2024 NBA playoffs

Overview

Updates to playoff appearances

• The Boston Celtics entered the playoffs for the tenth consecutive season, the longest present streak in the NBA. They also won the Maurice Podoloff Trophy for clinching the best record in the NBA for the first time since 2008.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder entered the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and also clinched the number one seed in the Western Conference for the first time since 2013.
• The Milwaukee Bucks entered the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.
• The Philadelphia 76ers entered the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
• The Denver Nuggets entered the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.
• The Miami Heat entered the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
• The Phoenix Suns entered the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
• The Minnesota Timberwolves entered the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
• The Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers entered the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
• The New Orleans Pelicans returned to the playoffs after losing in the play-in tournament the previous year.
• The Dallas Mavericks returned to the playoffs after missing the postseason the previous year.
• The Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers entered the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
• The Sacramento Kings missed the playoffs after making the postseason the previous year.
• The Golden State Warriors missed the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
• The Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
• The Brooklyn Nets missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
• The Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls, and Toronto Raptors missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
• The Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
• The Houston Rockets missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
• The Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
• The Charlotte Hornets missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, currently the longest active playoff drought in the NBA.

  Notable occurrences

• This was the first playoffs to not feature Chris Paul since 2010.
• With an average age of 23.9 years old, the Oklahoma City Thunder became the youngest team to earn the 1-seed in NBA history.
• The Thunder also became the seventh different Western Conference 1-seed in the last seven years, the longest stretch in the West since the 16-team format began in 1984.
• The Boston Celtics finished first in the Eastern Conference standings by 14 games, which was the largest margin between No. 1 and No. 2 in either conference since 1976.
• The Cleveland Cavaliers won their first playoff series without LeBron James since 1993, doing so against the Orlando Magic in seven games.

  First round

• All home teams in the first-round matchups won game 1 for the first time since 2013.
• The Knicks' game 2 comeback against the 76ers marked just the fourth time in the play-by-play era that a team won a playoff game after trailing by at least five points in the last 30 seconds. The Knicks were also the first team to win in regulation, as the other three teams completed their comeback in overtime.
• The Miami Heat's 23 three-pointers made in game 2 against the Celtics were the most ever by a team in a road playoff win in NBA history. This was also the Heat's franchise record for most threes made in a single playoff game.
• In game 3 against the Knicks, Joel Embiid became the first player in NBA history to score 50 points on fewer than 20 shots in a playoff game.
• The Minnesota Timberwolves swept the Phoenix Suns, marking the 48th year in a row that a sweep occurred. The last time a sweep did not occur was in 1976. This was the 184th series sweep in NBA playoffs history.
• * The series also marked the Timberwolves' first playoff series win since 2004 and the first sweep of a best-of-7 series in Minnesota men's professional sports history.
• Kevin Durant was swept in a playoff series for the second time in his career, with both instances occurring in the first round.
• For the first time in playoff history, there were four 40+ point scorers on the same day, as Devin Booker, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, and Kyrie Irving all scored 40+ points on April 28.
• Jamal Murray became the fourth player in NBA history to hit two go-ahead shots inside the final five seconds in the same postseason, and the only player to do so in the same series.
• This marked just the second time LeBron James was eliminated in the first round, with his only previous first round elimination coming against the Suns in 2021.
• The 76ers became the first team in the play-by-play era to win a playoff game when trailing by at least six points in the final 25 seconds of regulation.
• The Bucks became the first team in NBA history to win a playoff game without playing their top two leading scorers from the regular season.
• The Celtics became the first team in postseason history to score 100+ points and hold their opponents to under 90 points in three straight playoff games.
• The Pacers' elimination of the Bucks marked their first playoff series win since 2014.
• Jalen Brunson became the third player in NBA history with four consecutive playoff games of 35+ points and 5+ assists in a single postseason, joining LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
• The Cavaliers–Magic series was the first of the 2024 playoffs to have a game 7, making it the 25th consecutive NBA postseason to feature a game 7. The last time a game 7 did not occur in the playoffs was 1999. This was the 151st game 7 in NBA playoffs history.
• Donovan Mitchell scored 52.1% of the Cavaliers' points in game 6, the most by a player with an opportunity to clinch a playoff series in NBA history.
• Mitchell recorded his third 50-point playoff game, tying Allen Iverson for the third-most 50+ point games in playoff history, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.
• The Cavaliers won a playoff series without LeBron James for the first time since 1993.

