<P> The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs are a best - of - seven elimination tournament among 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference (called divisions, pre-1970), ultimately deciding the league's season champion in the NBA Finals . </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> <P> All rounds are 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 . This format has been used since 2014, after NBA team owners unanimously voted to the change away from a 2--3--2 format on October 23, 2013 . </P>

How many games are in the first round playoffs of the nba