It doesn't get bigger than this. It's a dream for basketball fans to see the best teams in action in in the post-season, and you can get your hands on NBA playoffs tickets via SeatPick, available at the best prices in town.
The NBA playoffs represent the final portion of the NBA season and see the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference fight it out to get to the NBA Finals, where the real business begins.
The NBA began life in 1949 following a merger between the BBA (Basketball Association of America) and the NBL (National Basketball League), and slowly by surely it's become the premier basketball in the world and one of the biggest leagues in the sporting calendar worldwide.
Interest in the NBA, especially once we get to the playoffs, is huge, with millions watching in person at arenas across the country and hundreds of millions across the world.
Fans all over the world want to attend an NBA game, and doing so during the exciting playoffs is something that many dream about securing.
Over the course of the lengthy NBA history, the playoffs have had a variety of different formats.
In 1950, with the NBA being a three-division set-up at the time, the number of teams that took part in the NBA playoffs was 12. Each round of the playoffs at this time was a best of 3 game series, with the NBA Finals being the traditional seven-game format.
In 1984 the system moved to 16 teams, with the first round being a best-of-five series and the subsequent rounds being best of seven.
In 2003 the first round became, as it is today, a seven-game series.
By 2016 the qualification criteria changed so that the eight best teams with the best records, regardless of their divisional position, would secure playoff berths.
The list below outlines the teams with the no most appearances in the NBA playoffs (correct as of April 2023).
Boston Celtics: 59
Atlanta Hawks: 48
Detroit Pistons: 42
New York Knicks: 42
Chicago Bulls: 36
Houston Rockets: 34
Milwaukee Bucks: 34
Phoenix Suns: 31
This list contains the most points scored by individual players in the playoffs.
LeBron James: 7631
Michael Jordan: 5987
Kareem Abdul Jabbar: 5762
Kobe Bryant: 5640
Shaquille O'Neal: 5250
Tim Duncan: 5172
Karl Malone: 4761
Kevin Durant: 4559
Jerry West: 4457
Tony Parker: 4045
Once the regular season is complete, and it's an exhausting undertaking with each team playing 82 games, the teams who have the best records in each Conference are afforded a direct route to the playoffs.
In 2020 a series of play-in games were added to the schedule to offer additional teams a chance to book their way into the playoffs.
The NBA playoffs start typically around the second week of April and will run until the end of May, mid-June.
Currently, the top six teams in each conference go directly to the first round of the playoffs, while teams that sit in places seven to ten will take part in the play-in games with a view to securing the final two berths in each conference playoff route.
The teams are split into seedings, and the top seed in each first-round playoff series gets the home-court advantage in a seven-game series with the seeded team hosting the first two games, the opponent hosting the next two, and then each hosting in alternate fashion for the remaining seven games, if indeed the series goes that long.
Winners in the first round advance into an effective second round, which is when the Conference Semifinals begin in the same format as the previous round. Following this, the remaining four teams fight it out to secure Conference Finals bragging rights, and the winner of each of the Conference Finals then meets in the NBA Finals.
The winner of this series is then crowned the NBA Champions.
This lengthy process might mean that a successful NBA Championship-winning team may have to play as many as 110 games and even more if they have had to go via the play-in route.
No 8th Seeded Team has ever Won the NBA Championship (The 1999 New York Knicks being the only team to even make it to the NBA Finals, and that came during a season reduced due to a lockout, beating the Miami Heat, the Atlanta Hawks, and the Indiana Pacers before losing to the San Antonio Spurs)
The Golden State Warriors won 15 straight playoff games in 2017, which is an NBA record
Chicago Bulls are the only team to have made it to multiple NBA finals and never lost
The Sacramento Kings hold the record for the longest playoff drought, having failed to make it every season since 2005-06
In 2017 the Golden State Warriors completed an NBA-best 16-1 playoff record, their only loss in the entire post-season coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who they beat 4-1 in the NBA Finals that season.
The Houston Rockets, in 1994-95, became the lowest seeds to win the NBA Finals. They were seeded sixth before beating the Utah Jazz, the Phoenix Suns, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Orlando Magic to win the NBA Championship.
The Golden State Warriors team of 2006-07 became the first eight seed to beat a one seed in the best of 7 format season when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks in six games.
Only five teams seeded eight have won a series over the number one seeds. The Denver Nuggets, the New York Knicks, the Golden State Warriors, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Philadelphia 76ers, who did so in 2012.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have the lowest number of playoff game wins, with just 18, and the Los Angeles Lakers have the highest, with 458.
The NBA playoffs in 2024 start on April 15th, with the play-in tournament taking place from April 11th to the 14th. The NBA Finals will then start on June 1st.
As soon as the regular season and play-in tournament is completed and the placements of each team are decided, the tickets are then placed on sale. At SeatPick, we will have availability immediately after they are then put on sale by the relevant teams taking part.
The current average ticket price for NBA playoffs starts at around €89, and the costs fluctuate depending on which teams are involved, which venue the game is taking place at, and where your seat is situated at the specific venue in question.
So, for instance, if you are buying NBA playoff tickets for a series involving two top teams and the tickets are for courtside seats, then you can expect the price to be relatively high as these are the most sought-after. However, there are more manageable bargains to be had in other areas of the arena.
Regardless, SeatPick has a vast inventory of playoff tickets for you to select from, including those that are available at face value. Check out the availability for your chosen game on our platform, and you are sure to find ticket prices that suit your budget and schedule.
NBA playoffs tickets can be found via the relevant participating team's official websites, but it's very likely that availability will be very low or perhaps non-existent, mainly because these will be offered to each and every member first as well as being used up by any season ticket holder who wants to attend, and that's where SeatPick can aid your efforts.
Our platform works with only trusted resellers to bring NBA fans a wide array of tickets for playoff games, which you can then search through in order to find the tickets for your chosen game.
