2019 NBA playoffs
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 13 – June 13, 2019 |
| Season | 2018–19 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Toronto Raptors (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Golden State Warriors |
| Semifinalists | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Scoring leader(s) | Kawhi Leonard (Raptors) (732) |
| Awards | |
| MVP | Kawhi Leonard (Raptors) |
The 2019 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2018–19 season. The playoffs began on April 13 after the conclusion of the regular season. The two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors finished the regular season as the top seed of the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the four-time reigning Eastern Conference champions Cleveland Cavaliers missed the postseason for the first time since 2014 following LeBron James's departure to join the Los Angeles Lakers. The Milwaukee Bucks, led by NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Giannis Antetokounmpo, finished with the best record both in the league and in the East. Both Golden State and Milwaukee were among the several teams seen as title contenders.
The first two rounds were highlighted by historic milestones. In the first round, the Los Angeles Clippers overcame a 31-point deficit against the Warriors, the largest comeback in NBA playoff history. Nonetheless, the Warriors went on to defeat the Clippers in six games. The Blazers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games, culminating in Damian Lillard's game-winning three-pointer over Paul George. In the second round, the Blazers defeated the Denver Nuggets in seven games, highlighted by Portland's quadruple-overtime victory in game 3. The Toronto Raptors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games, with the decisive game 7 ending with Kawhi Leonard making the first ever game-winning buzzer beater in the winner-take-all game.
In the conference finals, the Warriors defeated the Blazers in the Western Conference finals to advance to their fifth consecutive Finals appearance, the first team to do so since the Boston Celtics in the 1960s during the Bill Russell era. The Raptors overcame a 2–0 deficit to win the Eastern Conference finals over the Bucks in six games. In the NBA Finals, Golden State entered as heavy favorites, despite Toronto gaining home-court advantage due to having a better record. After both teams split the first two games in Toronto, the Raptors won three of their four games, all of them in Oakland. Leonard was named the NBA Finals MVP, becoming the first player to win the awards while playing for different teams in different conferences. The 2019 Finals is also memorable as the last Warriors games to be played at the Oracle Arena in Oakland before their move to San Francisco in the 2019–20 season.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the last postseason until 2022 to be played in its traditional April through June schedule. This was also the last NBA Finals featuring coaches wearing formal business attire, as the business attire for coaches was completely abandoned following the 2020 pandemic.
Overview
[edit]Western Conference
[edit]- The Denver Nuggets made the playoffs for the first time in six years.
- The Golden State Warriors entered the postseason for the seventh straight year, a new franchise record. This was also their final season at Oracle Arena, as they moved to the new Chase Center the following season. They won the championship in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
- The San Antonio Spurs made the playoffs for the 22nd consecutive season; they have not missed the playoffs since drafting Tim Duncan, who retired in 2016. Until 2026, this was their most recent postseason appearance.
- The Los Angeles Clippers made the playoffs for the first time since 2017, featuring a roster without Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, or DeAndre Jordan.
- The Los Angeles Lakers missed the playoffs for the sixth year in a row despite the addition of LeBron James. This was also the first NBA Playoffs to not feature James since 2005.
Eastern Conference
[edit]- The Milwaukee Bucks entered the postseason with a 60–win season, their first since 1980–81, and with the best record in the league, the first time that has occurred since 1973–74.
- The Orlando Magic made the playoffs for the first time since 2012, breaking the longest Eastern Conference playoff appearance drought to date.
- The Brooklyn Nets made the playoffs for the first time in four years.
- The Detroit Pistons made the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
- The Cleveland Cavaliers, despite being the four-time defending Eastern Conference Champions, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014, largely due to the departure of LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers.
- The Miami Heat missed the playoffs for the third time in five years.
First round
[edit]- In Game 2 of their series against the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers completed the largest comeback in NBA playoff history, overcoming a 31–point deficit.
- Game 3 of the Bucks–Pistons series was the first playoff game played in the city of Detroit since Game 6 of the 1985 Eastern Conference semifinals, which took place at Joe Louis Arena. Postseason games featuring the Pistons had previously been held in the Palace of Auburn Hills and the Pontiac Silverdome.
- The Boston Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round, marking the 43rd straight year a sweep occurred in the NBA playoffs. The last year a sweep did not occur in the playoffs was 1976. It was also the Celtics’ first playoff sweep since 2011.
- With their first round sweep of the Detroit Pistons, the Milwaukee Bucks won their first series since 2001 when they defeated the Charlotte Hornets in the conference semifinals.
- Game 5 of the Trail Blazers–Thunder series was extremely notable thanks to Damian Lillard's 37 foot series winning 3–pointer over Paul George, capping a 118–115 victory for the Portland Trail Blazers. It was the second series winning three pointer made by Damian Lillard (the other being in 2014 against the Houston Rockets). It would also be Paul George's and Russell Westbrook's final game as members of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
- The Nuggets–Spurs series was the first of the 2019 playoffs to have a Game 7, making it the 20th consecutive NBA postseason with a Game 7. The last time a Game 7 did not take place in the playoffs was in 1999.
