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EspañolNATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
(Redirected from NBA Playoffs)
The 'NBA Playoffs' is a four-round best-of-seven elimination tournament between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association, ultimately determining the league champion.
Following the NBA regular season, eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.
The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three champions, and the one other team in the conference with the best record are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees that the division champions will be no lower than fourth seed, and also ensures that a conference's two best teams (by record) are ranked as the top two. Of the remaining 11 conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their records.
In the event that two teams end up tied for the same seed, the following tiebreakers are employed[1]:
# Head-to-head
# Division record (if the teams are in the same division)
# Conference record
# Record vs. Playoff teams, own conference
# Record vs. Playoff teams, other conference
# Net points, all games
The first round of the playoffs, or Conference Quarterfinals, consists of four matchups in each conference, based on the seedings (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5). The eight winners advance to the second round, or Conference Semifinals, in which, unlike other leagues (such as the NHL), matchups are set in advance as between the winners of the 1-8 and 4-5 series, and the winners of the 2-7 and 3-6 series, and not based on the seeds of the winners of those series. The winners of these series advance to the NBA Conference Finals, which determines which team in each conference will advance to the NBA Finals, the winner of which is declared the NBA champion.
Each round is a best-of-seven series. All series except the NBA Finals are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 5 and 7, while their opponent hosts games 3, 4, and 6, with games 5-7 being played if needed. The NBA Finals are played in a 2-3-2 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 6 and 7, and their opponent hosts games 3, 4 and 5. The home-court advantage is determined in all four rounds by record, regardless of seed.
On August 3, 2006, the NBA announced the current revised playoff seeding system. Some consider the current system to be flawed, as where two teams who are not division winners have tied records, one can gain an inflated seeding by moving into the top four seeding based solely on tiebreakers.
An example of this criticism arose in the very first season of the new system. As things stood of April 17, 2007 (with one regular season game left for all teams except the Phoenix Suns and the Atlanta Hawks), the Chicago Bulls would have had the second seed with a second-place Central Division record of 49-32. The Cleveland Cavaliers possessed an identical 49-32 record, but because Chicago won the tie-breakers between them, Cleveland would have made it no higher than fifth, despite having more wins than the fourth-seeded Miami Heat, who clinched the Southeastern Division.
Under the previous seeding system, with division winners receiving the top three seeds, Cleveland would still have been fifth, but Chicago would have been fourth. Miami, being the division winner with the lowest record, would in that case have been third.
On April 18, the Bulls lost while Cleveland won their respective final games. The result was that Cleveland finished with one more win than the Bulls, putting Chicago in the fifth seed, despite finishing with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, and placing Cleveland in the second seed.
The contrasting argument to this critique is that the second seeding does not afford a team home-court advantage in any playoff round. Additionally, the fifth seed would play the weakest division winner in Miami, while the second seed would play a weak seventh seed. Were the teams seeded fourth and fifth, they would have played each other - meaning a stronger opponent for both teams than the one faced under the new system, allowing the two stronger teams to both advance (which they both did) to the second round. The criticism raised in 2006 (see below) was successfully addressed by the new system, as top-seeded Detroit ultimately faced and were defeated by second seeded (with the second-best record in the East) Cleveland in the Conference Finals.
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 also be best-of-seven.
Beginning with the 2004 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. This would change slightly after the 2005-06 season; while division winners still receive automatic playoff berths, they are guaranteed a top-''four'' seed, as described above.
The previous playoff format, in place for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 NBA Playoffs, after the NBA was re-aligned into 6 divisions, created controversy during the 2005-06 season and playoffs, and would be changed prior to the 2006-07 NBA season.[2]
As in other major American professional sports leagues, NBA division winners were seeded higher than any other playoff participants, regardless of their record. Prior to 2004, when NBA was aligned into two conferences with two divisions each, the top two seeds in each conference were reserved for the division winners. This meant that top two teams in a conference (by record) would be seeded either first and second (if they were in opposite divisions) or first and third (if they were in the same division). Because of the NBA playoffs' preset matchups in the second round, this meant that the top two teams in a conference could never meet until the Conference Finals, assuming they both made it to that round.
After the NBA realigned its two conferences into three divisions each, the seeding rules remained largely unchanged. The top three seeds would now be reserved for division winners. This meant that if the top two teams (by record) in a conference were in the same division, they would be ranked first and fourth, and would face each other in the Conference Semifinals, instead of the Finals, if both teams won their first round series.
In the second year of this format, the 2005-06 NBA season, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks of the Southwest Division did just that. This turn of events led to the playoff format being criticized by many, who claimed that the matchup was not only unfair to the team that would lose earlier in the playoffs than it deserved, but also created an unfair advantage for teams in the 2-7/3-6 half of the Western Conference playoff bracket, which could advance to the conference finals without playing either of the two best teams in the conference.[3]
The Phoenix Suns, winners of the Pacific Division and possessors of the third best record, were seeded second, and the Denver Nuggets, winners of the Northwest Division and tied for only the seventh-best record in the conference, were seeded third.
The Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers met in the second-to-last game of the regular season, after the top four seeds been clinched. The two teams were already determined to be the fifth and sixth seeds, and had only to determine which rank higher. The fifth seed would likely need to defeat the best two teams in the conference without home-court advantage to advance to the conference finals, as it would face fourth seeded Dallas, and likely face first-seeded San Antonio if it managed to defeat Dallas. The sixth seed would play Denver in the first round and would have home-court advantage, and only have to play, at most, one of Dallas or San Antonio - in 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, since it was clearly most advantageous to lose the game in order to obtain the 6th seed. Los Angeles eventually lost to Memphis without much evidence to support the speculation that the Clippers had lost intentionally [4]. In the first round of the playoffs, the Los Angeles defeated Denver in five games, while Memphis was swept by Dallas. Ultimately, Dallas and San Antonio did meet in the second round, with Dallas winning in seven games, and advancing all the way to the NBA Finals.
★ Only three 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, the New York Knicks eliminated the Miami Heat 3-2 in 1999 (which was a lockout shortened season), and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Dallas Mavericks 4-2 in the 2007 Western Conference First Round, becoming the first 8 seed to beat a 1 seed in the best of 7 format. The 1999 Knicks are currently the only 8th seeded team ever to reach the NBA Finals. In the Nuggets' and Warriors' cases, they both lost to the Utah Jazz in the second round.
★ The 1994-95 Houston Rockets were the lowest seeded team to win the NBA Finals. 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 in the first round; the Phoenix Suns (59-23 WL record) in seven games in the divisional finals; then beat the league's 1995 MVP David Robinson led San Antonio Spurs (62-20 WL record) in six games in the conference finals to reach the NBA Finals, becoming the only NBA team in history to beat four teams with 50 or more wins in the playoffs. In the NBA Finals, the Rockets swept the Orlando Magic (57-25 WL record) in four games. That season the Rockets were 5-0 in games when they faced playoff elimination, living up to their nickname "Clutch City."
★ 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 holds the record for the most NBA Championships with 11.
★ Shaquille O'Neal's teams (the Orlando Magic, the Los Angeles 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.
1. http://www.nba.com/features/seedingprimer07.html
2. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2537369
3. What Bonanza!: No payoff in NBA playoffs
4. April 18, 2006 Memphis-LA Clippers game recap
★ NBA Home Page
★ Playoff Seeding Criteria NBA.com
★ NBA Playoffs InsideHoops.com Coverage
★ Basketball-Reference.com Index of NBA Playoffs seasons
Current NBA Playoff logo.
The 'NBA Playoffs' is a four-round best-of-seven elimination tournament between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association, ultimately determining the league champion.
| Contents |
| Format |
| Criticism |
| History |
| 2006 NBA Playoffs controversy |
| Trivia |
| References |
| External links |
Format
Following the NBA regular season, eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.
The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three champions, and the one other team in the conference with the best record are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees that the division champions will be no lower than fourth seed, and also ensures that a conference's two best teams (by record) are ranked as the top two. Of the remaining 11 conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their records.
In the event that two teams end up tied for the same seed, the following tiebreakers are employed[1]:
# Head-to-head
# Division record (if the teams are in the same division)
# Conference record
# Record vs. Playoff teams, own conference
# Record vs. Playoff teams, other conference
# Net points, all games
The first round of the playoffs, or Conference Quarterfinals, consists of four matchups in each conference, based on the seedings (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5). The eight winners advance to the second round, or Conference Semifinals, in which, unlike other leagues (such as the NHL), matchups are set in advance as between the winners of the 1-8 and 4-5 series, and the winners of the 2-7 and 3-6 series, and not based on the seeds of the winners of those series. The winners of these series advance to the NBA Conference Finals, which determines which team in each conference will advance to the NBA Finals, the winner of which is declared the NBA champion.
Each round is a best-of-seven series. All series except the NBA Finals are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 5 and 7, while their opponent hosts games 3, 4, and 6, with games 5-7 being played if needed. The NBA Finals are played in a 2-3-2 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 6 and 7, and their opponent hosts games 3, 4 and 5. The home-court advantage is determined in all four rounds by record, regardless of seed.
Criticism
On August 3, 2006, the NBA announced the current revised playoff seeding system. Some consider the current system to be flawed, as where two teams who are not division winners have tied records, one can gain an inflated seeding by moving into the top four seeding based solely on tiebreakers.
An example of this criticism arose in the very first season of the new system. As things stood of April 17, 2007 (with one regular season game left for all teams except the Phoenix Suns and the Atlanta Hawks), the Chicago Bulls would have had the second seed with a second-place Central Division record of 49-32. The Cleveland Cavaliers possessed an identical 49-32 record, but because Chicago won the tie-breakers between them, Cleveland would have made it no higher than fifth, despite having more wins than the fourth-seeded Miami Heat, who clinched the Southeastern Division.
Under the previous seeding system, with division winners receiving the top three seeds, Cleveland would still have been fifth, but Chicago would have been fourth. Miami, being the division winner with the lowest record, would in that case have been third.
