NBL Finals
The National Basketball League Finals is a tournament held at the end of each NBL season to determine the league champions.
The top six teams qualify for the finals based on their regular season performance. The current Finals format consists of four rounds: two sudden-death play-in games, followed by the best-of-three Semifinals and the best-of-five Grand Final series.
Format
1997–1998
1999
The top six teams at the end of the regular season advance to the finals under this playoff system:- The first round of the postseason sees the team that finishes in first place at the end of the regular season against the team that finishes sixth; second plays fifth, and third plays fourth.
- The three teams that win their respective best-of-three first-round series advances, and is joined in the semifinals by the highest-placed losing team from the first round.
- Teams are then seeded again for the best-of-three semifinal series. The three winning teams from the first round are seeded in order of their regular-season finishing positions, and the first-round loser automatically becomes the No. 4 seed.
- The two winning teams from the semifinals meet in a best-of-three Grand Final series to determine the champion.
2017–2022
The top four teams at the end of the regular season advance to the finals under this playoff system:- The semifinals of the postseason sees the team that finishes in first place at the end of the regular season against the team that finishes fourth; and second plays third. All four teams play a best-of-three semifinal series.
- The two winning teams from the semifinals meet in a best-of-five Grand Final series to determine the champion.