I know there are plenty of folks who would fight me on this, but the NBA playoffs are by far the best postseason of all the professional sports. Don’t get me wrong, I know there’s nothing like a Game 7 in late October, or the high-stakes stress of the AFC championship game, even the do-or-die at any cost mentality found in playoff hockey. 

The NBA’s postseason format is by far the simplest of all the major pro sports leagues. The top eight teams from each conference qualify, seeded in the order of their regular season records. The league introduced the Play-In Tournament in 2020 to create more excitement around the lower seeded teams. With the play-in, the four teams in each conference ranked at No. 7 through No. 10 face each other in one game to determine which will continue its postseason journey. 

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