The 3 division winners and 5 other teams with the most wins from each conference qualified for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record. A division champion is guaranteed to be ranked at least fourth, regardless of their record and their winnings.
#1 in each conference will play #8 in their conference, #2 plays #7, #3 plays #6 and #4 plays #5. In the Conference Semifinals, the winner of #1 vs. #8 plays the winner of #4 vs. #5, and the winner of #2 vs. #7 plays the winner of #3 vs. #6. The winners of the Conference Semifinals then meet in the Conference Finals. Winners in the Eastern and Western conferences advancing to the NBA Finals. |
NBA tie-breaking procedure
a. Division leader wins tie against team not leading a division If there were more than two teams tied, the team that wins the tiebreaker get the highest seed, while the other teams were re-broken. Since the three division winners were guaranteed a spot in the top four, ties to determine the division winners had to be broken before any other ties. Playoffs formatAll rounds of the NBA Playoffs are best-of-7 games. This means, the team that is the first to win four games out of seven is the winner of that round. The First Round, the Conference Semifinals and the Conference Finals are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. The NBA Finals are played on a 2-3-2 basis. Teams with the better record during the regular season gained home-court advantage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||