Historical & Current Events dictionary
NBA Finals
or the Finals [ en-bee-ey fahyn-lz ]
What are the NBA Finals?
The final round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs is called the NBA Finals. The winner of the NBA Finals wins the NBA championship.
They’re sometimes simply called the Finals.
The NBA Finals features a matchup between the NBA’s Eastern Conference champions and the Western Conference champions (the winners of each conference’s playoffs). Like the other playoff rounds, it’s a best-of-seven series of games (in which the winner is the first team to win four games).
The most valuable player in the series is named the NBA Finals MVP.
⚡️When are the NBA Finals?
The 2023 NBA Finals are scheduled to begin on June 1. If the series lasts the maximum number of games, game seven is scheduled to be played on June 18.
The NBA Finals usually begin in late May or early June. The length of the best-of-seven series depends on how many games need to be played.
Where does NBA Finals come from?
In 1949, the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America merged to create the NBA. However, the name NBA Finals was first used in 1986. Before that, the final series was called the NBA World Championship Series, or, in 1983 and 1984, Showdown.
The word Finals is used in the name of the two NBA conference championship series (Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference Finals) as well as championship series in other leagues, including the WNBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals (in professional hockey).
Examples of NBA Finals
Who uses NBA Finals?
Did you know … ?
- The first champions of the league known as the NBA were the Rochester Royals, in 1951.
- Los Angeles Lakers player Jerry West is the only player from the losing team to be named MVP of the championship series.
- The NBA championship trophy is officially named the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, after a former NBA Commissioner.
What are other words used in discussion of the NBA Finals?
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of NBA Finals like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of NBA Finals that will help our users expand their word mastery.