| NBA playoffs | |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Season: | 2013–14 |
| Dates: | April 19–June 15, 2014 |
| Num Teams: | 16 |
| Winners: | San Antonio Spurs |
| Count: | 5 |
| Second: | Miami Heat |
| Semifinal1: | Indiana Pacers |
| Semifinal2: | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Prev Season: | 2013 |
| Next Season: | 2015 |
The 2014 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2013–14 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs defeating the two-time defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. Kawhi Leonard was named NBA Finals MVP.
The 2014 NBA Playoffs marked the final postseason that the NBA Playoffs and Finals logos were applied on the qualifiers' courts until 2020, when digital logos were used instead of decals. They were also the first playoffs overseen by Commissioner Adam Silver.
The San Antonio Spurs continued the longest active playoff streak in the NBA at 17 straight appearances.[1]
All three teams from Texas made the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
The Dallas Mavericks returned to the playoffs after a one-season absence while the Portland Trail Blazers returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
The Denver Nuggets missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
The Los Angeles Lakers also missed the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
The Atlanta Hawks, despite holding a sub–.500 record, made the playoffs for the seventh consecutive postseason, continuing the longest active postseason streak in the Eastern Conference.
The Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards made their first playoff appearances since 2008.
The Charlotte Bobcats made their final playoff appearance before renaming themselves the Hornets, returned after a four-year absence.
The New York Knicks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. The Boston Celtics also missed the playoffs for the first (and only) time since 2007. For the first time since 1994, the Lakers and Celtics missed the playoffs in the same season. In addition, this was the first time in NBA history that the Knicks, Celtics, and Lakers missed the playoffs in the same year.[2]
The first round of the 2014 Playoffs is generally considered one of the greatest postseason rounds in NBA history. The first 11 days of the playoffs saw at least one road team win. That ended on April 30 with the Raptors, Spurs, and Houston Rockets all winning at home against the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, and Portland Trail Blazers, respectively. The 24 road wins is an NBA playoffs record for the first round. In addition, the 2014 playoffs featured a record eight first-round games that went into overtime, including four straight between the Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder (Games 2–5), another NBA record.
This postseason and the previous year's postseason marked the first time since the 2000 and 2001 playoffs that both number 5 seeds knocked out both number 4 seeds in back–to–back years. The Washington Wizards eliminated the Chicago Bulls 4-1 while the Portland Trail Blazers eliminated the Houston Rockets 4–2.
Game 6 of the Rockets–Trail Blazers series was highlighted by Damian Lillard's series winning three pointer over Chandler Parsons to win the game and the series. With the win, the Trail Blazers won their first playoff series since 2000.
The Hawks–Pacers series was the first series to force a Game 7, making this postseason the 15th consecutive postseason to have at least one Game 7. The 1999 NBA playoffs were the last time a Game 7 wasn't played.
Five of the eight first–round series were extended to game sevens. Three of the series, Atlanta Hawks at Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies at Oklahoma City Thunder, and Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers, were played on May 3, which marked the first time (and currently only) in NBA history that three Game 7s were played on the same day.[3] Two other game sevens were played on the following day, featuring Dallas at San Antonio and Brooklyn at Toronto. The five game sevens in the first round already tied the record for the most number of game sevens in any NBA playoffs, set in the 1994 NBA playoffs. However, the NBA only adopted a best–of–seven format for the first round beginning in 2003.[4]
Game 7 of the Raptors–Nets series was the first Game 7 ever played outside the United States. The Nets won this game, thanks to Paul Pierce's series winning block over Kyle Lowry. This would be the last Game 7 won by a road team until the 2016 NBA Finals.
Game 4 of the Heat–Nets series saw LeBron James record a Heat franchise playoff high 49 points. He eventually led the Miami Heat to their fourth consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance with a win in Game 5.
With a Game 5 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, the San Antonio Spurs advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the third consecutive postseason.
