How many games are in first round of NBA playoffs 2023?

The NBA playoffs are almost set. The final spots will be determined on Friday as the play-in tournament concludes.

Eight teams from the Eastern Conference and eight from the Western Conference will battle it out for the NBA title.

The first round is the conference quarterfinals. There are between 32 and 56 games in the first round of the NBA playoffs depending on how the series play out. Let’s see how the playoff format is structured.

How do the NBA playoffs work?

Once the top eight seeds are completed after the play-in tournament, the first round begins.

The brackets are divided between the top eight teams in the East on one side and the top eight teams in the West on the other. The first round begins with the No. 1 seed taking on the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed facing the No. 7 seed, the No. 3 seed versus the No. 6 seed and the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds square off.

The winners of the 1/8 play the winners of the 4/5 in the next round. The winners of the 2/7 series play the winners of the 3/6 series. The NBA playoffs use the traditional bracket format and do not reseed teams after each round.

Each series and each round are played in a best-of-seven format. The first team to win four games advances to the next round. Therefore, a series can be between four and seven games. Accordingly, the NBA playoffs can range from 60 to 105 total games depending on how the series play out.

The higher seed gets home-court advantage and the right to host Game 7 if the series extends that far. The series alternates between the home arenas of the two teams in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. So, the higher seed, determined by the better regular season record for the top six seeds and the play-in tournament for the final two seeds in each conference, hosts games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The lower seed hosts games 3, 4 and 6.

The NBA Finals had used to utilize a 2-3-2 format to limit travel. This was changed to a 2-2-1-1-1 format in 2013.