More than half of the NBA makes the playoffs, with 16 teams going and 14 staying home. Obviously, determining who goes to the playoffs is pretty simple: pick the eight teams with the best records in each conference. But figuring out who earns which seeds, or how two teams with the same record earns a final playoff spot, can be tricky.
How do NBA playoff tiebreakers work?
Here’s how the NBA breaks ties between teams to determine playoff seeding and who gets in.
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The NBA has tossed away the archaic rule that gave division winners special treatment in the seeding. Now, figuring out the top teams, one through eight, makes a bit more sense. Still, you have to know what to look for.
Let’s say your team is 41-41 and tied with another team for the No. 8 seed, or there are three teams tied at 50-32 for the No. 4 seed. In both scenarios, the first three tiebreakers are as follow.
You can also read the latest on the 2017 playoff race seeding right here.
1. Head to head
What team(s) have the best records playing against each other? If it’s a two-team tiebreaker, this is easy to figure out. If this is a three-team tiebreaker or more, then add up the record of every team against each other to determine the overall winner. Note that this will go by winning percentage, not total wins.
2. Better division record
If the teams that are tied are in the same division, then which one has the best record against their division? This only applies if all teams involved are in the same division.
3. Better conference record
If the teams are still tied, then what team has the best record against their own conference?
4. Other tiebreakers
It’s almost impossible to get past the first three tiebreakers — they will solve 99 percent of dilemmas. However, the NBA still has contingency plans to break a tie between two teams. First, they would examine the record against only playoff teams in their own conference, and then they would do the same thing with the opposite conference. (In a multiple team tiebreaker, skip the opposite conference tiebreak and go straight to the final one.) If that still doesn’t work, the final tiebreak is determined by looking at point differentials for each team — total points scored minus total points allowed.
In theory, you could still be tied at the end of all this. In practice, that has never happened, and it likely never will.
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