NBA Playoffs
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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 (or conference quarterfinals) 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, although the first was previously a best-of-five series. The NBA finals are played 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, and all other rounds are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format.
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[edit] History
In the first season, 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 champions of the newly named NBA, knocking off the Syracuse Nationals in 6 games.
The 1951 through 1953 playoffs 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 2005 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, regardless of whether the team had one of the top eight records in its conference. This would change slightly after the 2005-06 season; while division winners still receive automatic playoff berths, they are no longer guaranteed a top-three seed, as discussed below. However, the division champion was and still is not guaranteed home-court advantage. Under this system, 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.
[edit] Trivia
- Only two 8th seeded teams have managed to win a series versus the number 1 seeded Team: The Denver Nuggets eliminated the Seattle Supersonics 3-2 in 1994; and the New York Knicks eliminated the Miami Heat 3-2 in 1999 (which was a lockout shortened season). In addition, the Knicks became the only 8th seeded team to reach the NBA Finals.
- The Houston Rockets are the only low seeded team to win the NBA Finals. In 1995, the Rockets swept the Orlando Magic in four games. The defending champs were the sixth seed in a strong Western Conference that season. The Rockets beat the Utah Jazz (60-22 WL record) three games to two; the Phoenix Suns (59-23 WL record) in seven games and the NBA 1995 MVP David Robinson led San Antonio Spurs (62-20 WL record) in six games. That season the Rockets were 5-0 in games when they faced playoff elimination.
- The Boston Celtics possess the most overall NBA Finals series wins with an overall record of 16-3. The Los Angeles Lakers have played in the most NBA Finals series (28) with an overall record of 14-14.
- Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics great Bill Russell won 11 championships.
- Shaquille O'Neal's teams (The Orlando Magic, The LA Lakers, and The Miami Heat) are a collective 25-0 in all NBA playoff series when his teams have won the first game of a series.
[edit] 2006 NBA Playoffs controversy
The current playoff format, in place for the 2006 NBA Playoffs, which awards the 1-3 seeds for each conference to the winners of each of the three conference divisions (while awarding home-court advantage based solely on won-loss record), is controversial and has been the subject of much discussion.[citation needed] During the 2006 season the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks possessed the best records in the Western Conference for most of the season, eventually finishing first and second, respectively. Both members of the Southwest Division, they earned the 1 and 4 seeds, while the Phoenix Suns, winners of the Pacific Division, and possessors of the third best record, earned the 2 seed, and the Denver Nuggets, winners of the Northwest Division (and tied for the seventh-best record in the conference), earned the 3 seed. Because the NBA playoffs do not reseed after each round, this led the Spurs and Mavericks to meet in the second round, having both won their first round series.
The fifth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and sixth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers had a meeting near the end of the regular season, after San Antonio and Dallas had clinched the two best records in the conference. Memphis and Los Angeles had clinched at least the sixth seed and had only to determine which team would receive the fifth seed and face Dallas in the first round, playing four of seven games on the road. The sixth seed would play three seed Denver, with four of seven games at home. Additionally, even if the fifth seed managed to beat heavily-favored Dallas, they'd almost certainly face San Antonio in the second round. The fifth seed would need to beat the two best teams in the conference to reach the conference finals while the sixth seed would never have to play more than one of the two teams, and not until the conference finals.
This led to speculation about whether Memphis or Los Angeles would have much commitment to winning their match-up in the second-to-last game of the season,[citation needed] since it was clearly most advantageous to lose the game in order to gain the sixth seed. Los Angeles eventually lost to Memphis with much evidence to support the idea that the Clippers tanked the game.[citation needed]
In the first round of the playoffs, Los Angeles defeated Denver in five games, while Memphis was swept by Dallas.
Most critics [citation needed] of the current playoff system feel that the playoff seeding is rigged (ensuring that the two best teams face each other in the conference finals, if they advance that far, and never in an earlier round), and that winning the division title serves only to guarantee advancement to the playoffs. Also, it would rarely be so clearly advantageous for a playoff-bound team to lose a game in order to receive a lower seed. Under the current system any time there are two very strong teams in the same division of a conference (along with there being a considerably less-heralded division winner in the same conference), the advantage of receiving the six seed rather than the five seed will always be quite apparent.
The situation above was not a problem back when each conference was aligned into two divisions as it would have required that a division have the four best records, and that these four teams be considered very formidable to the other teams in their conference, as were the Spurs and Mavericks.
According to NBA.com, August 3, 2006, the NBA approved a revised playoff seeding system. Under the new rules, the three division winners in each conference will still get entry into the playoffs, and the five teams with the best record of the remaining teams in the conference will get the other playoff spots. However, the three division winners and the team with the best record of the non-division winners (top four seeds) will be seeded based on record, while the bottom four teams will get seeds according to record.
This new system ensures that division winners will be seeded in the top four, regardless of how weak the division may be. However, there may still be occurrences of a higher seed with a worse record facing a lower seed with a better record. Fortunately, this is now only possible between the four and five seeds, unless the top four records in a conference all belong to the same division, which is highly unlikely.
[edit] External links
- NBA Home Page
- NBA Playoffs InsideHoops.com Coverage
- Basketball-Reference.com Index of NBA Playoffs seasons
| 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | |||||||
| 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
| 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
| 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | ||
