What Is the NBA Finals?

Everything you need to know about the NBA Finals, including what it is, when it is, and how to watch it.

What is the 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.

When is the NBA Finals?

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

The NBA Finals has been played at the end of every NBA and Basketball Association of America season in history, dating back to 1947. The championship series was originally played between the winners of the Eastern and Western Division playoffs, with a handful of exceptions throughout the years. It became a best-of-seven series in 1957. The Eastern Conference has won a total of 33 championships, while the Western Conference has won 24.

The Boston Celtics hold the record for the most NBA Finals appearances (21) and wins (17). The Los Angeles Lakers have appeared in the NBA Finals a record 32 times, winning on 14 occasions.

Where is the NBA Finals?

The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA), a professional men’s basketball league in North America. The annual series pits the Eastern Conference champion against the Western Conference champion.

The series was originally known as the World Series of Basketball, and it was first held in 1947. The Eastern and Western Division champions played each other in a best-of-seven game series to determine the NBA world champion. In 1949, the NBA split into two conferences, East and West, and the NBA Finals began pitting those conference champions against each other.

In 1974, a third conference, the Central Division, was added to the NBA. As a result, from 1975 onward, an NBA Finals participant would come from each of the three divisions. At first, only the division winners would qualify for the Finals; however, from 1983 onward, all teams with records above .500 qualified for the playoffs regardless of divisional standings. This system remained in place until 2016, when a fourth conference, the Southeast Division (later renamed as simply “the South”), was added to balance out playoff seeding with 16 teams qualifying for postseason play.

The NBA Finals has been held every year since 1947, except in 1998 and 1999 when labor stoppages cancelled both seasons. The 2020 NBA Finals will be held at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City due to COVID-19 restrictions on international travel.

How to watch the 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.

The Finals were initially structured in a 2–2–1–1–1 format (the team with the better regular-season record plays on their home court in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7), which was used in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1957 to 1970, 1971 to 1974, 1976 to 1977 and 1979 to 1980; following those seasons, a 2–3–2 format was used until 1985, when the league reverted to the 2–2–1–1–1 format. In 2014, the NBA adopted a new playoff game format in which the first two rounds are played in a best-of-seven series followed by all subsequent rounds being best-of-seven; this new format also increases the number of playoff teams from 8 per conference to 16 overall.

The first round of playoffs is known as the NBA Conference Semifinals. The Conference Semifinals are played between two division winners and two wild card teams. The division winners are seeded 1st and 2nd while the wild card teams are seeded 3rd and 4th. Divisional seeds matter when it comes to hosting rights for these games as divisional seeds will host games 1 & 2 (if necessary) while lower seeds will host games 3 & 4 (if necessary); this right is Flip Flopped if teams with better records meet one another since they would have deserved home court advantage had they met in previous rounds. So if two division winners meet one another in conference semifinals while two lower seeds meet one another then games 1 & 2 will be played at home courts of lower seeds while games 3 & 4 will be played at home courts of higher seeds; this same rule applies for any other meeting between any other seed outside of first round regardless if it’s during Conference Finals or NBA Finals.

In order for a team to make it to the NBA Finals they must go through four rounds of best-of-seven series which include:

Conference Semifinals

Conference Finals

NBA Finals

If you want watch every game of every round then you’ll need access to ESPN, TNT or NBA TV. You can find these channels on most major streaming services like DIRECTV NOW ($35/mo), Sling TV ($25/mo) or Playstation Vue ($45/mo). If you have cable then you’re all set as these channels come included with most basic cable packages.

NBA Finals history

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 in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7), meaning that one team will have home court advantage in games 1, 2, 5 and 7, while the other plays at home in games 3 and 6 (games 3–6 are played on a rotating schedule: game 3 is played at one team’s home court, game 4 at the other team’s, etc.). This format has been used since 1985, when the first round was expanded from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven series. Prior to 1985, teams alternated between having home court advantage or not based solely on being either division champions or not.

In 2014, Game 1 of the NBA Finals was aired on ABC on June 5th; Game 2 was aired on June 8th; Game 3 was aired on June 10th; and Game 4 was aired on June 12th. The 2014 NBA Finals were produced by ESPN Radio and broadcast on ESPN Radio stations nationwide as well as through satellite radio services such as SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

NBA Finals predictions

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. The winner of the NBA Finals receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, which is named after former NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien.

Each year, predictions abound as to which teams will make it to the NBA Finals. Some fans even make their own predictions based on which teams they think are strongest. No matter who is predicted to make it to the Finals, though, there is always excitement surrounding the playoff series leading up to it.