Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets are the six teams directly qualified for the playoffs of the Eastern Conference, after the regular season. Furthermore, after the play-in, Atlanta and Miami obtained the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively.
The Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers are the six teams that have the mathematical certainty of a playoff spot in the West. After the play-in, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves earned passes to the postseason as number 7 and 8 on the draw.
Eastern Conference
1st round
(1) Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat (8) [1-4] (2) Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks (7) Preview [4-2] (3) Philadelphia 76ers vs. Brooklyn Nets (6) Preview [4-0] (4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks (5)Preview [1-4]
2nd round
(2) Boston Celtics vs.
Philadelphia 76ers (3) [4-3] (5) New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat (8) Preview [2-4] Eastern Conference Finals (2) Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat (8) [0-0]
Western Conference
1st round
(1) Denver Nuggets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (8) [4-1] (2) Memphis Grizzlies vs.
Los Angeles Lakers (7) [2-4] (3) Sacramento Kings vs. Golden State Warriors (6) Preview [3-4] (4) Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Clippers (5) Preview [4-1]
2nd round
(1) Denver Nuggets vs. Phoenix Suns (4) The preview [4-2] (6) Golden State Warriors vs Los Angeles Lakers (7) [2-4]
Western Conference Finals
(1) Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers (7) [0-0] The NBA Playoffs are part of the league related to the NBA.
This competition consists of four rounds between sixteen teams from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. The playoffs consist of the quarterfinals, semifinals, and conference finals. Finally, the winners of each of their conference finals go head-to-head with the other winner in the NBA Finals.
In the first season, in 1947, of the NBA (then called the BAA before the merger with the NBL in 1949) the three best teams of the two divisions were invited to participate in the playoffs. The two division winners met in a best-of-seven semifinal match, while the other four teams played two rounds of best-of-three playoffs to decide the winner of the semifinal match.
The Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Chicago Stags 4-1 that year In 1954 the Round-robin formula was used for the first and only time in the history of the playoffs. Thereafter, from 1955 to 1966, the league reverted to a six-team format, extending the division finals to a best-of-seven in 1958 and the semifinals to a best-of-five in 1961.
In 1967 the championship was opened to two other teams, for a total number of eight participants. The following year the semi-finals were played as best-of-seven. A fifth and sixth team were added to each division in 1975 and 1977 respectively, necessitating the creation of an additional round (the division quarter-finals).
In 1984 the league was expanded to the current sixteen teams and the quarter-finals were extended to best-of-five, which in 2003 became best-of-seven.