  Conference semifinals

• This was the first conference semifinals without LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Stephen Curry since 2005.
• This was the first Western Conference semifinals without a team from California since 2005.
• Anthony Edwards joined Kobe Bryant as the only players aged 22 or younger to have consecutive 40-point playoff games.
• Jalen Brunson became the first player in NBA history to record 40+ points and 5+ assists in four straight playoff games.
• The Cavaliers' 24-point win over the Celtics in game 2 was the biggest in the playoffs by a double-digit underdog since 1991.
• This was the third straight year in which there were no series sweeps in the conference semifinals.
• Jayson Tatum became the second player since 1973 to lead both teams in a playoff series in total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks after LeBron James did so in the 2016 NBA Finals.
• Kyrie Irving extended his win-loss record in close-out NBA playoffs games to 14–0. This streak would end on May 28 however, when Dallas lost game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Timberwolves.
• The Timberwolves’ 45-point lead in game 6 against the Nuggets was the largest margin of victory against a defending champion in NBA playoff history. It was also the second largest margin of victory in playoff history by a team facing elimination, surpassed only by the Minneapolis Lakers' 58-point victory over the St. Louis Hawks in the 1956 NBA Playoffs.
• The Pacers set an NBA playoff record for shooting percentage, making 67.1% of their shots in game 7 against the Knicks.
• The Pacers also set the highest shooting percentage rate in a half with 76.3%, making 29 out of 38 shots in the first half. This was also the highest rate in the postseason for 25 years since 1997, when the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters.
• Aged 20 years and 96 days old, Dereck Lively II became the youngest player in NBA history to record 10+ points and 15+ rebounds in a playoff game, coming during game 6 of the Maverick's Western Conference Semifinal win against the Thunder on May 18.
• The Timberwolves overcame a 20–point deficit to win game 7 against the Nuggets, the largest game 7 comeback in NBA playoffs history.
• With the defending champion Nuggets losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the 2024 playoffs marked the fifth straight year where the defending champion was eliminated before the conference finals.
• The Nuggets' elimination also confirmed there would be unique NBA champions across a six-year span for the first time since 1975–1980.
• This marked the first time that two road teams won a game 7 on the same day.

  Conference finals

• Neither the first-seeded team nor the second-seeded team made the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2022.
• The Celtics entered the Eastern Conference finals for the third straight playoffs.
• This was the first Eastern Conference finals to feature either the Boston Celtics or the Miami Heat, but not both, since 2018. Each finals since that year either included both the Celtics and the Heat, or neither team.
• The Mavericks returned to the Western Conference finals after missing the previous playoffs.
• The Pacers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2014.
• The Timberwolves advanced to the Western Conference finals for just the second time in team history, and the first time since 2004.
• The average age of the leading scorer for each team remaining was 24.62, the youngest in a conference finals since 1971.
• Game 1 vs the Pacers was the first time in Celtics' franchise history that three of its players scored 25 or more points in a Conference Finals game.
• Dereck Lively II became the first player in NBA history to record a perfect 16/16 from the field in a playoff series. He surpassed Chris Andersen 's previous record of 13/13 FG made at 2013 Eastern Conference Semifinals series.
• This was the third instance where both conference finals series had teams go up 3–0 in the series. Just like in 2015, the Celtics would go on to complete the sweep in the East, while the Timberwolves would successfully force a game 5 in the West but fell short.
• This was also the second time that the Indiana Pacers and the Minnesota Timberwolves were runner-ups in their respective conference finals, the last occurrence being in 2004.