WHYNBATHE GAME, EXPLAINEDHow a series works

THE PLAYOFFS LAB

Seven possible.
Four to win.

A playoff series is a race to four wins. Build one game by game and see how each result changes what comes next.

Build your series

NBA best-of-seven · Hypothetical teams · No predictions

Original diagram of seven game slots: the home-court team hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7; the other team hosts 3, 4 and 6. First team to four wins ends the series.
The order stays fixed. The ending is yours.

01 / THE RACE TO FOUR

Playoff Series Explorer

Every result below is hypothetical. Choose each game’s winner.

Who has home-court advantage?

Choose the team assigned home-court advantage before the series. Changing this keeps the results.

TEAM A

0

4 more wins needed

First to four wins the series

BEST OF7

Series tied 0–0

TEAM B

0

4 more wins needed

First to four wins the series

WHAT COMES NEXT

Game 1 · Team A at home

Neither team can clinch in the next game.

0PLAYED
4–7GAMES LEFT

Who wins Game 1?

No results yet. Choose the winner of the first game.

02 / FOLLOW THE HOME COURT

2–2–1–1–1

Hosts are fixed before Game 1.

  1. GAME 2Team A homeWill be played
  2. GAME 3Team B homeWill be played
  3. GAME 4Team B homeWill be played
  4. GAME 5Team A homeIf needed
  5. GAME 6Team B homeIf needed
  6. GAME 7Team A homeIf needed

Team A has home-court advantage: Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. Team B hosts Games 3, 4 and 6. Games stop at the fourth win.

POSSIBLE FINAL LENGTHS

4, 5, 6, 7 games

These are possible endpoints, not probabilities. Each total includes the games already played.

TEAM ACan win the series in 4, 5, 6, 7 total games.

TEAM BCan win the series in 4, 5, 6, 7 total games.

03 / CHANGE THE QUESTION

Five starting points.

Load an example, then play it out. Loading replaces the game history; undo then removes its last game.

Scores read Team A–Team B. These are invented examples for learning, not actual matchups.

04 / UNDERSTAND THE FORMAT

Every game
changes the path.

The first round, conference semifinals, conference finals and NBA Finals use best-of-seven series. Here’s how to read one.

01

“Best of seven” means first to four.

Seven is the maximum, not a promise. Four wins end the series immediately. A 4–0 sweep takes four games; a 4–3 result takes seven.

02

Home court is a schedule, not a score.

The team with home-court advantage hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. Its opponent hosts 3, 4 and 6. A road win changes the series score, but it does not rearrange those venues.

03

A 2–2 tie needs at least two more games.

Both teams still need two wins, so the earliest finish is Game 6. At 3–1, one team needs one win while the other needs three. Both can still win the series.

04

“If needed” disappears at the fourth win.

At 3–0, Game 4 will be played, but Games 5–7 are conditional. At 3–3, Game 7 is required. Once a team wins its fourth game, there is no next game in that series.

Scope & sources

This independent learning tool models the NBA’s standard best-of-seven, 2–2–1–1–1 series format. It does not assign home-court advantage, apply seeding tiebreakers, model the Play-In Tournament, or predict winners. Results stay in this page and clear on reload.

Format checked October 3, 2026. Diagrams are original WhyNBA illustrations, not NBA photography.

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