2016 NBA Playoffs
| 2016 NBA playoffs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 2015–16 | ||||
| Teams | 16 | ||||
| Champions | Cleveland Cavaliers (1st title) | ||||
| Runner-up | Golden State Warriors (8th finals appearance) | ||||
| Semifinalists | |||||
|
|||||
The 2016 NBA Playoffs were the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2015–16 season. The tournament ended with the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers defeating the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals. LeBron James was named NBA Finals MVP.
Within each conference, the eight teams with the most wins qualify for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record.
Each conference's bracket is fixed; there is no reseeding. All rounds are best-of-seven series; the team that has four wins advances to the next round. As stated above, all rounds, including the NBA Finals, are in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. Home court advantage in any round does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead to the team with the better regular season record. If two teams with the same record meet in a round, standard tiebreaker rules are used. The rule for determining home court advantage in the NBA Finals is winning percentage, then head to head record, followed by record vs. opposite conference.
On September 8, 2015, the NBA announced changes to how playoff teams were seeded. Previously, the division champions were guaranteed no worse than the fourth seed, while the team with the second-best record in the conference was guaranteed no worse than the second seed even if it wasn't a division champion. Starting with the 2016 playoffs, the eight playoff qualifiers in each conference will be seeded solely based on regular-season record. If two teams finish with identical records, the team that wins the regular-season series will get the higher seed. If the regular-season series is tied and one of the teams is a division champion, the division champion will get the higher seed.
On February 27, 2016, The Golden State Warriors became the first team to clinch a playoff spot. This was the earliest a team had clinched a playoff spot in February since the 1987–88 Los Angeles Lakers. The Cleveland Cavaliers became the first Eastern Conference team to clinch a playoff spot on March 18, 2016.
...
Wikipedia