2020 NBA playoffs

Overview

Western Conference

• The Houston Rockets entered their eighth consecutive postseason.
• The Portland Trail Blazers entered their seventh consecutive postseason. They also became the first Western Conference team since 1997 to qualify for the playoffs despite posting a losing record.
• The Los Angeles Lakers made the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
• The Dallas Mavericks made the playoffs for the first time in four years.
• The Golden State Warriors missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
• Despite being invited to the bubble, the San Antonio Spurs missed the playoffs for the first time in twenty-three years. This was only the fifth time since the merger that the Spurs missed the playoffs.
• Despite the Phoenix Suns going a perfect 8–0 in the bubble, they missed the playoffs due to the Grizzlies defeating the Bucks and the Blazers defeating the Nets earlier in the day.

  Eastern Conference

• The Toronto Raptors entered their seventh consecutive postseason.
• The Boston Celtics entered their sixth consecutive postseason.
• The Indiana Pacers entered their fifth consecutive postseason.
• The Milwaukee Bucks entered their fourth consecutive postseason.
• The Orlando Magic entered their second consecutive postseason.
• The Brooklyn Nets entered their second consecutive postseason.
• The Miami Heat returned to the postseason after a one-year absence.

  First round

• This was the first time since 2003 that both No. 1 seeds from each conference lost their opening game of the playoffs.
• LeBron James became the first player with 20+ points, 15+ rebounds, and 15+ assists in an NBA playoff game.
• The Boston Celtics swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, marking the 44th straight year a sweep occurred in the NBA playoffs. The last year a sweep did not occur in the playoffs was 1976.
• The Toronto Raptors swept the Brooklyn Nets, making it their first series sweep in franchise history, leaving the Los Angeles Clippers as the only remaining team that has never swept a series in the playoffs.
• With their first round sweep of the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat swept a playoff series for the first time since 2014.
• Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray joined Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson as the only players to have multiple 50–point games in a single playoff series.
• This was the first time in NBA playoff history that two players on opposing teams tallied 50+ points in the same game.
• Luka Dončić joined Charles Barkley and Oscar Robertson as the only players with 40+ points, 15+ rebounds, 10+ assists in an NBA playoff game.
• Luka Dončić joined Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Damian Lillard as the only players to score 40+ points and hit a buzzer–beater in a playoff game.
• The Milwaukee Bucks were the first team in the playoffs to refuse to play a game over racial injustice in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The players described their actions as a "boycott", although commentators have pointed out that the event was a strike. It is the first time an NBA team refused to play a game since the Boston Celtics protested for racial justice in 1961.
• Kawhi Leonard was the first player to have 30+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 5+ steals in a playoff game since Gary Payton in 2000.
• The Nuggets–Jazz series was the first of the 2020 playoffs to have a Game 7, making it the 21st consecutive NBA postseason with a Game 7. The last time a Game 7 did not take place in the playoffs was 1999.
• Jamal Murray was the first player to have three straight playoff games with 40+ points since Allen Iverson in 2001.
• The Denver Nuggets became just the 12th team in NBA history to come back from a 3–1 series deficit, when they defeated the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference first round. They were the first team to come back from a 3–1 series deficit since the Cleveland Cavaliers did so in the 2016 NBA Finals.
• Luguentz Dort became the youngest player and first undrafted player to score 30+ points in a Game 7.

  Conference semifinals

• Game 2 between the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks was the first playoff game since Game 1 of the 1979 NBA Finals to be decided by free throws with time expired.
• This was the first time that the top two seeds in a conference were both down 0–2 in a best–of–7 series.
• This was the first time since 2013 that the fifth seed beat the first seed 4–1 in the conference semifinals.
• Despite all the games being in the same location, the Celtics–Raptors series was the first series in NBA history where the road team won every game of a best–of–seven series. The only other instances when this had happened in major North American sports leagues history are the 2019 World Series and the 2023 American League Championship Series, in which the Houston Astros lost both series.
• With their conference semifinals victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, the Denver Nuggets also became the thirteenth NBA team to overcome a 3–1 deficit in the NBA playoffs, and the first time that an NBA team overcame a 3–1 deficit twice in the same playoffs. This was the last NBA playoff series where a team won three straight games to come back from a 3-1 deficit.

  Conference finals

• This was the first time that neither the first seed nor the second seed were in the Eastern Conference finals. By coincidence, this would happen again the very next year.
• Tyler Herro set the NBA rookie conference finals scoring record by scoring a career–high 37 points off the bench in game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics. The record was previously held by Andrew Toney who scored 35 in 1981. Herro's 37 points are the second-most ever scored by a player aged 20 or younger in a playoff game, only behind Magic Johnson's 42 points back in 1980.
• With their Eastern Conference finals victory over the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat became the first 5th seed or lower team to advance to the NBA Finals since the 1999 New York Knicks became the first eighth seed to make the NBA Finals. Ironically, the Knicks eliminated the Heat en route to their 1999 NBA Finals appearance.

  NBA Finals

• This was the first time that both teams in the NBA Finals failed to make the playoffs in the previous season.
• Andre Iguodala reached the NBA Finals for the sixth consecutive year, joining LeBron James and James Jones as the only players to do so with two different teams.
• Before this season, the last time the Heat reached the NBA Finals was in, after which LeBron James ended a four-year stint with the team. James became the second player to win MVP with a franchise before later playing against that franchise in the Finals. James was the first Finals MVP to play their previous franchise in the Finals.
• Anthony Davis joined Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, Rick Barry, and Hal Greer as the only players in NBA History to score 30+ points in their first two career NBA Finals games.
• Tyler Herro became the youngest player to start an NBA Finals game at 20 years, 256 days during the Game 2 of the 2020 NBA Finals on October 2, 2020. He was eight days younger than Magic Johnson was when he started Game 1 for the Lakers in 1980.
• Jimmy Butler became the 3rd player in NBA History to record a 40+ point triple-double in the NBA Finals, joining LeBron James in 2015 and Jerry West in 1969. At the end of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Butler also became the first player to out-score/-rebound/-assist/ LeBron James in a Finals game.
• With their Game 6 win over the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Lakers won their record-tying 17th NBA championship, tying the Boston Celtics as the two teams to win the most NBA championships. In addition to winning their first championship since 2010, the Lakers also became the first team since the 2008 Boston Celtics to win a championship after missing the playoffs the previous season.
• LeBron James became the first NBA player to win the Finals MVP with three different teams and the third to win a championship with three different teams, joining John Salley and Robert Horry.
• Danny Green joins LeBron as the fourth players to win titles with three different teams.
• Rajon Rondo became the second player after Clyde Lovellette to win a title with the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.
• Anthony Davis became the 8th player to achieve the basketball triple crown, winning an Olympic gold medal, NCAA Championship, and NBA Championship, joining Clyde Lovellette, Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan.