2022 NBA playoffs: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 14:14, 13 April 2022
| Dates | April 16 – June 19, 2022[a] |
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The 2022 NBA playoffs will be the main postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2021–22 season. The playoffs will begin on April 16 and will end at the conclusion of the 2022 NBA Finals.
Overview
- The Phoenix Suns will enter the postseason for the second consecutive season and also clinched the best record in the NBA for the first time since 2005.
- The Miami Heat will enter the postseason for the third consecutive season and also clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2013.
- The Boston Celtics will enter the postseason for the eighth consecutive season, currently the longest in the NBA.
- The Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks will enter the postseason for the sixth consecutive season.
- The Philadelphia 76ers will enter the postseason for the fifth consecutive season.
- The Denver Nuggets will enter the postseason for the fourth consecutive season.
- The Dallas Mavericks will enter the postseason for the third consecutive season.
- The Memphis Grizzlies will enter the postseason for the second consecutive season.
- The Chicago Bulls will enter the postseason for the first time since 2017.
- The Los Angeles Lakers missed the postseason for the first time in three years.
- The Portland Trail Blazers missed the postseason for the first time in nine years.
- The Sacramento Kings missed the postseason once again, making their current postseason drought the longest in NBA history (originally starting from 2006 to 2022).
Format
Eight teams from each conference will participate in the playoffs. The top six teams in each conference, based on winning percentage, directly qualify for the playoffs; the seeding order of those teams is also based on winning percentage. If two or more teams have the same record, standard NBA tiebreaker rules are used.
The NBA Board of Governors approved a format for the 2021–22 season to have a play-in tournament involving the teams ranked 7th through 10th in each conference. The 7th place team and 8th place team participate in a "double-chance" game, with the winner advancing to the playoffs as the 7-seed. The loser then plays the winner of the elimination game between the 9th place and 10th place teams to determine the playoff's 8-seed. The NBA's regular playoff format will then proceed as normal.[2]
Each conference's bracket is fixed with no reseeding. All rounds are best-of-seven series; a series ends when one team wins four games, and that team advances to the next round. All rounds, including the NBA Finals, are in a 2–2–1–1–1 format with regards to hosting. In the conference playoffs, home court advantage goes to the higher-seeded team (number one being the highest). Conference seedings are ignored for the NBA Finals: home court advantage goes to the team with the better regular season record, and, if needed, ties are broken based on head-to-head record, followed by intra-conference record.
Playoff qualifying
On March 9, 2022, the Phoenix Suns became the first team to clinch a playoff spot.[3] On April 5, the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans became the last two teams to qualify for postseason play, as both teams secured spots in the first-stage play-in tournament. On April 7, the Denver Nuggets became the final team to secure a direct berth in the playoff bracket, qualifying as the sixth seed in the Western Conference and relegating the Minnesota Timberwolves to the play-in tournament.[4] While noted in the below tables, division titles have no bearing on seeding.[5]
Seeds 7 and 8 in each conference are determined via the first-stage play-in tournament, held April 12–15.
Eastern Conference
| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Play-in berth |
Playoff berth | Division title | Best record in conference |
Best record in NBA | |||
| 1 | Miami Heat | 53–29 | – | March 30[6] | March 19 | April 7 | – |
| 2 | Boston Celtics | 51–31 | – | March 31[7] | April 10 | – | – |
| 3 | Milwaukee Bucks | 51–31 | – | March 31[7] | April 5 | – | – |
| 4 | Philadelphia 76ers | 51–31 | – | April 3[8] | – | – | – |
| 5 | Toronto Raptors | 48–34 | – | April 5[9] | – | – | – |
| 6 | Chicago Bulls | 46–36 | – | April 5[9] | – | – | – |
| 7 | Brooklyn Nets | 44–38 | April 2[10] | April 12[11] | – | – | – |
| † | Cleveland Cavaliers | 44–38 | April 5[9] | – | – | – | |
| † | Atlanta Hawks | 43–39 | April 1[12] | – | – | – | |
| † | Charlotte Hornets | 43–39 | March 30[13] | – | – | – | |
† Denotes a team still in contention for the conference's eighth and final seed via the play-in tournament.
Western Conference
| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Play-in berth |
Playoff berth | Division title | Best record in conference |
Best record in NBA | |||
| 1 | Phoenix Suns | 64–18 | – | March 9[3] | March 22 | March 24[14] | March 24[14] |
| 2 | Memphis Grizzlies | 56–26 | – | March 24[15] | March 30[16] | – | – |
| 3 | Golden State Warriors | 53–29 | – | April 2[17] | – | – | – |
| 4 | Dallas Mavericks | 52–30 | – | March 30[18] | – | – | – |
| 5 | Utah Jazz | 49–33 | – | April 5 [19] | April 10 | – | – |
| 6 | Denver Nuggets | 48–34 | – | April 7[4] | – | – | – |
| 7 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 46–36 | April 7[20] | April 12[21] | – | – | – |
| † | Los Angeles Clippers | 42–40 | March 31[22] | – | – | – | |
| † | New Orleans Pelicans | 36–46 | April 5[23] | – | – | – | |
| † | San Antonio Spurs | 34–48 | April 5[24] | – | – | – | |
† Denotes a team still in contention for the conference's eighth and final seed via the play-in tournament.
Bracket
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Teams with home court advantage, the higher seeded team, are shown in italics. Template:2022 NBA playoffs
First Round
- Note: Times are EDT (UTC−4) as listed by NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.
Eastern Conference First Round
(1) Miami Heat vs. (8) TBD
| TBD won 0–0 in the regular-season series |
|---|
| TBD leads 0–0 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets
| Boston won 3–1 in the regular-season series |
|---|
This will be the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, and the second since the New Jersey Nets relocated to Brooklyn in 2012, with the Nets winning the first three meetings.[25]
| Brooklyn leads 3–0 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
(3) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (6) Chicago Bulls
| Milwaukee won 4–0 in the regular-season series |
|---|
This will be the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning two out of the first four meetings.[26]
| Tied 2–2 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
(4) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (5) Toronto Raptors
| Toronto won 3–1 in the regular-season series | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||
This will be the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning one series.[27]
| Series tied 1–1 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
Western Conference First Round
(1) Phoenix Suns vs. (8) TBD
| TBD won 0–0 in the regular-season series |
|---|
| TBD leads 0–0 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
(2) Memphis Grizzlies vs. (7) Minnesota Timberwolves
| Tied 2–2 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||
This will be the first playoff meeting between the two teams.[28]
(3) Golden State Warriors vs. (6) Denver Nuggets
| Denver won 3–1 in the regular-season series | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||
This will be the second playoff meeting between the two teams, with the Warriors winning the first meeting.[29]
| Golden State leads 1–0 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
(4) Dallas Mavericks vs. (5) Utah Jazz
| Tied 2–2 in the regular-season series |
|---|
This will be the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Mavericks winning the first two meetings.[30]
| Dallas leads 2–0 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
Media coverage
Television
ESPN, ABC, TNT, and NBA TV will broadcast the playoffs nationally in the United States. During the first two rounds, games will be split by ESPN, ABC and TNT. NBA TV and ESPNews will also televise selected games in the first round. Regional sports networks affiliated with teams will also broadcast first round games, except for those televised on ABC. ESPN/ABC will have exclusive coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals while TNT will have exclusive coverage of the Western Conference Finals. ABC will have exclusive coverage of the NBA Finals for the 20th straight year.
Notes
References
- ^ "2022 NBA Finals Schedule". NBA.com. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
- ^ "NBA Board of Governors approves Play-In Tournament for 2021-22 season". NBA.com. July 27, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
- ^ a b Reynolds, Tim (March 9, 2022). "Devin Booker scores 23 in return, Suns roll past Heat to clinch playoff spot". NBA.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ a b Stapleton, Arnie (April 7, 2022). "Nuggets clinch playoff berth with 122-109 rout of Grizzlies". ABC News. AP. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
- ^ Moore, Matt (September 9, 2015). "5 Things to Know: NBA division winners not guaranteed playoff spot". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ "Miami HEAT Clinch Postseason Berth". NBA.com. March 30, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ^ a b Maloney, Jack (April 5, 2022). "NBA playoff updates: Bucks, Celtics clinch spots; Knicks officially eliminated". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ Kaskey-Blomain, Michael (April 3, 2022). "76ers clinch playoff spot, Joel Embiid sets personal milestone for games played in a season". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ a b c Botkin, Brad (April 6, 2022). "NBA playoff picture: Lakers eliminated; Nets control destiny for 7 seed; Jazz, Bulls, Raptors clinch top six". CBSSports.com. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ Walsh, Erin (April 2, 2022). "Kevin Durant Drops Career High as Nets Clinch NBA Play-In Berth After Loss to Hawks". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 6, 2022 – via Yahoo!.
- ^ Botkin, Brad. "Cavaliers vs. Nets score: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving's dominance helps Brooklyn clinch No. 7 seed in East". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ "Hawks ease by Cavs to seal play-in berth". bignewsnetwork.com. April 1, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ "Bridges, Ball lead Hornets to win over Knicks, clinch at least a play-in game". wbtv.com. March 30, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ a b "Paul returns, helps Suns secure No. 1 seed". NBA.com. March 24, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
- ^ "Postgame Report: Grizzlies earn wire-to-wire win with 133-103 rout of Pacers". NBA.com. March 24, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ^ "Postgame Report: Grizzlies fend off Spurs, clinch first division title in franchise history". NBA.com. March 30, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ^ Andrews, Kendra (April 2, 2022). "Golden State Warriors clinch playoff spot with high-stakes win over Utah Jazz". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Price, Dwain (March 30, 2022). "Mavs Beat Cavs, 120-112, Now Own the NO. 3 Seed Out West". mavs.com. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ^ "Utah Jazz Clinch Spot in 2022 NBA Playoffs". Utah Jazz. April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ "NBA roundup: Nuggets seal playoff bid as Nikola Jokic makes history". Reuters. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ Frederick, Jace. "Anthony Edwards, D'Angelo Russell deliver as Timberwolves beat Clippers to reach playoffs". Pioneer Press. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ Maloney, Jack (April 1, 2022). "NBA playoff updates: Knicks officially eliminated; Bucks and Celtics clinch spots". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 6, 2022 – via MSN.com.
- ^ "Pelicans beat Kings 123-109, clinch play-in spot in West". cbssports.com. April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ "LA Clippers rout Pelicans to clinch West play-in berth". bworldonline.com. April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Boston Celtics versus Brooklyn Nets (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Chicago Bulls versus Milwaukee Bucks (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Toronto Raptors versus Philadelphia 76ers (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Memphis Grizzlies versus Minnesota Timberwolves (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Denver Nuggets versus Golden State Warriors (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ "Team Rivalry Finder — Dallas Mavericks versus Utah Jazz (Playoffs)". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 10, 2022.