The NBA playoffs are the annual postseason tournament of the NBA, designed to crown the league champion after the regular season. They date back to 1947 when the league was still the Basketball Association of America.

The modern NBA playoffs currently feature 16 teams in a four-round, best-of-seven format. This structure became fully established in 1984 and still defines the path to the championship today.

The playoffs end with the NBA Finals, where the Eastern and Western Conference champions face off in a best-of-seven series to decide the league winner.

The Boston Celtics hold the record for the most NBA championships in playoff history with 18 titles, making them the most successful franchise in postseason history.

Before 2003, the first round of the NBA playoffs was shorter. It was later expanded to a best-of-seven series, making early-round upsets much harder to achieve.

The NBA introduced the play-in tournament in 2020 to give teams ranked 7th through 10th in each conference a chance to compete for the final playoff spots.

In the current format, the top six teams in each conference automatically qualify for the playoffs based on regular season win percentage.

Teams seeded 7th through 10th must compete in the play-in tournament, where they fight for the final two playoff spots in each conference.

The NBA play-in system uses a Page-style structure where the 7th and 8th seeds get two chances to secure a playoff spot, while the 9th and 10th seeds must win twice to advance.

The NBA playoffs use a fixed bracket, meaning teams are not reseeded after each round, so upsets can completely reshape the bracket path.

Home court advantage follows a 2-2-1-1-1 format, meaning the higher seed hosts Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 in a series. This format replaced the old 2-3-2 Finals format in 2014 to give higher seeds a more balanced advantage.

Tiebreakers in the NBA playoffs can involve head-to-head records, division records, conference records, and even point differential if needed. If multiple teams remain tied after all tiebreakers, the NBA may resort to coin tosses or drawing lots to determine seeding.

The playoff structure evolved many times in the 1950s and 1960s, including changes in series lengths from best-of-three to best-of-five and eventually best-of-seven.

By 1967, the NBA had expanded the playoff field to eight teams, creating a simpler knockout bracket that resembles the modern system.

In 1975, the NBA expanded again to 10 playoff teams and introduced a first-round series for lower seeds.

By 1977, the playoff field expanded to 12 teams, further increasing the importance of regular season standings.

The 1984 expansion to 16 teams created the modern playoff structure that fans recognize today.

One of the biggest rule controversies happened in 2006 when seeding rules caused top teams like the Spurs and Mavericks to meet earlier than expected.

The NBA changed its seeding rules in 2007 to ensure the best teams in each conference would not meet until the conference finals.

Since 2016, division winners no longer receive automatic top seeding privileges, making regular season record more important than division rank.

Only a handful of 8th-seeded teams have ever defeated a 1st seed in a playoff series, making those upsets extremely rare.

One famous 8th seed upset happened in 2007 when the Golden State Warriors defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.

The 1999 New York Knicks became one of the rare 8th seeds to reach the NBA Finals.

Several 7th seeds have also pulled major upsets, including wins over 2nd seeds in multiple playoff eras.

The 2023 playoffs marked a historic moment when multiple lower-seeded teams (7th or lower) advanced deep into the postseason.

The Miami Heat have made multiple deep playoff runs as lower seeds, including becoming one of the rare play-in teams to reach the Finals.

The Los Angeles Lakers hold one of the longest playoff appearance histories in NBA history with 65 postseason appearances.

The Celtics and Lakers together dominate much of NBA playoff history, combining for decades of Finals appearances and championships.

The longest playoff winning streak in a single postseason belongs to the 2017 Golden State Warriors, who won 15 straight games.

The 1994-95 Houston Rockets are the lowest-seeded team (6th seed) to ever win the NBA Finals. That same Rockets team is famous for beating multiple 50-win teams on their way to the championship.

The 1977-78 Washington Bullets are notable for winning the NBA title with one of the lowest win totals for a champion team.

Only a few teams with losing regular season records have ever made the NBA Finals, showing how rare postseason success from weak regular seasons is.

The San Antonio Spurs hold one of the longest consecutive playoff appearance streaks in NBA history, spanning more than two decades.

The Charlotte Hornets currently hold one of the longest active playoff droughts in the league.

The Sacramento Kings hold the longest overall playoff drought in NBA history, missing the postseason for 16 straight seasons.