| In April, 8 NBA teams from each conference | | | | the home court advantage. |
| qualify to play in the championship playoffs. The | | | | Once the playoffs begin, they follow a |
| top three teams based on their regular season | | | | tournament format. The team's face each other |
| record are chosen for the top three seeds based | | | | is a best of seven series. The first team to win |
| on the NBA seeding system. The next five teams | | | | four rounds gets to advance into the next round. |
| with the best records take the other five seeds. | | | | Teams are not reseeded once the playoffs begin |
| The one difference of the NBA seeding system | | | | therefore the first or eight seed team who wins |
| from any other American major league sport is | | | | will face off with the fourth or fifth seed team |
| the fact that the division championships are not | | | | that wins. The second and seventh winner will |
| guaranteed home court advantage in the playoffs. | | | | face off against the third and sixth winner, |
| Rather, home court advantage is based on the | | | | therefore keeping the balance between the |
| team's regular season record and not on who | | | | teams. |
| won in the division. | | | | The final playoff round is between the top teams |
| In the NBA seeding system, the team given the | | | | in each conference in another best of seven |
| first seed will face off against the team given the | | | | series of games. The NBA finals are typically held |
| eight seed; the second seed will face off against | | | | in June. Most of the time, but not always, the |
| the seventh seed and so forth. Therefore, the | | | | Most Valuable Player Award will go to someone |
| highest advantage a team can get is to have a | | | | on the winning team. The exception to this was in |
| high seed so they can face a weaker team. The | | | | 1969 when Jerry West won the MVP award even |
| team with the best regular season record is given | | | | though his team did not win the NBA Finals. |