American sports

NBA Playoffs

The NBA Playoffs are four rounds of competition between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association. The winners of the First Round advance to the Conference Semifinals, and the winners of the Conference Semifinals go on to the NBA Conference Finals. Finally, the champions of each conference face each other in the NBA Finals. Each round is a best-of-seven series, played either in a 2-3-2 format, meaning the first two and final two games (if necessary) are played at the court of the team possessing home court advantage, or a 2-2-1-1-1 format.

History

In the first season, 1946-1947, of the NBA (called the BAA until the merger with the NBL in 1949) the top three teams from the Eastern and Western divisions were invited to the playoffs. The two division champions played a Semifinal best-of-seven series for entry into the finals. The other four teams played two rounds of best-of-three playoffs to face the winner of the Semifinal match. That year, the Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Chicago Stags 4 games to 1 in the first ever BAA Championship.

In the 1949 playoffs, an additional team from each Division was added, eliminating the byes, and two rounds of best-of-three series were played, followed by a best-of-seven championship. In 1950 the Minneapolis Lakers became the first official NBA Champions, knocking off the Syracuse Nationals in 6 games.

The 1951 through 1953 playoffs introduced changed the Division Finals into a best-of-five playoff. In 1954, the year the Indianapolis Olympians folded, the NBA Playoffs used a Round Robin for the first and only time in its history. Then, from 1955 to 1966 year, the league returned to the original 6-team format, expanding the Division Finals to a best-of-seven in 1958 and the Semifinals to a best-of-five in 1961.

In 1967 the field was again expanded to 8 teams, filling out the three-round 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 format and the now-complete First Round was changed to a best-of-five playoff. In 2003 the first round was changed to be best-of-seven also.

Beginning with the 2004-2005 season, with the addition of the 30th NBA franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA realigned its divisions. Each conference now has three divisions of five teams each, and the winner of each division is guaranteed a top-three playoff seed, regardless of whether the team had one of the top eight records in its conference. However, the division champion is not guaranteed home-court advantage; a division-leading team with a poor record could be ranked number three but face a sixth seed with a better record, which would then have the home-court advantage.