- All of the top seeds won the first round for the first time since 2008.
Conference semifinals
[edit]- Game 3 of the Trail Blazers–Nuggets series was the first quadruple overtime game played in the playoffs since 1955 (and second overall), as well as the first quadruple overtime game ever played during the shot clock era.
- With their conference semifinals victory over the Boston Celtics, the Milwaukee Bucks made the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2001. In addition, this was the first time since 1983 that the Bucks defeated the Celtics in a playoff series.
- Kawhi Leonard scored the first Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history, helping the Toronto Raptors defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 92–90 in the second round.
- Game 7 of the Nuggets–Blazers series was extremely notable for CJ McCollum's block on Jamal Murray, evoking memories of a similar block in 2016.
- With their Game 7 victory Portland Trail Blazers advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2000. They also won a Game 7 on the road for the first time in franchise history.
- The Warriors–Rockets series is notable for Stephen Curry's 33–point second half. With their series victory, they advanced to the Western Conference finals for the fifth consecutive season.
Conference finals
[edit]- Stephen Curry (Warriors) and Seth Curry (Portland Trail Blazers) played each other in the Western Conference finals, becoming the first set of brothers to face each other in an NBA playoff series.[1]
- With their Western Conference finals sweep against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Golden State Warriors earned their fifth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, making them the second franchise in the NBA postseason history to do so after the Boston Celtics did it in ten consecutive years, starting from 1957 to 1966.
- The Portland Trail Blazers earned the dubious distinction of losing three straight games to the Golden State Warriors despite posting double digit leads in Games 2, 3, and 4.
- With their Eastern Conference finals victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Toronto Raptors advanced on to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
- Stephen Curry surpassed Shaquille O'Neal for most points in a sweep with 146 points.
NBA Finals
[edit]- The Toronto Raptors won the NBA Championship for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Golden State Warriors in six games in the 2019 NBA Finals.
- Game 1 was the first ever NBA Finals game played outside the US.
- Kawhi Leonard joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to win Finals MVP with more than one team, and became the first Finals MVP winner from both conferences.
- Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals was the last NBA game ever played at Oracle Arena, as well as the final NBA game ever played in Oakland.
- Game 5 of the Warriors–Raptors series was extremely notable as Kevin Durant ruptured his Achilles in an attempt to return to the playoffs, previously injuring it whilst playing the Clippers.
Format
[edit]Within each conference, the eight teams with the most wins qualified for the playoffs. The seedings were based on each team's record.
Each conference's bracket was fixed; there was no reseeding. All rounds were best-of-seven series; the series ended when one team won four games, and that team advanced to the next round. All rounds, including the NBA Finals, were in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. In the conference playoffs, home court advantage went to the higher-seeded team (number one being the highest). Seeding was based on each team's regular season record within a conference; if two teams had the same record, standard tiebreaker rules were used. Conference seedings were ignored for the NBA Finals: Home court advantage went to the team with the better regular season record, and, if needed, ties were broken based on head-to-head record, followed by intra-conference record.
Playoff qualifying
[edit]On March 1, 2019, the Milwaukee Bucks became the first team to clinch a playoff spot.[2]
Eastern Conference
[edit]| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Division title | Best record in conference | Best record in NBA | |||
| 1 | Milwaukee Bucks | 60–22 | March 1[2] | March 21 | April 4 | April 4 |
| 2 | Toronto Raptors | 58–24 | March 9[3] | April 1 | — | — |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | 51–31 | March 17 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Boston Celtics | 49–33 | March 26 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Indiana Pacers | 48–34 | March 22[4] | — | — | — |
| 6 | Brooklyn Nets[a] | 42–40 | April 7 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Orlando Magic[a] | 42–40 | April 7 | April 7 | — | — |
| 8 | Detroit Pistons | 41–41 | April 10 | — | — | — |
Western Conference
[edit]| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Division title | Best record in conference | Best record in NBA | |||
| 1 | Golden State Warriors | 57–25 | March 16 | March 31 | April 7 | — |
| 2 | Denver Nuggets | 54–28 | March 18 | April 5 | — | — |
| 3 | Portland Trail Blazers[b] | 53–29 | March 25 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Houston Rockets[b] | 53–29 | March 24 | March 31 | — | — |
| 5 | Utah Jazz | 50–32 | March 28 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 49–33 | March 30 | — | — | — |
| 7 | San Antonio Spurs[c] | 48–34 | March 30 | — | — | — |
| 8 | Los Angeles Clippers[c] | 48–34 | March 26 | — | — | — |
- Notes
- 1 2 Brooklyn clinched #6 seed over Orlando based on 2–1 head-to-head record.
- 1 2 Portland clinched #3 seed over Houston based on 2–1 head-to-head record.
- 1 2 San Antonio clinched #7 seed over L.A. Clippers based on 30–22 record against teams in Western Conference (as opposed to L.A. Clippers 28–24 record).
