The 2023 NBA Playoffs are just a week away. We've outlined the format, teams involved, structural changes and much more below so you're all clued in before the postseason drama unfolds...
Monday 3 April 2023 10:22, UK
The 2023 NBA Playoffs are just a week away. We've outlined the format, teams involved, structural changes and much more below so whether you're a casual fan or an avid supporter, you're all clued in before the postseason drama unfolds.
The NBA Playoffs is an annual tournament that usually begins in mid-April, after the end of the regular season, and finishes in mid-June.
The top eight teams from each Conference are involved in a best-of-seven elimination format that carries on through four rounds until two teams are left to challenge for the Championship.
Those rounds are the first round, the NBA Conference semi-finals, the NBA Conference finals, and the NBA finals.
In each round, the team with the better regular-season record is awarded a home-court advantage. This means that of the seven games in each series, the team with the better seed plays games one, two, five, and seven at home.
Each round of playoffs last two weeks, and the playoffs eight weeks, ending no later than June 18.
In 2021, the NBA introduced a new format in which teams ranking from seventh to 10th in the respective Conferences would have a chance to challenge for a Playoff spot.
Previously, the top eight teams would progress to the Playoffs, and the rest were eliminated. The pandemic interrupted this process, leading to the birth of the Play-in tournament.
The tournament uses a single and double elimination process, where the seventh and eighth-seeded teams play each other, while the ninth and 10th seeds lock horns.
The winner of the seventh and eighth-seeded matchup automatically gets the seventh spot. Meanwhile, the loser of the ninth and 10th-seeded clash is eliminated.
The winner of the ninth and tenth-seeded game plays the loser of the seventh and eighth-seeded game to determine who gets the eighth - and final - playoff spot.
For example, in 2022, the NBA Play-in matchups were as follows:
Western Conference:
Minnesota Timberwolves (7) vs Los Angeles Clippers (8)
New Orleans Pelicans (9) vs San Antonio Spurs (10)
Eastern Conference:
Brooklyn Nets (7) vs Cleveland Cavaliers (8)
Atlanta Hawks (9) vs Charlotte Hornets (10)
The Timberwolves, Pelicans, Nets, and Hawks advanced to the postseason.
The first round of the NBA Playoffs features four matchups, each lasting seven games. The first to four wins progresses to the Conference semi-finals, which means that sometimes, there's no need to play all seven fixtures.
The top seeds play the eighth, second plays seventh, third seed plays sixth and fourth plays fifth.
The team with the better record has a home-court advantage, which means that four of the seven games are played on their turf.
The NBA Conference semi-finals are the second round.
In this round, the winners of the four previous matchups in each Conference face off in another best-of-seven-game series.
The rules of home-court advantage still apply.
The NBA Conference finals are the third round of the playoffs where the final two teams in each Conference face off in another seven-game series.
Home-court advantage still applies, which can be a crucial factor in how the series unfold. The winners then have the chance to win the Championship title in the final round of the playoffs.
The NBA finals are the final round of the playoffs and determine the overall winner of the tournament.
Just like the previous rounds, this also pits two teams against each other for seven games.
Last season, the Golden State Warriors won the NBA finals by defeating the Boston Celtics four games to three. Stephen Curry was named MVP.
As previously mentioned, home-court advantage can be key in each round of the playoffs and applies to each round.
It is determined by using each team's ranking or place. For instance, when the second-ranked team plays the seventh seed, the second-ranked team gets the home-court advantage.
In each of the seven-game series, one team will be able to play in familiar territory for at least four of the matchups, which is all that is needed to ensure safe passage to the next round.
The specific fixtures will be announced in the next week, with plenty of the showdowns available to watch live on Sky Sports' flagship channels.
