The 1998 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1997-98 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls defeating the Western Conference champion Utah Jazz 4 games to 2. The Bulls also achieved a second 3-peat, a feat unrivaled since the Boston Celtics in 1966. The 1998 playoffs was the last involving the Jordan-led Bulls (They did not return until 2005). Michael Jordan was named NBA Finals MVP for the 6th and final time in his career.

The Indiana Pacers took the Bulls to the limit in the Eastern Conference Finals, becoming 1 of only 2 teams to force a Game 7 in the Bulls' championship years (the Knicks achieved this in 1992). This team was later named by Pacers.com as the greatest in franchise history, even better than the 2000 team that won the Eastern Conference Title.

The New Jersey Nets appeared in the playoffs for the first time since 1994, but did not appear again until 2002. Their presence was a mere asterisk compared to what they accomplished in 2002, getting swept by the eventual champion Bulls.

The Cleveland Cavaliers made their last playoff appearance (3-1 loss to the Pacers in the first round) and did not appear again until 2006.

Bracket[link]

Playoff qualifying[link]

Western Conference[link]

Home Court Advantage[link]

The Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls tied for the best record in the NBA. However, the Jazz won the season series 2-0, which serves as a tiebreaker, and therefore Utah was awarded home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Clinched a playoff berth[link]

The following teams clinched a playoff berth in the West:

1. Utah Jazz (clinched Midwest division)
2. Seattle SuperSonics (clinched Pacific division)
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. Phoenix Suns
5. San Antonio Spurs
6. Portland Trail Blazers
7. Minnesota Timberwolves
8. Houston Rockets

Eastern Conference[link]

Best record in conference[link]

The Chicago Bulls clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference, and earned home court advantage throughout the entire Eastern Conference playoffs.

Clinched a playoff berth[link]

The following teams clinched a playoff berth in the East:

1. Chicago Bulls (clinched Central division)
2. Miami Heat (clinched Atlantic division)
3. Indiana Pacers
4. Charlotte Hornets
5. Atlanta Hawks
6. Cleveland Cavaliers
7. New York Knicks
8. New Jersey Nets

Western Conference[link]

Champion: Utah Jazz

First Round[link]

[edit] (1) Utah Jazz vs. (8) Houston Rockets

Last Playoff Meeting: 1997 Western Conference Finals (Utah won 4-2)

Game 5 is Clyde Drexler's final NBA game.

[edit] (4) Phoenix Suns vs. (5) San Antonio Spurs

Last Playoff Meeting: 1996 Western Conference First Round (San Antonio won 3-1)

[edit] (2) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (7) Minnesota Timberwolves

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the SuperSonics and Timberwolves.

[edit] (3) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (6) Portland Trail Blazers

Last Playoff Meeting: 1997 Western Conference First Round (Los Angeles won 3-1)

Conference Semifinals[link]

[edit] (1) Utah Jazz vs. (5) San Antonio Spurs

Last Playoff Meeting: 1996 Western Conference Semifinals (Utah won 4-2)

[edit] (2) Seattle SuperSonics vs. (3) Los Angeles Lakers

Last Playoff Meeting: 1995 Western Conference First Round (Los Angeles won 3-1)

Conference Finals[link]

[edit] (1) Utah Jazz vs. (3) Los Angeles Lakers

Last Playoff Meeting: 1997 Western Conference Semifinals (Utah won 4-1)

Eastern Conference[link]

Champion: Chicago Bulls

First Round[link]

[edit] (1) Chicago Bulls vs. (8) New Jersey Nets

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Bulls and Nets.

[edit] (4) Charlotte Hornets vs. (5) Atlanta Hawks

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Hornets and Hawks.

[edit] (2) Miami Heat vs. (7) New York Knicks

Last Playoff Meeting: 1997 Eastern Conference Semifinals (Miami won 4-3)

Mourning-Johnson fight in Game 4.

[edit] (3) Indiana Pacers vs. (6) Cleveland Cavaliers

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Pacers and Cavaliers.

Conference Semifinals[link]

[edit] (1) Chicago Bulls vs. (4) Charlotte Hornets

Last Playoff Meeting: 1995 Eastern Conference First Round (Chicago won 3-1)

[edit] (3) Indiana Pacers vs. (7) New York Knicks

Last Playoff Meeting: 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals (Indiana won 4-3)

Conference Finals[link]

[edit] (1) Chicago Bulls vs. (3) Indiana Pacers

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Bulls and Pacers.

In Game 4, Reggie Miller hits the game-winning 3 with 7 tenths left.

NBA Finals[link]

[edit] Chicago Bulls vs. Utah Jazz

In Game 3, Utah scores the fewest amount of points scored in any playoff game in NBA history (54). The amount that the Bulls won by (42) is also a Finals record. In Game 6, Michael Jordan hits the series-winning shot with 5.2 seconds left.

External links[link]

• Basketball – Reference.com's 1998 Playoffs section

The National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs is a best-of-seven elimination tournament among sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference (called Divisions, pre-1970), ultimately deciding the final four teams who will play in the NBA Conference Finals.

