<Tr> <Th> Official website </Th> <Td> National Basketball Association </Td> </Tr> <P> The NBA playoffs are a best - of - seven elimination tournament annually held after the National Basketball Association's regular season to determine the league's champion . </P> <P> In September 2015, the NBA announced changes to the formula used to determine the format of the 2016 NBA Playoffs . The top eight teams in each conference (East and West), ranked in order by win - loss records, qualify for the playoffs . The tie - break criteria for playoff seeding and home - court advantage have also changed; head - to - head results between the tied teams is the first tie - breaker, and whether a team won its division championship is the second tie - breaker . </P> <P> These seedings are used to create a bracket that determines the match - ups throughout the series . Once the playoffs start, the bracket is fixed; teams are never "reseeded", unlike in the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Soccer (MLS) where the strongest remaining teams face the weakest teams 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 . The winner from each conference will advance to the final round, or the NBA Finals . </P>

When did the nba change the playoff series