A quick guide to NBA playoffs

The National Basketball Association (NBA) season is characteristically a marathon run of games over several months, but the coronavirus pandemic has forced the 2019-20 NBA campaign into a sprint toward the finish line. After an unimaginable wild stretch of seeding games, the NBA is ready to host the playoffs in Orlando, Florida. The playoffs will be played among 16 best teams across North America – eight from the West and eight from the East. The playoffs are played at the end of the season to determine the winner of the prestigious title.

Here’s a quick guide to how the playoffs work:

Number of teams in the NBA playoff

There will be a total of 16 teams playing in the playoff. Eight best from each of the NBA’s two conferences – East and West.

In each conference, the teams are ranked by their win-loss record from the regular season. The team with the most wins from each conference progresses to the playoffs.

How are the NBA playoffs seeded?

The teams are seeded 1 through 8 based on their regular-season record in each conference.

The team with the best record in each conference earns the number one seeding, while the team with the worst record receives the number eight seed and so on.

Also Read: NBA Playoffs full schedule: Everything you need to know

However, in case of a tie, here the scenarios that are played out to determine the seedings.

-If there is a tie, then the head-to-head record is used to determine the better seed.

-If head-to-head is tied, then the higher seed goes to the team that is a divisional champion.

-If neither team is a divisional champion, the third tiebreaker is the win-loss record against other teams in their division.

-Should none of the above criteria fail to provide an inference, then the win-loss percentage against conference teams is the final tiebreaker.

How do the NBA playoffs work?

The playoffs practice a best-of-seven elimination format. This means two teams play each other seven times. The team that wins four times progresses to the next round.

In the first round, the no. 1 seed in each conference plays the no. 8 seed. The second-seeded plays the seventh, the third plays with the sixth-seeded team, and the fourth-seeded team goes against the number five.

The second round is known as the conference semi-finals, and the third round is the conference finals.

The teams that progress from each conference, meet in the NBA Finals to determine the champion.

In each round, the team with the better regular-season record is rewarded with home-court advantage (HCA). A playoff series follows a 2-2-1-1-1 home/away format.

What is a 2-2-1-1-1 home/away format?

-The first two games at home are for the team with HCA.

-The next two games are played away from the team with HCA.

-One game at HOME for the team with HCA.

-The following game is played away for the team with HCA.

-The final game, number 7, is played home for the team with HCA.

What are the dates for the playoffs?

The first round begins on August 17, 2020. The conference semi-finals begin on August 31.

The conference finals begin September 15 and the NBA Finals, which will end no later than October 13, begin September 30.

Winner of 2018-19 NBA playoffs

Golden State Warriors (West) and the Toronto Raptors (East) were the two teams that advanced to the NBA Finals in 2019. The Raptors clinched the title 4-2.