NBA conference finals

• 1. Introduction

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  The NBA conference finals are the Eastern and Western championship series that send one team from each side to the NBA Finals. In 2026 the Western series between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder went the full seven games, and the Spurs won 4-3. The Thunder had finished the regular season with the best record in the league, or tied for it. In the East that same spring, the New York Knicks, coached by Mike Brown, swept the Cleveland Cavaliers, coached by Kenny Atkinson, by 4-0.

  Seven games in the West and four in the East make a wide spread for a single spring. Who has owned this stage over the years? Which famous teams keep arriving and keep falling short? And how did a league whose earliest seasons had no such series end up with trophies named for two men from the players' union?

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• 2. Divisions Become Conferences

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  In its first two seasons, the Basketball Association of America had no divisional finals at all. Eastern and Western teams met each other directly in the playoffs before the BAA Finals. The league had been founded in 1946, and it took the name NBA at the start of the 1949-50 season, after merging with the National Basketball League. Divisional finals first appeared in the league's third season.

  A Central Division joined the map for one season only. After that, the league went back to two divisions, and that setup held until the NBA reorganized into two conferences of two divisions each. The reorganization is what gave the series its present name.

  The length of the series changed along the way. From 1949 to 1950 the finals were best-of-3. From 1951 to 1956 they were best-of-5, and since 1957 they have been best-of-7.

  Today the league has 30 teams, 29 of them in the United States and 1 in Canada. Each plays 82 regular-season games, and eight teams from each conference reach the playoffs. The two teams left in each conference meet in late May, after the first and second rounds and before the NBA Finals.

  The detailed results run from 1971 onward. The very first Western series of that year already included the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost 4-1 to the Milwaukee Bucks.

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• 3. The Lakers' Western Reign

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  Nineteen conference titles belong to the Los Angeles Lakers, more than any other team. They have also played in 24 conference finals, again the most of anyone, which means only five of those series ended in defeat. Their longest stretch ran from 1982 to 1989, eight straight appearances in the Western final. They won seven of the eight.

  The Houston Rockets were the exception, beating them 4-1 in 1986. Three of the seven wins in that run were sweeps. The Lakers beat San Antonio 4-0 in 1982, Seattle 4-0 in 1987 and Phoenix 4-0 in 1989. The 1988 series against the Dallas Mavericks, by contrast, needed all seven games.

  Three more straight Western titles followed in 2000-2001 and 2002, and the first and last of them were decided 4-3. Another trio came in 2008-2009 and 2010. In those years the Lakers beat San Antonio, Denver and Phoenix in turn.

  Portland swept the Lakers 4-0 in 1977, and Utah did the same in 1998. The most recent defeat came in 2023, another 4-0 sweep, this time by the Denver Nuggets. Denver had lost all four of its earlier conference finals, and three of those losses had come against the Lakers.

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• 4. Boston and Its Rivals

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  In 1981 the Boston Celtics edged the Philadelphia 76ers 4-3, and a year later the same two teams met again with Philadelphia winning 4-3. The Celtics have won 11 conference titles, the second most of any team. They have also lost 12 times, for 23 appearances in all.

  The New York Knicks stood in Boston's way early. The Knicks beat the Celtics 4-1 in 1972 and 4-3 in 1973, and then Boston beat them 4-1 in 1974. From 1984 through 1987 the Celtics won four straight Eastern titles, including a 4-0 sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1986.

  Between 2012 and 2023 the Miami Heat met the Celtics in the conference finals four times. Three of those four series went to seven games. Miami won in 2012 by 4-3, in 2020 by 4-2 and in 2023 by 4-3. Boston's one win in the group came in 2022, also by 4-3.

  The most recent Boston title in the results came in 2024, a 4-0 sweep of the Indiana Pacers.

