NBA Conferences/Divisions

From Hoopedia

The current alignment of NBA conferences and divisions began with the 2004-05 season. Each conference has a total of 15 teams with three divisions of five teams.

Contents 1 Eastern Conference 1.1 Atlantic Division 1.2 Central Division 1.3 Southeast Division 2 Western Conference 2.1 Southwest Division 2.2 Northwest Division 2.3 Pacific Division 3 Playoffs

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

• Boston Celtics
• New Jersey Nets
• New York Knicks
• Philadelphia 76ers
• Toronto Raptors

Central Division

• Chicago Bulls
• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Detroit Pistons
• Indiana Pacers
• Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast Division

• Atlanta Hawks
• Charlotte Bobcats
• Miami Heat
• Orlando Magic
• Washington Wizards

Western Conference

Southwest Division

• Dallas Mavericks
• Houston Rockets
• Memphis Grizzlies
• New Orleans Hornets
• San Antonio Spurs

Northwest Division

• Denver Nuggets
• Minnesota Timberwolves
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Utah Jazz

Pacific Division

• Golden State Warriors
• Los Angeles Clippers
• Los Angeles Lakers
• Phoenix Suns
• Sacramento Kings

Under this plan, teams play divisional opponents four times each (two home games/two road games), conference opponents outside the division three or four times each and opponents outside the conference two times each (one home game/one road game).

Playoffs

The three regular season divisional winners in each conference earn a playoff berth and one of the conference's top three playoff seeds based on regular season record. The remaining five playoff berths for each conference will be based on regular season records with no regard to divisional alignment.

Home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs will be based solely on regular season record, not playoff seeding, thus a divisional winner that has a higher playoff seed than an opponent will not necessarily have home-court advantage in the playoff series.