The sand is quickly flowing out of the NBA regular season hourglass, a bittersweet reality for Toronto Raptors fans. On the one hand, the playoffs are the best part of basketball, and this year in particular, they have a number of strong teams and fascinating storylines.
For the Raptors, however, the playoffs are almost out of reach. Their season will almost certainly end on April 14 when they play Game 82 of the regular season.
For those who want to continue watching the NBA playoffs, what do you need to know about the playoffs? What is the format, when do they start and how do you watch? And for Raptors fans who are selling their team, who can they root for?
Of the 30 teams in the NBA, 20 of them qualify for the playoffs. The top six teams from each conference automatically qualify for the main draw, and the bottom four teams will compete in a brief play-in tournament to determine the teams that will occupy the seventh and eighth spots on each side.
From there, the eight teams in each conference are seeded into a group, and the first round of the playoffs will see the No. 1 seed face the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed face the seeded No. 7, the seeded No. 7. The #3 seed plays the #6 seed and the #4 seed plays the #5 seed. They will compete in a “best of 7” format, meaning the first team to achieve four wins will advance to the next round. In each series, the higher-ranked team has home-field advantage, meaning they play games 1, 2, 5 and 7 at home.
The winner of game 1-8 will face the winner of game 4-5, while the winner of game 2-7 will face the winner of game 3-6 in the conference semifinals. The winner of each of these games will then face off in the conference finals, with the champion of that series advancing to the NBA Finals to face the winning team from the opposite conference.
When do the playoffs start?
