Western Conference (nba)

The three division winners are seeded 1, 2 and 3 for the playoffs in order of their record, with all non-division winners seeded 4 through 8. This leaves open the possibility that a #4 seed could have a better record than a #3 or #2 seed. On the other hand, home-court advantage in a playoff series is decided by record, not by seeding, so if a #3 and #4 team met in a playoff series in which the #4 team had the better record, the #4 team would have home-court advantage.

The Western Conference playoffs is divided into three rounds, with the winner facing the Eastern Conference champion in the NBA Finals to determine the champion. All playoff series are Best-of-seven .

The current divisional alignment was adopted at the start of the 04 - 05 season, when the Charlotte Bobcats began play as the NBA's 30th franchise. This necessitated the move of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets from the Eastern Conference's Central Division to the newly-created Southwest Division of the Western Conference.

The Western Conference teams are organized as follows:

Northwest Division

Denver Nuggets

Minnesota Timberwolves

Portland Trail Blazers

Seattle SuperSonics

Utah Jazz

Southwest Division

Dallas Mavericks

Houston Rockets

Memphis Grizzlies

New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets

San Antonio Spurs

Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Lakers

Phoenix Suns

Sacramento Kings

Information About