With a Game 6 win over the Washington Wizards, the Indiana Pacers made the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive postseason. This also marked the first time since 1998–2000 that the Pacers made the ECF in consecutive seasons. This would be last playoff series victory by the Pacers until 2024
This year's conference finals marked the first postseason (and the seventh time since 1972, when the current playoff system was put in place) in which the top two seeds played in the Conference Finals both in the East and the West.
With their Game 2 win over the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat set an NBA record by recording their 15th straight playoff series in which they earned at least one road win.
With their Game 6 win over the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat made the NBA Finals for the fourth straight season. The Heat were the first team other than the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers to accomplish this feat.
With their Game 6 overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the San Antonio Spurs made the NBA Finals for the second straight season. This marked the first time in franchise history that the Spurs made the Finals in consecutive seasons.
The 2014 NBA Finals were notable for several things.
For the first time since 1998, there would be a rematch of last year's finalists. In this case: the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs met for the second consecutive season.
This was the first NBA Finals under commissioner Adam Silver.
For the first time since 1984, the NBA Finals were played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format (the higher seed hosts Games 1, 2, 5, and 7, the lower seed hosts Games 3, 4, and 6).[5] [6]
Game 1: The air conditioning at the AT&T Center broke, resulting in sweltering conditions. LeBron James left the game with cramps.
Game 2: With the win, the Miami Heat extended their playoff road record to 16 straight playoff series in which they won a road game.
Game 3: In the first half, the San Antonio Spurs set an NBA record for accuracy (in shots made). The Spurs won this game, and took a 2–1 series lead. The Miami Heat, on the other hand, lost their first home playoff game of the season.
Game 4: The Miami Heat lost consecutive postseason games for the first time since 2012. The San Antonio Spurs, on the other hand, took a 3–1 series lead.
Game 5: Overcoming a double digit first quarter deficit, the San Antonio Spurs won the game and the NBA Finals four games to one. This was also the final game of the Miami Heat's big three era.
Within each conference, the three division winners and the five non-division winners with the most wins qualified for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record; however, a division winner is guaranteed to be ranked at least fourth, regardless of record.
Each conference's bracket is fixed; there is no reseeding. All rounds are best-of-seven series; the team that has four wins advances to the next round. As stated above, all rounds, including the NBA Finals, are in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. Home court advantage in any round does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead to the team with the better regular season record. If two teams with the same record meet in a round, standard tiebreaker rules are used. The rule for determining home court advantage in the NBA Finals is winning percentage, then head-to-head record, followed by record vs. opposite conference.
The tiebreakers that determine seedings are:
If there were more than two teams tied, the team that wins the tiebreaker gets the highest seed, while the other teams were "re-broken" from the first step until all ties were resolved. Since the three division winners were guaranteed a spot in the top four, ties to determine the division winners had to be broken before any other ties.
| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Division title | Best record in Conference | Best record in NBA | ||||
| 1 | 56-26 | March 5 | March 26 | April 14 | — | ||
| 2 | 54-28 | March 10 | March 28 | — | — | ||
| 3 | 48-34 | March 28 | April 11 | — | — | ||
| 4 | 48-34 | March 28 | — | — | — | ||
| 5 | 44-38 | April 2 | — | — | — | ||
| 6 | 44-38 | April 1 | — | — | — | ||
| 7 | 43-39 | April 5 | — | — | — | ||
| 8 | 38-44 | April 12 | — | — | — | ||
| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Division title | Best record in Conference | Best record in NBA | ||||
| 1 | 62-20 | March 22 | April 2 | April 11 | April 11 | ||
| 2 | 59-23 | March 27 | April 4 | — | — | ||
| 3 | 57-25 | March 29 | April 2 | — | — | ||
| 4 | 54-28 | April 4 | — | — | — | ||
| 5 | 54-28 | April 6 | — | — | — | ||
| 6 | 51-31 | April 11 | — | — | — | ||
| 7 | 50-32 | April 14 | — | — | — | ||
| 8 | 49-33 | April 12 | — | — | — | ||
Notes
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Teams with home court advantage are shown in italics.