Format[link]

The NBA announced the current revised playoff seeding system on August 3, 2006. Following the NBA regular season, eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.

The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three champions, and another team in the conference with the best record, are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees that the division champions will be no lower than fourth seed, and also ensures that a conference's two best teams (by record) are ranked as the top two. However, because the NBA does not re-seed its teams and because home court advantage goes to the team with the better record, not the better seeding, division winners are guaranteed no better than a de-facto five seed, as their 4th seeding does not guarantee home court advantage in the first round, and after the first round the 4 vs 5 winner will play the same teams as the loser would have played had they won the first round. This will continue throughout the remainder of the playoffs and to the finals until the 4 vs 5 winner loses a playoff round or wins the championship. Of the remaining eleven conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their record.

In the event two or more teams are tied in the standings, a series of tiebreakers are applied to determine which team receives the higher seeding.

Two-Team Tiebreaker:

1. Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)
2. Better record in head-to-head games
3. Higher winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division)
4. Higher winning percentage in conference games
5. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference (including tied teams)
6. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in opposite conference (including tied teams)

Three-Team Tiebreaker:

1. Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)
2. Best head-to-head winning percentage among all teams tied
3. Highest winning percentage within division (if all tied teams are in the same division)
4. Highest winning percentage in conference games
5. Highest winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference (including tied teams)
6. Highest point differential between points scored and points allowed

These seedings are used to create a bracket that determines the match-ups throughout the playoffs. Once the playoffs start, the bracket is fixed; teams are never "reseeded", unlike in the NHL where the strongest remaining clubs face the weakest clubs in subsequent rounds. The first round of the NBA playoffs, or Conference Quarterfinals, consists of four match-ups in each conference based on the seedings (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5). The four winners advance to the second round, or Conference Semifinals, with a match-up between the 1-8 and 4-5 winners and a match-up between the 2-7 and 3-6 winners. The two winners advance to the third round, or Conference Finals.

Each round is a best-of-seven series. Series are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 5 and 7, while their opponent hosts games 3, 4, and 6, with games 5-7 being played if needed. The NBA Finals are played in a 2-3-2 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 6 and 7, and their opponent hosts games 3, 4 and 5. The home-court advantage is determined in all rounds by record regardless of seed.

The most common criticism of the current structure is related to parity of conferences. On numerous occasions, Eastern Conference teams with losing records qualified for the playoffs, while Western Conference teams with significantly better records ended up missing them.

History[link]

From the first season, 1947, of the NBA (called the BAA until the merger with the NBL in 1949) the top three teams from the Eastern and Western divisions were invited to the playoffs. The two division champions played a Semifinal best-of-seven series for entry into the finals. The other four teams played two rounds of best-of-three playoffs to face the winner of the Semifinal match. That year, the Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Chicago Stags four games to one in the first ever BAA Championship.

In the 1949 playoffs, an additional team from each Division was added, eliminating the byes, and two rounds of best-of-three series were played, followed by a best-of-seven championship. In 1950 the Minneapolis Lakers became the first champions of the newly named NBA, knocking off the Syracuse Nationals in six games.

The 1951 through 1953 playoffs changed the Division Finals into a best-of-five playoff. In 1954, the year the Indianapolis Olympians folded, the NBA Playoffs used a Round Robin for the only time in its history. Then, from 1955 to 1966 year, the league returned to the original six-team format, expanding the Division Finals to a best-of-seven in 1958 and the Semifinals to a best-of-five in 1961.

In 1967 the field was again expanded to eight teams, filling out the three-round bracket. A year later, the Division Semifinals were changed to best-of-seven playoff. Then, in 1975 and 1977, respectively, a fifth and sixth team were added to each Division, necessitating an additional First Round of best-of-three series.

Finally in 1984, the tournament expanded to its present 16-team format and the now-complete First Round was changed to a best-of-five playoff. In 2003 the first round was changed to also be best-of-seven.

Beginning with the 2004 season, with the addition of the thirtieth NBA franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA realigned its divisions. The result was that each conference would have three divisions of five teams each, and the winner of each division was guaranteed a top-three playoff seed. This would change slightly after the 2005-06 season; while division winners still receive automatic playoff berths, they are guaranteed a top-four seed, as described above.

2006 NBA Playoffs controversy[link]

The previous playoff format, in place for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 NBA Playoffs, after the NBA was re-aligned into six divisions, created controversy during the 2005–06 season and playoffs, and would be changed prior to the 2006–07 NBA season.^[1]

NBA division winners were seeded higher than any other playoff participants, regardless of their record. Prior to 2004, when the NBA was aligned into two conferences with two divisions each, the top two seeds in each conference were reserved for the division winners. This meant that top two teams in a conference (by record) would be seeded either first and second (if they were in opposite divisions) or first and third (if they were in the same division). Because of the NBA playoffs' preset matchups in the second round, this meant that the top two teams in a conference could never meet until the Conference Finals, assuming they both made it to that round.

