How the NBA Playoffs Work in 2021
The NBA Playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament among the 16 teams that qualified for the playoffs. Eight teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs.
Format
The NBA playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament held annually to crown the championship of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The playoffs were established in 1947, and their format has been changed several times since. The 2021 NBA Playoffs will begin on May 22 and will end no later than July 22. The playoffs will follow a traditional bracket system.
Seeding
The NBA’s playoff seeding is fairly straightforward. The league’s 16 best teams are placed in the playoffs, seeded by their regular-season record. The team with the best record in each conference earns that conference’s top seed, while the other 15 teams are seeded according to their records.
If two teams have the same record, the following tiebreakers are used in order: 1) head-to-head record; 2) division winner (this only comes into play if two teams are from the same division); 3) better record against teams .500 or above; 4) better net differential.
The playoff seeding can (and does) affect which team a given squad faces in the first round. But it also impacts home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The higher a team is seeded, the more home games it will have in any given series.
For example, if the eighth-seeded team in each conference upsets the No. 1 seed in the first round, that eighth-seeded team will play the fourth-seeded team in Round 2 — not the second-seeded team, as would be the case under a traditional playoff format.
Bracket
The bracket for the 2021 NBA Playoffs is set. Eight teams in each conference will compete in a best-of-seven series to advance to the next round. The conference semifinals and conference finals are best-of-seven series, and the NBA Finals is a best-of-seven series.
The team with the better record in each matchup will be the home team for Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. If the two teams have identical records, then it goes to whoever holds the tiebreaker – which is usually head-to-head record, but can also be division record or Conference record. Once the bracket is set, seedings are ignored. For example, if the 8th seed in the West has a better record than the 7th seed in the East, they would still be considered an 8th seed.
First Round
In each conference, the 1st seed will play the 8th seed, the 2nd seed will play the 7th seed,
the 3rd seed will play the 6th seed and
the 4th seed will play 5th see
Play-In Tournament
2021 will see the NBA’s first ever play-in tournament to decide the final two seeds in each conference. This is how it will work. The tournament will be held from May 18-21 and will feature the teams with the seventh through tenth best records in each conference.
Format
The NBA playoff system has undergone numerous changes since its inception in 1947. The most recent change occurred in 2016 when the Association eliminated the Conference Finals step, allowing the four best teams in the league to advance to the NBA Finals regardless of conference affiliation.
In 2021, the playoff format will feature 16 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament. The tournament will begin on Saturday, August 17th with the first four play-in games. The winners of those games will advance to the main bracket where they will join the top four seeds in each conference.
Once the field is set, the first and second rounds will be played between August 25th and September 11th. The Conference Finals are scheduled for September 15th-28th, with the NBA Finals taking place October 2nd-17th.
Seeding
To determine the playoff matchups, the NBA uses a tournament seedings system. The league takes into account a team’s entire regular season record, regardless of whether the team was in first place or last place in its division.
Good teams that happen to be in a division with other good teams are not punished for that; instead, they are seeded accordingly. For example, if two teams have the same record and one team is in first place while the other is in last place, the team in first place would get the higher seed.
The NBA uses a complex algorithm to determine seeding, but the basic idea is to reward teams for winning and penalize them for losing. A team’s seed corresponds to its position in the playoff bracket. The higher a team’s seed, the better its position in the bracket.
Conference Finals
The first two rounds of the playoffs are complete and the conference finals are set. In the East, the Milwaukee Bucks will take on the Miami Heat. In the West, the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Denver Nuggets. These are the four best teams in the NBA and it should be a great set of conference finals.
Format
The 2021 NBA Playoffs will follow a familiar format, with four best-of-seven series in each conference: two for the first and second seeds, and two for the third and fourth seeds. The higher seed will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 (if necessary).
The first two rounds (the conference semifinals and conference finals) will be played from May 22-June 16. The exact schedule has not been released yet, but we know that each series will be played on a Wednesday-Friday-Sunday-Tuesday schedule.
The NBA Finals will start on June 17 and will follow the same Wednesday-Friday-Sunday-Tuesday schedule. If necessary, a Game 7 would be played on June 27.
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The playoffs are a best-of-seven tournament held annually to determine the league’s champion, which is organized by the league’s Commissioner. The series was originally known as the NBA World Championship Series until 1985, when it was renamed to its current name of the NBA Finals. The winning team of the series receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, which is named after the former NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien. The current champions are the Los Angeles Lakers, who defeated the Miami Heat in six games in 2020.
Format
The NBA Finals are the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The winning team of the Finals receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, which is named after former NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien. The series was originally known as the NBA World Championship Series until it was renamed in 1986.
The best-of-seven playoff format has been used every year since 1987, except in 2020, when it was changed to a best-of-five due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first two rounds of the playoffs are played within each conference. The top seed in each conference receives a first-round bye. The second and third seeds in each conference then face off in the first round, with the winner advancing to play the top seed in the second round.
The winners of each conference’s second round series face off in the Conference Finals, with the victor from each advancing to the NBA Finals.