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• 5. Runs and Handoffs

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  The Detroit Pistons won three straight Eastern titles in 1988-1989 and 1990. The first came against Boston by 4-2, and the next two came against the Chicago Bulls, by 4-2 and then 4-3. Detroit reached the Eastern final five years running, from 1987 to 1991.

  In 1991 the Bulls turned the tables with a 4-0 sweep of Detroit. Chicago added titles in 1992 and 1993, and then the Knicks won in 1994 and the Orlando Magic in 1995. The Bulls returned in 1996-1997 and 1998 to finish with six titles. Detroit finished with five.

  Miami's run began in 2011 against Chicago and continued with titles in 2012-2013 and 2014. The 2013 and 2014 series were both against Indiana. The Heat have seven titles overall, against only three losses.

  Cleveland's four straight Eastern titles ran from 2015 to 2018. They began with a 4-0 sweep of the Atlanta Hawks and ended with a 4-3 win over Boston. Toronto fell in 2016 and Boston in 2017 along the way.

  Golden State's run was longer, with five straight Western titles from 2015 to 2019. Two ended in sweeps, against San Antonio in 2017 and Portland in 2019. Two others were decided 4-3, against Oklahoma City in 2016 and Houston in 2018. The Warriors won again in 2022 over Dallas by 4-1, the last of the seven titles credited to the franchise.

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• 6. When the Favorite Falls

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  In 2009 the Cleveland Cavaliers had the league's best regular season record and still lost the Eastern final 4-2 to the Orlando Magic. The results mark such a team with a dagger. The mark also covers a tie for the best record, so a series can carry it twice.

  Indiana wore the mark in 2004 and lost 4-2 to Detroit. In 2006 it was Detroit's turn, and Miami won the Eastern final by 4-2. San Antonio carried it in 2012 and lost 4-2 to the Thunder of Oklahoma City.

  Houston carried the mark in 2018 and came within one game of the finals, losing 4-3 to Golden State.

  In 2003 the dagger sat beside both finalists, San Antonio and Dallas, so nobody in that Western series could be called the surprise. The Spurs won it 4-2.

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• 7. Franchises Still Waiting

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  Twenty-three of the league's 30 active franchises have won at least one conference title. Five more have played in a conference final without winning. The Minnesota Timberwolves have made three trips, losing to the Lakers in 2004, Dallas in 2024 and Oklahoma City in 2025. The first of those was 4-2, and the other two were each 4-1.

  The Atlanta Hawks were swept 4-0 by Cleveland in 2015 and lost 4-2 to Milwaukee in 2021. The Sacramento Kings fell 4-1 to Houston in 1981, when they played as the Kansas City Kings. In 2002 they went to seven games against the Lakers before losing 4-3. The Memphis Grizzlies were swept 4-0 by San Antonio in 2013, and the Los Angeles Clippers lost 4-2 to Phoenix in 2021.

  Two franchises have never appeared at all, the Charlotte Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans.

  Some teams have never lost one of these series. The Baltimore and Washington Bullets won in 1971, 1975-1978 and 1979, and the New Jersey and Brooklyn Nets won in 2002 and 2003. The last Bullets win was 4-3 over San Antonio, who were competing in the East that year.

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• 8. Trophies and Honors

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  In 2001 the NBA handed out its first conference championship trophies. The winners of each series receive a silver trophy, caps and T-shirts before they advance to the NBA Finals.

  In 2022 both trophies were redesigned and given names. The Eastern prize became the Bob Cousy Trophy, and the Western prize became the Oscar Robertson Trophy. The names honor two men who helped develop and advance the National Basketball Players Association, the players' labor union.

  Each redesigned trophy features a silver basketball, with the logo of its conference finals on the underside. The bases tell them apart. The Eastern ball sits on three pegs, while the Western ball rests on crossing circular rings.

  That same year the league began naming a most valuable player for each conference finals, honoring the best performer in each series.

  The silver basketball is divided into four sections. One stands for qualifying for the playoffs, and the other three stand for the three rounds the winning team then advanced through.

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