABC in all years.

Seeding

The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the NBA’s regular season. The tournament culminates in the NBA Finals, which is a best-of-seven series between the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences. The winners of the NBA Finals receive the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

Conference standings

Competing in the NBA playoffs is a privilege that is earned by the top teams in each conference at the end of the regular season. The standings are determined by win-loss record, with ties broken by various tiebreakers. The team with the best record in each conference is awarded the #1 seed, the team with the second-best conference record is awarded the #2 seed, and so on.

In order to ensure that the best teams earn playoff spots, the NBA has a minimum win percentage that a team must achieve in order to be eligible for the playoffs. For instance, in order to be eligible for the playoffs in 2017, a team had to have won at least 50% of their games. In addition, each conference has its own playoff format which may include a play-in tournament for teams that did not earn one of the top seeds.

The first round of the playoffs is known as the Conference Semifinals, and it features matchup between the #1 and #8 seeds (and #2 vs. #7, #3 vs. #6, and #4 vs. 5). The Conference Semifinals are best-of-seven series where the higher seed hosts games 1, 2, 5 , and 7*, while lower seed hosts games 3 ,4 , and 6*. (*if necessary)

The winners from each Conference Semifinal matchup face off against each other in what is known as The Conference Finals round (think: NBA semi-finals). These are also best of seven series played under identical rules as The Conference Semifinals.

Finally, The Conference Finals winners compete against each other in The NBA Finals (think: NBA Finals), which is also a best of seven series with home court advantage going to whichever team had the better regular season record. So there you have it! That’s how seeding works in regards to determining which teams make it into the NBA Playoffs.

Tiebreakers

There are a number of scenarios that could lead to ties in the standings. The NBA has a comprehensive set of tiebreakers to determine which team or teams advance in the event of a tie.

The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. If two teams are tied, the team that won more of the games between the two teams during the regular season will win the tiebreaker. If the teams split their games evenly, or if they did not play each other at all during the regular season, then the next tiebreaker is used.

The second tiebreaker is division record. If two teams are tied and they are in the same division, then the team with a better record against teams in their division will win the tiebreaker. If they are still tied, then the next tiebreaker is used.

The third tiebreaker is conference record. If two teams are tied and they are not in the same division, then the team with a better record against teams in their conference will win the tiebreaker. If they are still tied, then the next tiebreaker is used.

The fourth tiebreaker is record against common opponents. If two teams are tied and they have not played each other during the regular season, then their records against common opponents are compared to determine who wins the tiebreaker. Common opponents are determined by taking each team’s list of opponents and removing any opponent that is not on both lists. For example, if Team A played Team B and Team C during the regular season, and Team B played Team C but not Team A, then Team C would be considered a common opponent for both Teams A and B.

If two teams have identical records against common opponents, then their winning percentages against those common opponents will be used to break the tie. Winning percentage is calculated by dividing a team’s wins by its total number of games played (wins + losses). This step will only be necessary if there is more than one team involved in the tiebreaker scenario.

If three or more teams are involved in atie for playoff positioning at seasons end ,the procedures detailed above will be followed until one team gains an advantage over all others involved . When this happens (only one team left with any chance of winning a playoff spot ), that particular series of head -to -head ,divisional ,or conference comparisons ends . For example ,if three teams were tied for eighth place overall in their conference at seasons end ,the procedures detailed above would continue until only two or only one remained . Lets say that out of these three way hypothetical ties involving three different hypothetical groups of (Group A) Phoenix Suns ,(Group B ) Dallas Mavericks ,and (Group C) Sacramento Kings ,the procedures detailed above led to these results :(1) Group A was broken down into individual head -to-head comparisons between just Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks — with Dallas emerging as victorious ;(2 ) Group B was also broken down into individual head-to-head comparisons — also resulting with Dallas as victorious;and ( 3) Group C was further broken down based on divisional comparison — resulting with Sacramento being victorious . Therefore ,based on these results we know that: ( 1 )Sacramento would make playoffs over both Phoenix Sun ( since Kings won divisional comparison )—and also over Dallas Mavericks ( since Kings had better record than Mavs versus common opponents ). Now we know for sure that Division champs SacramentoKings hold 8th place going into playoffs—and also can narrow down remaining 7 playoff positions leaving us to ask: Who else made playoffs?

Bracket

The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament annually held after the NBA’s regular season to determine the league’s champion. The playoffs were established in 1947, the same year the NBA was founded. The tournament brackets are made up of eight teams from each of the league’s two conferences, the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference. The first team from each conference to win four games in a row advances to the NBA Finals.

First Round

In the First Round of the NBA Playoffs, the team with the better regular-season record will be matched up against the team with the worse regular-season record. The other two match-ups in the First Round will pit teams with identical records against each other. For example, if the Los Angeles Lakers have the best record in the Western Conference and the Charlotte Hornets have the worst record in the Eastern Conference, those two teams would meet in the First Round.

The First Round of the playoffs is a best-of-seven series. This means that whichever team wins four games first will advance to the next round. All four games in a given series are played on consecutive days, meaning there is one game per day. If a series reaches Game 7, that game is played on a Sunday.

The higher-seeded team will always host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 (if necessary). The lower-seeded team will host Games 3 and 4 (and 6 if necessary).

Conference Semifinals

In the Conference Semifinals, the four remaining teams in each conference play each other in two best-of-seven series. The team that was seeded first in the Conference Finals faces the team that was seeded fourth, and the team that was seeded second faces the team that was seeded third.

The winners of these two series advance to the Conference Finals. Home court advantage in the Conference Semifinals goes to the higher seed.

Conference Finals

The Conference Finals are the final round of playoffs before the NBA Finals. The betting lines for this round are some of the most heavily bet on during the NBA season. This is due to the high level of play, as well as the fact that there are only four teams remaining in contention at this stage.

The Conference Finals are a best-of-seven series. The team with the better regular season record will have home court advantage, meaning they will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 (if necessary). The first team to win four games in the series advances to the Finals.

As with all rounds of the playoffs, if the score is tied at the end of regulation time in any game, an overtime period will be played until a winner is decided.

NBA Finals

The NBA Finals is 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. The winning team of the series receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, which replaced the Walter A. Brown Trophy in 1983.

The home-and-away format in the NBA Finals is in a 2–2–1–1–1 format (the team with the better regular season record plays on their home court for games 1, 2, 5, and 7) during 1947–1948, 1953–1955, and since 1985–1986. The series was initially known as the BAA Finals prior to the 1949–1950 season when the Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to form the NBA. The competition oversaw further name changes to NBA World Championship Series from 1950 to 1985, as well as a brief stint as the Showdown of Champions in 1968. The Eastern Conference has provided 59 of the 86 participants at least once (68%), while the Western Conference has been represented 30 times (35%). Through 2019, how many times has each conference been represented in total?

Eastern Conference: 59
Western Conference: 30

Conclusion

A lot can happen in the NBA playoffs. The higher seeds usually win, but there have been upsets. The better team doesn’t always win. Sometimes it just comes down to who wants it more.

The playoffs are a completely different animal than the regular season. The physicality and intensity are ratcheted up to another level. It’s the time of year when legends are made and careers are defined.

The journey to the NBA Finals is a long one, but it’s definitely worth it.