What is the NBA Finals format?

The NBA Playoffs are just around the corner with the regular season ending on Sunday, April 9. The play-in tournament begins on Tuesday, April 11. The playoffs begin in full on Saturday, April 15.

The playoffs culminate with the NBA Finals, which are scheduled to begin on Thursday, June 1 and end on Sunday, June 18, if the series goes seven games.

So how do the NBA Finals work?

The top eight teams in the Eastern Conference standings and the top eight teams in the Western Conference compete on opposite sides with the winners facing off in the Finals.

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The teams will compete in a best-of-seven series through three rounds before the two conference champions collide in the Finals.

The two teams play a best-of-seven series. This means the first team to win four games takes the championship trophy.

There is no neutral site host. The series alternates between the two home arenas of the competing teams. The team with a better regular season record earns the right to host Game 7, if the series reaches that far. The team with the better record also hosts Games 1, 2, and 5. The lower-seeded team hosts Games 3, 4, and 6, if necessary.

This is known as the 2-2-1-1-1 format. In years past, the Finals used a 2-3-2 format to limit travel between the eastern and western parts of the country, but it has now moved back to the 2-2-1-1-1. This same format is used in every round of the Playoffs.

Here is the schedule for the 2023 NBA Finals:

June 1: NBA Finals 2023 Game 1
June 4: NBA Finals 2023 Game 2
June 7: NBA Finals 2023 Game 3
June 9: NBA Finals 2023 Game 4
June 12: NBA Finals 2023 Game 5 (if necessary)
June 15: NBA Finals 2023 Game 6 (if necessary)
June 18: NBA Finals 2023 Game 7 (if necessary)

Last season, the Finals went six games with the Golden State Warriors beating the Boston Celtics. The Warriors had the home-court advantage because they had the better regular-season record. It was the second-straight season where neither conference regular season champion made the Finals.

About the author

Sean Cavanaugh is a basketball writer at Sportskeeda with seven years of experience in sports journalism.

Sean graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he was a beat writer for the Tar Heels' basketball and football teams, before working on the SportsCenter and Digital Media teams at the Bristol campus of ESPN. Sean's career then took him to Las Vegas as a Producer for VSiN/DraftKings, and has since worked as a reporter covering NFL, NBA and global events, including the Tokyo and Beijing Olympic Games.

Hailing from Orlando, Sean's loyalty lies with the Orlando Magic. Giannis Antetokounmpo holds a special place in Sean's heart due to his demeanor off the court and his intensity on it. Among Sean's favorite basketball moments is UNC's national title win during his senior year.

Sean has interviewed notable basketball figures such as Damian Lillard, Draymond Green and Kyrie Irving during the Olympics, and plays tennis, obsesses over music and watches other sports in his free time.

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Edited by Windy Goodloe