After the NBA realigned its two conferences into three divisions each, the seeding rules remained largely unchanged. The top three seeds would now be reserved for division winners. This meant that if the top two teams (by record) in a conference were in the same division, they would be ranked first and fourth, and would face each other in the Conference Semifinals, instead of the Conference Finals, if both teams won their first round series.

In the second year of this format, the 2005–06 NBA season, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks of the Southwest Division did just that. This turn of events led to the playoff format being criticized by many. Critics claimed the matchup was not only unfair to the team that would lose earlier in the playoffs than it deserved, but also created an unfair advantage for teams in the 2-7/3-6 half of the Western Conference playoff bracket, which could advance to the conference finals without playing either of the two best teams in the conference.^[2]

The Phoenix Suns, winners of the Pacific Division and possessors of the third best record, were seeded second, and the Denver Nuggets, winners of the Northwest Division and tied for only the seventh-best record in the conference, were seeded third.

The Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers met in the second-to-last game of the regular season, after the top four seeds had been clinched. The two teams were already determined to be the fifth and sixth seeds, and had only to determine which rank higher. The fifth seed would likely need to defeat the best two teams in the conference without home-court advantage to advance to the conference finals, as it would face fourth seeded Dallas, and likely face first-seeded San Antonio if it managed to defeat Dallas. The sixth seed would play Denver in the first round and would have home-court advantage, and only have to play, at most, one of Dallas or San Antonio—in the conference finals.

This led to speculation about whether the Grizzlies or the Clippers would have much commitment to winning their match-up in the second-to-last game of the season, since it was clearly most advantageous to lose the game in order to obtain the 6th seed. The Clippers eventually lost to Memphis without much evidence to refute the speculation that the Clippers had lost intentionally.^[3] In the first round of the playoffs, the Clippers defeated the Nuggets in five games, and Memphis was swept by Dallas. Ultimately, Dallas and San Antonio did meet in the second round, with Dallas winning in seven games, and advancing all the way to the NBA Finals.

Timeline[link]

• 1947: The playoffs were instituted with a three-stage tournament, similar to the Stanley Cup Playoffs of the 1930s; the two first-placed teams qualified directly to the semifinals where they played each other in a best-of-7 series. Teams finishing second & third qualified for the best-of-3 quarterfinals, where the two second-placed teams were paired in one quarterfinal, as were the two third-placed teams. The two winners in the quarterfinals played each other in the other semifinals, however, the second semi-final was only a best-of-3 series. The two semifinal winners played each other in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) best-of-7 Finals series.

• 1949: The playoffs were expanded to eight teams, thus the first-placed teams no longer received first round byes. The top four teams from each of the two divisions qualified. The quarterfinals and semifinals were renamed Division Semifinals and Division Finals, respectively, and both rounds were best-of-3. The best-of-7 final was unchanged.

• 1950: The BAA was renamed as the National Basketball Association (NBA). With a three-division setup, 12 teams now qualified for the playoffs, with the top four teams from each division meeting in the best-of-3 Division Semifinals. The winners met in the best-of-3 Division Finals. With three teams remaining, the surviving team with the best regular season record qualified directly for the Finals while the other two teams met in a best-of-3 NBA Semifinals.

• 1951: With the NBA reverting to a two-division setup; the Division Semifinals reverted to its original 1949 format with only eight teams qualifying. The Division Finals was extended to a best-of-5 format.

• 1954: The number of playoff teams was cut down to six. The Division Semifinals was changed to a double round-robin format within the division, with the top three teams from each division qualifying (each team played four games). Following the round-robin games, the top two teams qualified for the best-of-three Division Finals, followed by the best-of-seven Finals.

• 1955: The number of playoff teams remained at six, however, the round-robin format was dropped after one year. First-placed teams received a bye to the best-of-five Division Finals. Teams which placed second and third played a best-of-three Division Semifinal.

• 1958: The Division Finals was extended to a best-of-seven format.

• 1961: The Division Semifinals were extended to a best-of-five format.

• 1967: The number of playoff teams was expanded to eight once more. The Division Semifinals now included the fourth-best team in each conference. The first-placed teams no longer received a bye. They were matched against the fourth-placed teams in the best-of-5 Division Semifinals.

• 1968: The Division Semifinals was extended to a best-of-seven format.

• 1970: With an increased number of teams, the divisions were upgraded into conferences, which were then split into two divisions. Eight teams still qualified, four from each conference. The two division winners were guaranteed at least a #2 seed, and the two best non-division winners from each conference qualified as third and fourth seeds. Hence, the Division Semifinals and Division Finals came to be known as Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, respectively.

• 1975: The number of playoff teams was expanded from eight to ten. A first round was introduced which matched the fourth and fifth seeds in each conference in a best-of-3 first round series, while the top three seeds received a bye.

• 1977: The number of playoff teams was expanded from 10 to 12. The first round now included the sixth best team in each conference, which was matched against the third seed. Only the division winners received byes to the next round.