On April 18, the Bulls lost while Cleveland won their respective final games. The result was that Cleveland finished with one more win than the Bulls, putting Chicago in the fifth seed, despite finishing with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, and placing Cleveland in the second seed.
The contrasting argument to this critique is that the second seeding does not afford a team home-court advantage in any playoff round. Additionally, the fifth seed would play the weakest division winner in Miami, while the second seed would play a weak seventh seed. Were the teams seeded fourth and fifth, they would have played each other - meaning a stronger opponent for both teams than the one faced under the new system, allowing the two stronger teams to both advance (which they both did) to the second round. The criticism raised in 2006 (see below) was successfully addressed by the new system, as top-seeded Detroit ultimately faced and were defeated by second seeded (with the second-best record in the East) Cleveland in the Conference Finals.
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 also be best-of-seven.
Beginning with the 2004 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. This would change slightly after the 2005-06 season; while division winners still receive automatic playoff berths, they are guaranteed a top-''four'' seed, as described above.
2006 NBA Playoffs controversy
The previous playoff format, in place for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 NBA Playoffs, after the NBA was re-aligned into 6 divisions, created controversy during the 2005-06 season and playoffs, and would be changed prior to the 2006-07 NBA season.[2]
As in other major American professional sports leagues, NBA division winners were seeded higher than any other playoff participants, regardless of their record. Prior to 2004, when NBA was aligned into two conferences with two divisions each, the top two seeds in each conference were reserved for the division winners. This meant that top two teams in a conference (by record) would be seeded either first and second (if they were in opposite divisions) or first and third (if they were in the same division). Because of the NBA playoffs' preset matchups in the second round, this meant that the top two teams in a conference could never meet until the Conference Finals, assuming they both made it to that round.
After the NBA realigned its two conferences into three divisions each, the seeding rules remained largely unchanged. The top three seeds would now be reserved for division winners. This meant that if the top two teams (by record) in a conference were in the same division, they would be ranked first and fourth, and would face each other in the Conference Semifinals, instead of the Finals, if both teams won their first round series.
In the second year of this format, the 2005-06 NBA season, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks of the Southwest Division did just that. This turn of events led to the playoff format being criticized by many, who claimed that the matchup was not only unfair to the team that would lose earlier in the playoffs than it deserved, but also created an unfair advantage for teams in the 2-7/3-6 half of the Western Conference playoff bracket, which could advance to the conference finals without playing either of the two best teams in the conference.[3]
The Phoenix Suns, winners of the Pacific Division and possessors of the third best record, were seeded second, and the Denver Nuggets, winners of the Northwest Division and tied for only the seventh-best record in the conference, were seeded third.
The Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers met in the second-to-last game of the regular season, after the top four seeds been clinched. The two teams were already determined to be the fifth and sixth seeds, and had only to determine which rank higher. The fifth seed would likely need to defeat the best two teams in the conference without home-court advantage to advance to the conference finals, as it would face fourth seeded Dallas, and likely face first-seeded San Antonio if it managed to defeat Dallas. The sixth seed would play Denver in the first round and would have home-court advantage, and only have to play, at most, one of Dallas or San Antonio - in 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, since it was clearly most advantageous to lose the game in order to obtain the 6th seed. Los Angeles eventually lost to Memphis without much evidence to support the speculation that the Clippers had lost intentionally [4]. In the first round of the playoffs, the Los Angeles defeated Denver in five games, while Memphis was swept by Dallas. Ultimately, Dallas and San Antonio did meet in the second round, with Dallas winning in seven games, and advancing all the way to the NBA Finals.
Trivia
★ Only three 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, the New York Knicks eliminated the Miami Heat 3-2 in 1999 (which was a lockout shortened season), and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Dallas Mavericks 4-2 in the 2007 Western Conference First Round, becoming the first 8 seed to beat a 1 seed in the best of 7 format. The 1999 Knicks are currently the only 8th seeded team ever to reach the NBA Finals. In the Nuggets' and Warriors' cases, they both lost to the Utah Jazz in the second round.
★ The 1994-95 Houston Rockets were the lowest seeded team to win the NBA Finals. 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 in the first round; the Phoenix Suns (59-23 WL record) in seven games in the divisional finals; then beat the league's 1995 MVP David Robinson led San Antonio Spurs (62-20 WL record) in six games in the conference finals to reach the NBA Finals, becoming the only NBA team in history to beat four teams with 50 or more wins in the playoffs. In the NBA Finals, the Rockets swept the Orlando Magic (57-25 WL record) in four games. That season the Rockets were 5-0 in games when they faced playoff elimination, living up to their nickname "Clutch City."
★ 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 holds the record for the most NBA Championships with 11.
★ Shaquille O'Neal's teams (the Orlando Magic, the Los Angeles 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.
References
1. http://www.nba.com/features/seedingprimer07.html
2. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2537369
3. What Bonanza!: No payoff in NBA playoffs
4. April 18, 2006 Memphis-LA Clippers game recap
External links
★ NBA Home Page
★ Playoff Seeding Criteria NBA.com
★ NBA Playoffs InsideHoops.com Coverage
★ Basketball-Reference.com Index of NBA Playoffs seasons
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