The 2018 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2017–18 season. The playoffs began on April 14, and ended on June 8 with the defending champion Golden State Warriors defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Finals. It was the first sweep in the NBA Finals since 2007. The series marked LeBron James's eighth consecutive Finals appearance, and the first time that the same two teams in any of the four major sports leagues in North America met in the championship for four consecutive years.
This was Dwyane Wade's final playoff appearance, as he retired the following season.
Both the conference finals series went to game 7. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Cavaliers defeated Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, a rematch from last year's East finals, while the Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference finals.
Overview
Western Conference The Houston Rockets entered the playoffs with their best regular–season record in franchise history and appeared in their sixth consecutive postseason. They also finished with the best record in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors entered their sixth consecutive postseason, tying their franchise streak of 6 straight postseason appearances since the league's first six years of existence (1946–47 to 1951–52). The San Antonio Spurs entered their 21st consecutive postseason. The Minnesota Timberwolves qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2004 and snapped the league's longest active streak of seasons without a playoff appearance. The New Orleans Pelicans qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Eastern Conference The Toronto Raptors also finished with a franchise record for single-season victories, winning 59 games and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Philadelphia 76ers qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012. The Miami Heat returned to the NBA playoffs after a one-season absence.
First Round With their first round sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers, the New Orleans Pelicans won their first playoff series since 2008. Game 5 of the Sixers–Heat series was Dwyane Wade's final NBA postseason game. He would retire the following season. In Game 5 of their series against the Utah Jazz, the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied from a 25-point deficit in the second half to win the game 107–99. Game 7 between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks ensured a 19th–straight postseason in which at least one Game 7 was played; 1999 was the most recent postseason to not feature a Game 7. Game 6 of the Celtics–Bucks series was the last game played at the Bradley Center. For the first time in his career, LeBron James was forced to play a Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs, courtesy of the Indiana Pacers’ 121–87 victory in Game 6 over the Cleveland Cavaliers. This would be their last postseason victory until game 2 of the 2024 postseason against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Conference semifinals Game 2 of the Raptors–Cavaliers series was the last game before the Air Canada Centre was renamed to Scotiabank Arena. Game 3 of the Raptors–Cavaliers series was extremely notable for LeBron James’ floater to win the game 105–103 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Toronto Raptors became the first top seeded team to be swept from the conference semifinals, earning LeBron James the nickname "LeBronto", as well as the first top seed to be swept out of the playoffs since the 2015 Atlanta Hawks (who were also swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers). As of , this is the last time the top seed in a conference has been swept out of the NBA playoffs. With their Game 5 win over the Utah Jazz, the Houston Rockets made the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2015.
Conference finals For the first time since 1994, the Houston Rockets held home court advantage in the Western Conference finals. Game 6 and Game 7 of the Western Conference finals was extremely notable for the Golden State Warriors’ second half comebacks to beat the Houston Rockets. The Warriors trailed the Rockets by as many as 17 points in Game 6 and as many as 11 points in Game 7 before coming back to win 115–86 and 101–92, respectively. Klay Thompson helped the Warriors force Game 7 by putting up another notable performance in Game 6. He dropped 35 to defeat the Houston Rockets. The Houston Rockets set an NBA record 27 missed threes in Game 7. James Harden, Trevor Ariza and Eric Gordon shot a combined 4-34 from 3. For the first time since 1979 both Conference finals series went to a deciding Game 7. In both Conference finals series, the road teams won both Game 7s. In the other two instances in which both Conference finals series went to a Game 7, the home team won each Conference finals Game 7 in the 1963 and 1979 Playoffs. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors advanced to their fourth consecutive NBA Finals appearances. This also marked the first time the same two NBA teams met in the NBA Finals four seasons in a row.
NBA Finals Game 1 of the NBA Finals was notable for JR Smith's infamous play that cost the Cleveland Cavaliers the game in the waning moments in regulation (they would lose in Overtime to the Golden State Warriors). LeBron James scored 51 points in the losing effort. Game 4 of the 2018 NBA Finals was the last game LeBron James played as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. This was also the first time a team was swept in the NBA Finals since 2007. Like in 2007, the Cleveland Cavaliers were also the team that got swept in the 2018 NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors won their second consecutive championship, their third in four seasons.
Format
Within each conference, the eight teams with the most wins qualify for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record.
