The Hawks, the Eastern Conference's fifth seed, will meet the Celtics, the fourth seed, when the NBA playoffs begin this weekend. Which team has home-court advantage in the first-round matchup won’t be determined until Thursday night.
Confused?
A change in the league’s playoff seeding rules several years ago gave teams with a better record the advantage in the postseason despite divisional championships. Although the Celtics (38-27) earned one of the top four seeds by virtue of winning the Atlantic Division, the Hawks (39-26) could finish with a better record. A Hawks victory over the Mavericks or a Celtics loss to the Bucks in Thursday night's final games would give the Hawks home-court advantage. A Hawks loss and a Celtics win would give the edge to Boston, based on tiebreakers (division winner and head-to-head record).
Previous seeding rules gave the first three seeds and the home-court to division winners, despite records, in the conference playoffs. In 2006, the Spurs and Mavericks, both in the Southwest Division, had the top two records in the Western Conference but met in the semifinals. The rule was changed that offseason to place the three divisional winners plus the team with the best record in the conference in the top four spots. That ensures the conference’s top two teams are seeded first and second and can’t meet until the finals.
The team with the better record in each series has home-court advantage. It is possible that the sixth seed could host the third seed. And, as may be the case this year in the East, the fifth seed would host the fourth seed.
-- Chris Vivlamore
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