Bracket
[edit]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, the higher-seeded team, are shown in italics.
| First round | Second round | Conference finals | NBA Finals | ||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Milwaukee* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E8 | Detroit | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Milwaukee* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E4 | Boston | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| E4 | Boston | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E5 | Indiana | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| E1 | Milwaukee* | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Toronto* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E3 | Philadelphia | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E6 | Brooklyn | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| E3 | Philadelphia | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Toronto* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Toronto* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| E7 | Orlando* | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Toronto* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Golden State* | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Golden State* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W8 | LA Clippers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Golden State* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W4 | Houston* | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| W4 | Houston* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W5 | Utah | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Golden State* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| Western Conference | |||||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Portland | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Portland | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W6 | Oklahoma City | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Portland | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W2 | Denver* | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| W2 | Denver* | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| W7 | San Antonio | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
- * Division winner
- Bold Series winner
- Italic Team with home-court advantage
First round
[edit]- Note: Times are EDT (UTC−4) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.
Eastern Conference first round
[edit](1) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (8) Detroit Pistons
[edit]April 14 7:00pm (6:00 pm CDT) |
| Detroit Pistons 86, Milwaukee Bucks 121 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 18–38, 25–32, 18–27, 25–24 | ||
| Pts: Luke Kennard 21 Rebs: Andre Drummond 12 Asts: Ish Smith 6 |
Pts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 24 Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 17 Asts: Sterling Brown 7 | |
| Milwaukee leads series, 1–0 | ||
Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Attendance: 17,529 Referees: Tony Brothers, Pat Fraher, Kevin Cutler |
April 17 8:00pm (7:00 pm CDT) |
| Detroit Pistons 99, Milwaukee Bucks 120 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 27–38, 32–20, 17–35, 23–27 | ||
| Pts: Luke Kennard 19 Rebs: Andre Drummond 16 Asts: Reggie Jackson 8 |
Pts: Eric Bledsoe 27 Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 12 Asts: Khris Middleton 8 | |
| Milwaukee leads series, 2–0 | ||
Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Attendance: 17,513 Referees: Eric Lewis, Mike Callahan, Rodney Mott |
April 20 8:00pm |
| Milwaukee Bucks 119, Detroit Pistons 103 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 32–24, 35–30, 33–24, 19–25 | ||
| Pts: Khris Middleton 20 Rebs: Giannis Antetokounmpo 10 Asts: Bledsoe, Hill 5 each |
Pts: Blake Griffin 27 Rebs: Andre Drummond 12 Asts: Reggie Jackson 8 | |
| Milwaukee leads series, 3–0 | ||
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan Attendance: 20,520 Referees: James Capers, Kane Fitzgerald, Curtis Blair |
April 22 8:00pm |
| Milwaukee Bucks 127, Detroit Pistons 104 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 26–28, 30–34, 39–23, 32–19 | ||
| Pts: Giannis Antetokounmpo 41 Rebs: Sterling Brown 13 Asts: Sterling Brown 6 |
Pts: Reggie Jackson 26 Rebs: Andre Drummond 12 Asts: Reggie Jackson 7 | |
| Milwaukee wins series, 4–0 | ||
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan Attendance: 20,332 Referees: Ken Mauer, Tony Brown, Derrick Collins |
| Milwaukee won 4–0 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||
This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Pistons winning all four of the previous meetings.[5] This was the Bucks first playoff win since 2001.
| Detroit leads 4–0 in all-time playoff series |
|---|
(2) Toronto Raptors vs. (7) Orlando Magic
[edit]April 13 5:00pm |
| Orlando Magic 104, Toronto Raptors 101 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 25–30, 32–19, 18–27, 29–25 | ||
| Pts: D. J. Augustin 25 Rebs: Aaron Gordon 10 Asts: D. J. Augustin 6 |
Pts: Kawhi Leonard 25 Rebs: Pascal Siakam 8 Asts: Kyle Lowry 8 | |
| Orlando leads series, 1–0 | ||
- In Game 1, D. J. Augustin hit the game-winning three-point shot with 3.4 seconds left.
April 16 8:00pm |
| Orlando Magic 82, Toronto Raptors 111 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 18–26, 21–25, 27–39, 16–21 | ||
| Pts: Aaron Gordon 20 Rebs: Michael Carter-Williams 9 Asts: D. J. Augustin 4 |
Pts: Kawhi Leonard 37 Rebs: Pascal Siakam 10 Asts: Kyle Lowry 7 | |
| Series tied, 1–1 | ||
April 19 7:00pm |
| Toronto Raptors 98, Orlando Magic 93 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 26–21, 22–24, 28–20, 22–28 | ||
| Pts: Pascal Siakam 30 Rebs: Pascal Siakam 11 Asts: Kyle Lowry 10 |
Pts: Terrence Ross 24 Rebs: Nikola Vučević 14 Asts: Aaron Gordon 7 | |
| Toronto leads series, 2–1 | ||