How Do the NBA Playoffs Work? Everything You Need to Know

The NBA playoffs are fast approaching, but how do they work? How does the NBA decide which teams are involved? Who picks the jerseys? How can I buy tickets? These are all questions that were unanswered until now.

The NBA Play-In Tournament begins on April 11th and the actual Playoffs start on April 15th.

The teams with the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th best records in each conference will meet in the NBA Play-In Tournament between April 11th and April 15th. There will be a game between the 7-8 teams and 9-10 teams. Winner of the 7-8 matchup is the 7th seed and plays the 2-seed. The loser of the 7-8 game plays the winner of the 9-10 game. Whoever wins that is the 8th seed and gets to take on the team with the best record in the conference in the first round.

If anyone has an amazing game during the Play-In Tournament, remember that it will not count towards playoff statistics. The Play-In is a completely different part of the postseason.

Once the Play-In Tournament is over the traditional NBA playoffs begin with teams meeting in best-of-7 series. (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5) Win four games and advance. Eventually, you will have a team come out of the Eastern Conference and a team come out of the Western Conference. Those teams will meet in the NBA Finals which start on May 14th or 16th. First team to win four games after that point wins a trophy and gets a parade.

It’s just that easy to win a title. Kind of surprising that more teams don’t do it each year.