How do the NBA play-offs work?
BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team's guide to the end-of-season format that determines the NBA Champions.
The NBA play-offs begin on 19 April with the start of the finals set for 5 June [Getty Images] The NBA play-offs are a four-round tournament to determine the winners of the NBA Championship. Sixteen of the 30 NBA teams - who start the regular season - qualify for the end-of-season format. The top six with the most wins in each Conference (East and West) automatically secure their spot in the play-offs.
The teams that place between 7-10th then play for the remaining spots in a 'play-in tournament'. Teams are seeded by their final position in the Conference table. NBA play-off format Teams will need to progress through four rounds to claim the NBA title.
First round (16 teams compete) Conference semi-finals (Eight teams compete) Conference finals (Four teams compete) NBA finals (Two teams compete) In each round, the team with the better regular-season record will gain home-court advantage. That team plays games one, two, five and seven at home. Each round uses a best-of-seven format.
If one team wins the first four games, they will progress to the next round. There could be anywhere between 60-105 games in total, in the play-offs. In the first round, the top seeds will play the bottom seeds from each Conference.