NBA Championship
| NBA Finals | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Sporting event |
| Date(s) | June |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Country | United States |
| Inaugurated | 1947 |
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA) played between the Western and Eastern champions of the Conference Finals. The first team to win four games in the best-of-seven game series is declared the league champion and is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. Winners from 1946 to 1983 received the Walter A. Brown Trophy redesigned in 1977 to the current form. The NBA Finals has been played at the end of every NBA and Basketball Association of America season in history, the first being held in 1947.
Between 1985 and 2013, the winner of the NBA Finals was determined through a 2–3–2 format: the first and last two games of the series being played at the arena of the team who earned home court advantage by having the better record during the regular season (the team with home-court went 21–8 between '85 & '13). Most NBA Finals series were played under the 2–2–1–1–1 format (Games 1 and 2 at home for the higher seeded team, Games 3 and 4 at home for the lower seeded team, Game 5 at the higher, Game 6 at the lower, and Game 7 at the higher) prior to 1985; the Finals returned to this format in 2014.
The series was named the BAA Finals from 1947 to 1949 and then changed to the NBA World Championship Series from 1950 to 1982. The following two years, the league used "Showdown '83" and "Showdown '84". It returned to NBA World Championship Series in 1985, before settling on NBA Finals in 1986.
During the first decade the Minneapolis Lakers had the first NBA dynasty, winning five championships in six years under Hall of Fame head coach John Kundla. The team also featured George Mikan, one of the greatest players in NBA history.
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