The NBA playoffs is the annual postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to determine the league’s champion. The playoffs date back to 1947 when the NBA was then known as the Basketball Association of America, and eventually expanded to the present-day four-round, best-of-seven tournament in 2003. Since 2020, it has been held after the preliminary postseason tournament, the NBA play-in tournament. Under the current postseason format since 2021, six teams from each of the two conferences automatically advance to the playoffs based on regular season winning percentage, while those teams finishing seventh through tenth from each conference first compete in the play-in tournament to determine the final two playoff seeds. The playoffs culminate with the NBA Finals, where both conference champions from the NBA conference finals play each other.
Format The top six teams in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, ranked by winning percentage, directly advance to the playoffs. Teams ranked seventh through tenth compete in the NBA play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds.
Officially considered separate from the NBA playoffs, the NBA play-in tournament uses a modified Page playoff format in which the seventh- and eighth-place teams play each other in a qualification game, with the winner being given the opportunity to play as the seventh seed of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the ninth- and tenth-place teams play each other in an elimination game, with the loser being eliminated and the winner playing the loser of the seven-eight game in a final game to determine who earns the eighth playoff seed.
Both conferences conduct the playoffs in the traditional bracket format. All rounds are best-of-seven series. Series are played in the 2–2–1–1–1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 5, and 7, while their opponent hosts games 3, 4, and 6, with games 5, 6 and 7 being played if needed. This format has been used since 2014, after NBA team owners unanimously voted to change the format of the NBA Finals from the 2–3–2 format on October 23, 2013. Once the playoffs start, the bracket is fixed; teams are never "reseeded."
Tiebreaker criteria If at least two teams within the same conference are tied in overall winning percentage, tiebreaker criteria are used to determine final rankings.
The tiebreaker criteria are as follows, with coin tosses (two teams) or draw of lots (at least three teams) if all of those fail:
Head-to-head record; better record in games with the tied teams. Division record; better record in games against teams in its own division (Only if the teams are in the same division). Conference record; better record in games against teams in its own conference. Winning percentage against playoff teams in its own conference. Winning percentage against playoff teams in the opposing conference. Point differential in all games.
Should at least three teams tie, division leaders are given higher seeds regardless of any other criteria. Plus, once any team is eliminated from a tiebreaker, the evaluation goes back to the first step for the remaining teams. Prior to 2016, this rule was also used for two-team ties, but only applied if the two teams have the same head-to-head record.
History The National Basketball Association was established in 1949 by merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball League but it recognizes the three BAA seasons as part of its own history. In all of its three years the BAA champion was finally determined in a best-of-seven series but its first two tournaments, the 1947 and 1948 BAA playoffs, were otherwise quite different from the third, which 21st-century NBA playoffs nearly match. In 1947 and 1948, the Eastern and Western Division champions were matched in a best-of-seven series following the regular season, whose winner advanced to the championship round. Meanwhile, four runners-up played best-of-three series to determine the other finalist: the two second-place teams were matched in one short series and the two third-place teams in another; the winners of those two series played another one. In 1947, the Philadelphia Warriors won the runners-up bracket and beat the Western champion Chicago Stags four games to one, which the NBA recognizes as its first championship; in 1948 Baltimore won the runners-up and beat Eastern champion Philadelphia in the final. Both tournaments generated one finalist from the Eastern and one from the Western Division, but only by chance."1946–47 BAA Season Summary". "1947–48 BAA Season Summary". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-03-01. Select "Next Season" from the heading for 1947–48, and so on. Select "Finals" from League Playoffs for the daily schedule of the final series, and so on.
In 1949, the third and last BAA tournament matched Eastern teams exclusively and Western teams exclusively, necessarily generating Eastern and Western playoff champions to meet in the final. At the same time, the number of playoff teams was increased from three to four from each Division; two rounds of best-of-three series were played, followed by a best-of-seven championship. The main idea was retained by the NBA. Even the 1950 tournament, following a transitional season with three divisions rather than two, initially determined one playoff champion from each division. The Central champion Minneapolis Lakers became the first league champion under the NBA name by defeating Anderson from the West in a best-of-three, with Syracuse from the East idle, and then knocking off the Syracuse Nationals in six games."1948–49 BAA Season Summary". "1949–50 NBA Season Summary". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
The 1951 through 1953 playoffs changed the division finals into a best-of-five playoff. With only nine league members in 1953–54, the NBA cut its postseason tournament field from eight teams to six (from 1954 through 1966, the period of eight to nine league members). Round robin were played in 1954, uniquely in NBA history—a three-team round robin among the three playoff teams in each division. From 1955 to 1966, the first-place team in each division was idle while its two runners-up faced played a best-of-three. Division finals were expanded to best-of-seven in 1958 and division semifinals to best-of-five in 1961.
