What Teams Made It To The Playoffs NBA?

The NBA regular season has come to an end, and the playoffs are set to begin. Here’s a look at which teams made it to the postseason.

The Eastern Conference

The Eastern Conference is made up of the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, and Washington Wizards.

The Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first established in 1967 as a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and became a member of the NBA in 1976 as a result of the ABA–NBA merger. They play their home games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The team is named after Indiana’s history with horse-drawn carriages.

The Pacers have won five division titles, three conference titles, and one NBA championship. They have also captured fourteen divisional championships and five conference titles since 1967. The Pacers were successful in the early years of their existence, winning three ABA championships between 1967 and 1974. In that timespan, they had achieved their first period of sustained success as they made five playoff appearances and captured two divisional titles. Led by player-coach Danny Thomas and center Mel Daniels, the Pacers were able to consistently put together strong teams during this time and made it to the ABA Finals three times between 1970 and 1972. However, they lost all three times to the New York Nets (who would later become the New Jersey Nets).

The Miami Heat

The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Southeast Division. They play their home games at the American Airlines Arena, and have won three NBA championships.

The Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are members of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Bucks compete in the NBA as a member club of the league’s 30 teams. The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and play at the Fiserv Forum. former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl was the long-time owner of the team, but on April 16, 2014, a group led by billionaire hedge fund managers Wes Edens and Marc Lasry agreed to purchase a majority interest in the team from Kohl, a sale which was approved by the NBA on April 16. The new owners appointed Peter Feigin as the franchise’s fifth president, but he was later replaced by John Hammond in 2008.

The Western Conference

The Golden State Warriors, led by Stephen Curry, made it to the playoffs as the first seed in the Western Conference. They are followed by the Houston Rockets, led by James Harden. The Portland Trail Blazers, led by Damian Lillard, are the third seed. The fourth seed is the Oklahoma City Thunder, led by Russell Westbrook. The Utah Jazz, led by Rudy Gobert, are the fifth seed. The Denver Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic, are the sixth seed. The final team in the playoffs from the Western Conference is the San Antonio Spurs, led by LaMarcus Aldridge.

The Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league’s Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles. The team was established as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego, in 1967. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston.

The Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets, picking first overall, selected power forward Eli Jeffries from UCLA. The Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until the 1976–77 season, when they traded for center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award twice and led Houston to the conference finals in his first year with the team. He also led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 where they were defeated by Larry Bird and the eventual champion Boston Celtics 4 games to 2.

In 1984, the Rockets drafted center Hakeem Olajuwon, who would lead them to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995, whereupon he earned MVP honors both years as well as Defensive Player of the Year honors for 1993–94.

The following season, veteran point guard Jason Terry arrived from Atlanta to serve as a sparkplug off of the bench for new head coach Kevin McHale as Houston made another deep playoff run which culminated with another trip to the conference Finals where they fell short of returning to the NBA Finals losing to eventual champion Dallas Mavericks 4 games to 2 despite holding a 2-0 series lead at one point.

The Golden State Warriors

The Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of two conferences that makes up the league, the other being the Eastern Conference. Like the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference is made up of 15 teams, organized in three divisions.

The divisional alignment has changed several times throughout NBA history; as of 2020, there are three divisions, each with five teams:
-The Pacific Division, which consists of the following teams: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Sacramento Kings.
-The Northwest Division, which consists of the following teams: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, and Utah Jazz.
-The Southwest Division, which consists of the following teams: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, and San Antonio Spurs.

The Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder made it to the playoffs as the third seed in the Western Conference. They finished the regular season with a record of 48-34, two games behind the second-seeded Denver Nuggets.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Thunder faced off against the sixth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers. The Thunder won the series in six games, thanks in large part to strong performances from Russell Westbrook and Paul George.

In the second round, the Thunder ran into a bit of trouble, losing star point guard Russell Westbrook to an injury in Game 2 against the Houston Rockets. Despite being shorthanded, the Thunder were able to push the series to seven games, but ultimately fell to the Rockets in Game 7.