NBA Playoffs 2021: What You Need to Know

The NBA playoffs will kick off towards the end of May continuing into July.  For all the novices out there, the playoffs are basically the end-of-season tournament that determines which team wins the NBA title.

How Many Teams Are in The Playoffs?

The playoffs are comprised of 16 teams in total – the eight best teams from each of the East and West divisions.  The teams in each conference are ranked by their win-loss record from the regular season.  How it works is that the six teams with the most registered wins from each division progresses automatically to the playoffs.

The seventh to 10^th teams in each conference then play for the remaining playoff spots and a place in the controversial play-in tournament.  The NBA has again decided to implement this format which ultimately serves to give lesser ranked teams a chance to make the playoffs.

How are the NBA playoffs seeds determined?

The top six teams in each conference are seeded 1 to 6 based on their regular season record.  As logic prevails in most scenarios, the team with the best all-round record receives the no.1 seed, while the team with the worst season record receives the lowest rank – the no.6 seed.

The seventh and eight seed in each conference is decided by the play-in tournament.

How Many Games Are in The NBA Playoffs?

The whole NBA playoffs are divided into 4 rounds – including the finals.  Each round has every team match up and play a Best-of-7 series, meaning that the first team to register four wins qualifies to the next round.  The losing team naturally is knocked out of the tournament and starts packing to head home.

The first round will have a minimum of 32 games and 56 games if each game goes to game 7.  The winner of the game 7 always wins the series.  The winner of game 7 always comes up on top in the series.

The second round features the remaining 8 teams play another best of 7 series and following is the Conference finals, which will have the final two teams from each conference fighting it out.  The winner of the Conference Finals marches on to the NBA finals.

Countdown Begins

The NBA Playoffs is the culmination of all the hard work put throughout the whole Basketball season. The excitement of the Playoffs is like no other and will continue to be the most exciting event for years to come. A cheers to basketball.