With ten league members again for the 1966–67 season, eight teams were again admitted to the tournament, providing a simple three-round knockout (8-team bracket). A year later, the division semifinals were changed to best-of-seven playoff. Then, in 1975 and 1977, respectively, a fifth and sixth team were added to each Division, necessitating an additional first round of best-of-three series.
Finally in 1984, the tournament expanded to its present 16-team, four-round knockout, and the now-complete set of first-round series was expanded to a best-of-five. In 2003 the first round was changed to also be best-of-seven.
Beginning with the 2004 season, with the addition of the 30th NBA franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA realigned its divisions. The result was that each conference would have three divisions of five teams each, and the winner of each division was guaranteed a top-three playoff seed. This would change slightly after the 2005–06 season; while division winners still receive automatic playoff berths, they are guaranteed a top-four seed, as described below.
2006 NBA playoffs controversy The playoff format in place for the 2005 and 2006 NBA playoffs created controversy and would be changed prior to the 2006–07 NBA season.
Prior to 2004, when the NBA was aligned into two conferences with two divisions each, the division champions were guaranteed the top two seeds, and the best non-division winner was seeded third. Because of the NBA playoffs' preset matchups in the second round, this meant that the top two teams in a conference by regular season record cannot meet until the Conference Finals if they get there.
After the NBA realigned its two conferences into three divisions each, the seeding rules remained largely unchanged. The top three seeds would now be reserved for division champions. However, this meant that if the top two teams (by record) in a conference were in the same division, the division runner-up could do no better than the fourth seed. Assuming no first-round upsets, this raised the prospect that the top two teams in the conference would face each other in the conference semifinals, instead of the conference finals. In the second year of this format, the 2005–06 NBA season, the two teams with the best records in the Western Conference (and the second- and third-best records in the entire league), the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks of the Southwest Division, did just that. This turn of events led to the playoff format being criticized by many.
In August 2006, the NBA announced a rules change. Beginning in the 2006–07 season, the top four seeds in each conference would be seeded according to their win–loss totals. This assures that the team with the second-best record in the conference will receive the second seed even if it is not a division champion, thus "guaranteeing that the top two teams in each conference cannot meet until the conference finals".
Timeline 1947: The playoffs were instituted with a three-stage tournament, similar to the Stanley Cup playoffs of the 1930s; the two first-place teams qualified directly to one semifinal where they played each other in a best-of-7 series. Teams finishing second & third qualified for the best-of-3 quarterfinals, where the two second-placed teams were paired in one quarterfinal, as were the two third-placed teams, and the two quarterfinal winners played each other in a best-of-three semifinal. The two semifinal winners played each other in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) best-of-7 final series.
There were no byes, or idle time, for the division champions—as there would be for higher-seeded playoff teams 1955–66 and 1975–83. All six 1947 participants played their first tournament games on Wednesday, April 2; in 1948 the two Eastern runners-up (E2, E3 in the figure) were idle for a few days only because there was a three-way Western tie to break. Both winners of the runners-up bracket, Philadelphia in 1947 and Baltimore in 1948, reached the final series having played fewer tournament games than their final opponents, Chicago in 1947 and Philadelphia in 1948, had played in the best-of-7 pairings of division champions. And both winners of the runners-up bracket won the final series. The "postseason" actually comprised 11 games played in a span of 21 days for the 1947 Chicago Stags and 13 games in 30 days for 1948 Philadelphia Warriors, the finalists who emerged from the pairing of division champions.
1949: The playoffs were reorganized to match Eastern Division teams exclusively, and Western Division teams exclusively in two halves of the bracket. Thus the BAA tournament generated a playoff champion in each Division. (So did the NBA in each of three 1950 divisions, and so it has done in each half of the league since then.) The top four teams from each of the two divisions qualified. The quarterfinals and semifinals were renamed division semifinals and division finals, respectively, and both rounds were best-of-3. Thus, any playoff team might be eliminated in two games, one home game. The best-of-7 final was unchanged.
1950: The BAA was renamed as the National Basketball Association (NBA). With a three-division setup, 12 teams now qualified for the playoffs, with the top four teams from each division meeting in the best-of-3 division semifinals. The winners met in the best-of-3 division finals. With three teams remaining, the surviving team with the best regular season record qualified directly for the finals while the other two teams met in a best-of-3 NBA semifinals.