The National Basketball Association’s regular season ends in the spring with a postseason event known as the NBA Playoffs. The Play-In Tournament, First Round, Conference Semifinals, Conference Finals, and NBA Finals are all part of the NBA Playoffs. The Playoffs run for eight weeks in total, with each round lasting two weeks.
Playoffs typically begin around the middle of April and go until about the middle of June. Each conference’s top eight teams enter the playoffs and battle each other until the two conference champions face off in the championship.
NBA playoffs Teams in 2022
With the start of the play-in round on April 12, the 2022 NBA events officially began. The playoffs kicked off on April 16 with the first round. And the postseason lasts for almost two months, concluding with the Finals between June 2 and June 19. Sixteen teams, including the top eight seeds in each of the NBA’s two conferences, make up the postseason tournament (East and West).
The regular season win-loss records of each club are used to determine their respective conference standings. And the top six clubs in each conference automatically advance to the next round of playoffs. Then, in a play-in tournament, the seventh through tenth-placed clubs from each conference compete for the final playoff appearances.
How do the NBA Playoffs work for Teams in 2022?
The NBA Playoffs are the league’s second season-long competition, following the regular season. The top teams from the Western and Eastern Conferences face off in a tournament with three rounds: the quarterfinals, the semi-finals, and the Conference Final.
The NBA Finals put the two best teams from each conference against one another to determine the league champion.
Seven NBA Playoffs Games
For the elimination rounds, the playoffs are using a best-of-seven system. This implies that each pair of teams may face one another as many as seven times, with the side that wins the most games advancing. The top seed in each league opens against the bottom seed, the second seed against the seventh seed, the third seed against the sixth seed, and the fourth seed against the fifth seed.
In addition, the semi-finals and championship games of each conference are held in the second and third rounds of NBA Playoffs, respectively. The NBA Finals pit the two conference champions against one other to decide the league’s best team.
The club with the best regular-season record will get a home-court advantage for that round. And the home-and-away configuration for a playoff series is 2-2-1-1-1. This implies that the higher seed will host games 1, 2, 5, and 7 in a seven-game series.
Playoffs Lead to NBA Finals
The NBA season concludes with the NBA Finals. Only the Western and Eastern Conference Champions qualify for this tournament. Moreover, the NBA Finals follow the same format as the playoffs: best-of-seven games, with the champion being determined by the team that wins the most games.
So, the team with the better regular-season record will host the first and second games of the series, as well as games five and seven if required. Game 3, Game 4, and Game 6, if required, will be played in the opposing team’s home stadium. The Larry O’Brien Trophy for the Champions will be presented to the winning team.
Home Court Advantage for Teams in NBA
The team with the superior regular season record receives a home-court advantage in the NBA Finals, despite the fact that the higher seed receives it in the initial three stages of the playoffs.
Whether or not you put a lot of value in the phenomenon of home-court advantage, the numbers show that it exists. All 30 NBA teams of NBA Playoffs, if given the chance, would prefer to host the first game of a playoff series at home than on the road.