NBA Conference Finals

The National Basketball Association Conference Finals are the Eastern and Western Championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA), a major professional basketball league in North America. The NBA was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).^[1] The NBA adopted its current name at the start of the 1949–50 season when the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL).^[2] The league currently consists of 30 teams, of which 29 are located in the United States and 1 in Canada. Each team plays 82 games in the regular season. After the regular season, eight teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs. At the end of the playoffs, the top two teams play each other in the Conference Finals, to determine the Conference Champions from each side, who then proceed to play in the NBA Finals.

Initially, the BAA teams were aligned into two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The Divisional Finals were first played in 1949, the league's third season. The first two seasons used a playoffs format where Eastern and Western Division teams would face each other before the BAA Finals, hence there were no divisional finals. In the 1949–50 season, the league realigned itself to three divisions, with the addition of the Central Division. However, the arrangement was only used for one season and the league went back into two divisions format in 1951. The two divisions format remained until 1970, when the NBA realigned itself into two conferences with two divisions each, which led to the renaming to Conference Finals. The finals was a best-of-3 series from 1949 to 1950 to; a best-of-5 series from 1951–56, and a best-of-7 series since 1957. Currently, the Conference Finals are played in a best-of-7 series like the NBA Playoffs and Finals. The two series are played in late May each year after the first and second rounds of the Playoffs and before the Finals. At the conclusion of the Conference Finals, winners are presented with a silver trophy, caps, and T-shirts, and advance to the NBA Finals.

The Los Angeles Lakers have won the most conference titles with 31, which consists of 30 Western Conference titles and one title in the now-defunct Central Division. They have also made 40 appearances in the Conference Finals, more than any other team. The Boston Celtics have won 21 Eastern Conference titles, the second most of any team. The Celtics also hold the record for consecutive titles; they won 10 consecutive Eastern Division titles from 1957–66. The Golden State Warriors and the Detroit Pistons hold the distinction of being the only teams to have won both East and West titles. Twenty-three of the 30 active franchises have won at least one conference title. The Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies, and Toronto Raptors have each played in at least one Conference Finals (Denver has played in three), but they have each failed to win their respective conference title. Three other franchises, the Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers, and New Orleans Pelicans have never appeared in the Conference Finals. Of the 137 conference and divisional champions, 42 were won by the team who had or tied for the best regular season record for that season.

Keys

Eastern Division/Conference

NBA history officially begins with three Basketball Association of America (BAA) seasons. In its first two postseason tournaments, BAA Eastern and Western Division champions were matched in a long first-round series while four runners-up played off to determine the other finalist.

• 1946–1947: Washington Capitols(), lost to the Western champion
• 1947–1948: Philadelphia Warriors, defeated the Western champion, lost the BAA Finals

Division Finals

Line "1949" refers to the last BAA Playoffs. In its inaugural 1949–50 season only, the NBA used a three-division arrangement. Syracuse won the Eastern Division championship in the first two rounds of the 1950 NBA Playoffs and advanced to the Finals as the one of three division champions with the best regular season record.^[3]

Conference Finals

Western Division/Conference

NBA history officially begins with three Basketball Association of America (BAA) seasons. In its first two postseason tournaments, BAA Eastern and Western Division champions were matched in a long first-round series while four runners-up played off to determine the other finalist.

• 1946–1947: Chicago Stags, defeated the Eastern champion, lost the BAA Finals
• 1947–1948: St. Louis Bombers(), lost to the Eastern champion

Division Finals

Line "1949" refers to the last BAA Playoffs. In its inaugural 1949–50 season only, the NBA used a three-division arrangement. Anderson won the Western Division championship in the first two rounds of the 1950 NBA Playoffs but did not thereby advance to the Finals as every other Western playoff champion has done, and it was defeated by the Central champion in their semifinal series.^[3]

Conference Finals

Central Division

Before the 1949–50 season, the BAA merged with the NBL and became the NBA. The number of teams competed increased to 17 and the league realigned itself to three divisions, creating the Central Division. In that season, 4 teams with the best win–loss records from each division advanced to the divisional playoffs. Then, the winner of the Western and Central Division Finals met in the NBA Semifinals in order to determine who would face the Eastern Division champion Syracuse Nationals in the NBA Finals. The Minneapolis Lakers defeated the Western Division champion Anderson Packers in the best-of-3 series 2–0 to advance to the Finals. The Lakers eventually won the Finals against the Nationals. It disbanded before the 1950–51 season, after 6 teams folded and the league realigned itself back into two divisions. It returned in 1970 as one of the divisions in the newly formed Eastern Conference.^[4]

Division Finals

Results by team

Stats updated through 2016 NBA Playoffs

Total number of appearances

Consecutive appearances

• 13 Boston Celtics: (1957–1969)
• 8 Los Angeles Lakers: (1982–1989)
• 6 St. Louis Hawks: (1956–1961)
• 6 New York Knicks: (1969–1974)
• 6 Detroit Pistons: (2003–2008)
• 5 New York Knicks: (1949–1953)
• 5 Minneapolis Lakers: (1951–1955)
• 5 Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers: (1959–1963)
• 5 Los Angeles Lakers: (1968–1973)
• 5 Boston Celtics: (1984–1988)
• 5 Chicago Bulls: (1989–1993)
• 5 Detroit Pistons: (1987–1991)

See also

• List of NBA champions
• List of NBA seasons

Notes

References

External links

• NBA History at NBA.com
• NBA & ABA Playoff Index (includes BAA) at Basketball-Reference.com