Each conference's bracket is fixed; there is no reseeding. All rounds are best-of-seven series; the team that has four wins advances to the next round. All rounds, including the NBA Finals, are in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. Home court advantage in any round belong to the higher-seeded team, who has the better regular season record (number 1 is the highest). If two teams with the same record meet in a round, standard tiebreaker rules are used. The rule for determining home court advantage in the NBA Finals is winning percentage, then head-to-head record, followed by intra-conference record.
Playoff qualifying On March 7, 2018, the Toronto Raptors became the first team to clinch a playoff spot. On March 30, 2018, the Houston Rockets clinched the Western Conference ending a three-year run by the Golden State Warriors as the top seed. The Rockets clinched the best record in the NBA a day later on March 31, 2018. For the first time since the 1996–97 NBA season, two teams played their last game against each other for the 8th and final spot in the playoffs. The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Denver Nuggets 112–106 in overtime to clinch the final playoff seed in the West. This also ended Minnesota's 13-year drought without a playoff appearance having last played in 2003–04 season. For the first time since the 2010–11 NBA season, the Los Angeles Clippers would miss the postseason following a loss to the Denver Nuggets on April 7, 2018. This is the first time since 1960 that none of the teams from New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago made the playoffs. For the first time since 2005, both the Lakers and Clippers missed the playoffs in the same season.
Eastern Conference Seed Team Record ClinchedPlayoff berth Division title Best record in conference Best record in NBA 1 Toronto Raptors 59–23 March 7 April 6 April 6 — 2 Boston Celtics 55–27 March 8 ——— 3 Philadelphia 76ers 52–30 March 26 ——— 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 50–32 March 22 April 10 —— 5 Indiana Pacers 48–34 March 25 ——— 6 Miami Heat 44–38 April 3 April 11 —— 7 Milwaukee Bucks 44–38 April 4 ——— 8 Washington Wizards 43–39 March 31 ———
Western Conference Seed Team Record ClinchedPlayoff berth Division title Best record in conference Best record in NBA 1 Houston Rockets 65–17 March 11 March 15 March 29 March 29 2 Golden State Warriors 58–24 March 12 March 15 —— 3 Portland Trail Blazers 49–33 April 1 April 11 —— 4 Oklahoma City Thunder 48–34 April 9 ——— 5 Utah Jazz 48–34 April 8 ——— 6 New Orleans Pelicans 48–34 April 10 ——— 7 San Antonio Spurs 47–35 April 10 ——— 8 Minnesota Timberwolves 47–35 April 11 ———
Bracket Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Teams with home court advantage, the higher seeded team, are shown in italics.
First round Note: Times are EDT (UTC−4) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.
Eastern Conference first round
(1) Toronto Raptors vs. (8) Washington Wizards
+Regular-season seriesTied 2–2 in the regular-season series
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Wizards winning the first meeting in 2015. +Previous playoffs seriesWashington leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Milwaukee Bucks
+Regular-season seriesTied 2–2 in the regular-season series
This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning four of the first five meetings. +Previous playoff seriesBoston leads 4–1 in all-time playoff series
(3) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (6) Miami Heat
With the win, the Sixers won their first playoff series since 2012.
+Regular-season seriesTied 2–2 in the regular-season series
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Heat winning the first meeting. +Previous playoffs seriesMiami leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series
(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) Indiana Pacers
LeBron James capped off his heroic Game 5 performance with a game-winning 3 at the buzzer to put the Cavaliers up 3–2 in the series. This was the fourth time James has hit a game-winning buzzer beater in the playoffs.
+Regular-season seriesIndiana won 3–1 in the regular-season series
This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning one series. +Previous playoffs seriesTied 1–1 in all-time playoff series This is the most recent playoff series between the Cavaliers & Pacers until 2025.
Western Conference first round
(1) Houston Rockets vs. (8) Minnesota Timberwolves
+Regular-season seriesHouston won 4–0 in the regular-season series
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Rockets winning the first meeting. +Previous playoffs seriesHouston leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series
(2) Golden State Warriors vs. (7) San Antonio Spurs
Game 5 is Manu Ginóbili's final NBA game.
+Regular-season seriesGolden State won 3–1 in the regular-season series
This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Warriors winning two of the first three meetings. +Previous playoff seriesGolden State leads 2–1 in all-time playoff series
(3) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (6) New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans completed a sweep of the Trail Blazers for their 1st series win in the playoffs since the 2008 NBA playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks as the New Orleans Hornets.
+Regular-season seriesTied 2–2 in the regular-season series
This was the first playoff meeting between the Trail Blazers and Pelicans.
(4) Oklahoma City Thunder vs. (5) Utah Jazz