The NBA Playoffs: All You Need To Know

The NBA (National Basketball Association) is a group of teams/a franchise based in USA. It is made up of 2 conferences, the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference. Each conference has a total of 15 teams summing up to 30 in total. Each team competes against teams from both conferences culminating in an 82-game season known as the Regular season. At the end of the regular season, eight teams from each conference qualifies for the Post-Season Showdown known as the PLAYOFFS, in a bid to win the NBA CHAMPIONSHIP.

Initially, the top 8 teams of each conference at the end of the regular season qualifies automatically for the playoffs but the format was recently altered. Presently, the top 6 teams qualifies automatically while the teams in position 7-10 (4 in total) plays in a mini-tournament known as the Play-in in order to determine who would finish in position 7 and 8.

THE PLAY-IN

The team in Position 7, plays against the team in Position 8, while the team in Position 9, plays against the team in Position 10. The winner of the game between the occupiers of position 7 and 8 takes the 7th spot while the loser battles with the winner of the game between the 9th and 10th seed for the last playoff spot.

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PLAYOFFS

The playoffs is a competition that's played at the end of each regular season. Eight teams from each Conference are seeded and made to play against each other in a bid to win the most coveted basketball trophy, The NBA Championship. The winner of each conference plays against each other in a best of 7 series and the winner of the series goes home with the gold. The Milwaukee Bucks won the 2021 NBA championship and hopes to defend the title this off-season.

In recent times, the NBA championship has been notably won by some of the Greats to ever grace the game, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Kareem AbdulJabbar, LeBron James etc.

At the end of the 2022 Regular Season, the following teams qualified for the NBA Playoffs.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1. Phoenix Suns

2. Memphis Grizzlies

3. Golden State Warriors

4. Utah Jazz

5. Dallas Mavericks

6. Denver Nuggets

7. Minnesota Timberwolves

8. New Orleans Pelicans

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. Miami Heats

2. Celtics

3. Milwaukee Bucks

4. Philadelphia 76ers

5. Toronto Raptors

6. Chicago Bulls

7. Brooklyn Nets

8. Atalanta Hawks.

One of the favorites to win the tournament, the Los Angeles Lakers performed abysmally and failed to qualify for the Playoffs despite possessing star powers in Antony Davis, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

For the teams in the Western Conference, Finishing in the above position, resulted in a match up between

1. Phoenix Suns vs New Orleans Pelicans

2. Memphis Grizzlies vs Minnesota Timberwolves

3. Golden State Warriors vs Denver Nuggets

4. Utah Jazz vs Dallas Mavericks.

1. The Phoenix Suns took game 1 of the NBA Playoffs defeating the NO Pelicans 110-99, They went further to play 4 more games, with the Phoenix Suns currently leading the best of Seven series 3-2.

2. The Memphis Grizzlies currently leads the series 3-2, with Ja Morant Making a layup late in the game to win the game 111-109

3. The warriors eliminated the Denver Nuggets, winning the Series 4-1.

4. The Dallas Mavericks leads the series 3-2.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

For the teams in the Eastern Conference, Finishing in The above positions resulted in a match up between

1.Miami Heats Vs Atalanta Hawks: The Miami Heats won the best of 7 series, defeating the Atalanta Hawks 4-1.

2. Boston Celtics vs Brooklyn Nets: The Boston Celtics surprisingly swept the Brooklyn Nets, 4-0. It's quite surprising because they have 2 of the most skilled players In NBA history but failed to win a game in the best of 7 series.

3. Milwaukee Bucks Vs Chicago Bulls: The Milwaukee bucks won the series 4-1, behind a solid Performance from the 2 time MVP and One time DPOY, Giannis Antetokoumpo.

4. Philadelphia 76ers vs Toronto Raptors: The 76ers currently lead the serie 3-2. They hope to round it off later today in game 6.

So far so good, the NBA Playoffs has been fun.

I will keep y'all updated as we progress.

Lead image: Source

APRIL 28, 2022.