Eastern Conference (NBA)

Eastern Conference

League	National Basketball Association
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1947 (as the Eastern Division)
No. of teams	15
Most recent champion(s)	Miami Heat (2nd title)
Most titles	Boston Celtics (21 titles)

The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association is made up of fifteen teams, organized in three divisions of five teams each.

The three division winners and the non-division winner with the best record are seeded 1 through 4 for the playoffs in order of their records, with all remaining non-division winners seeded 5 through 8. This leaves open the possibility that a #2 seed could be a non-division winner. Home-court advantage in a playoff series is decided by record, not by seeding, so if the #4 and #5 teams meet in a playoff series in which the #5 team has the better record, the #5 team would have home-court advantage.

The reasoning behind this seeding arrangement is because a non-division winner could have a better record than the winners of the two divisions other than the non-division winning team in question. If the three division winners were seeded 1 through 3 for the playoffs in order of their records, and all non-division winners seeded 4 through 8, it would be possible for the two best teams of the conference to meet in the Conference Semifinals. This actually happened in the 2006 NBA Playoffs when the two best teams in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks, both from the Southwest Division, faced one another in the Western Conference Semifinals while the 3rd seed, the Northwest Division-leading Denver Nuggets, had fewer wins than the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th seeds.The NBA proposed and approved of the current format to ensure that the best two teams of a conference can meet no earlier than the Conference Finals.

The Eastern Conference playoffs are divided into two preliminary rounds followed by the Eastern Conference Finals, with the winner of the Conference Championship facing the Western 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 2004–05 season, when the Charlotte Bobcats began play as the NBA's 30th franchise. This necessitated the move of the New Orleans Hornets from the Eastern Conference's Central Division to the newly-created Southwest Division of the Western Conference.

Current organization

The Eastern Conference teams are organized as follows:

Atlantic Division Boston Celtics New York Knicks New Jersey Nets Philadelphia 76ers Toronto Raptors

Southeast Division Atlanta Hawks Charlotte Bobcats Miami Heat Orlando Magic Washington Wizards

Central Division Chicago Bulls Cleveland Cavaliers Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Milwaukee Bucks

Former teams

Defunct

• Providence Steamrollers
• Toronto Huskies
• Washington Capitols

Relocated to Western Conference

• Buffalo Braves (moved to San Diego and became "Clippers", now the Los Angeles Clippers)
• Cincinnati Royals (later the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, the Kansas City Kings, now the Sacramento Kings)
• Golden State / Philadelphia Warriors
• Houston Rockets
• New Orleans / Charlotte Hornets
• San Antonio Spurs
• Utah / New Orleans Jazz

Eastern Conference champions

See also: NBA Conference Finals#Eastern Division / Conference

Eastern Conference was named Eastern Division until 1970

1947: Philadelphia Warriors 1948: Philadelphia Warriors 1949: Washington Capitols 1950: Syracuse Nationals 1951: New York Knicks 1952: New York Knicks 1953: New York Knicks 1954: Syracuse Nationals 1955: Syracuse Nationals 1956: Philadelphia Warriors 1957: Boston Celtics 1958: Boston Celtics 1959: Boston Celtics 1960: Boston Celtics 1961: Boston Celtics 1962: Boston Celtics 1963: Boston Celtics 1964: Boston Celtics 1965: Boston Celtics 1966: Boston Celtics 1967: Philadelphia 76ers

1968: Boston Celtics 1969: Boston Celtics 1970: New York Knicks 1971: Baltimore Bullets 1972: New York Knicks 1973: New York Knicks 1974: Boston Celtics 1975: Washington Bullets 1976: Boston Celtics 1977: Philadelphia 76ers 1978: Washington Bullets 1979: Washington Bullets 1980: Philadelphia 76ers 1981: Boston Celtics 1982: Philadelphia 76ers 1983: Philadelphia 76ers 1984: Boston Celtics 1985: Boston Celtics 1986: Boston Celtics 1987: Boston Celtics 1988: Detroit Pistons

1989: Detroit Pistons 1990: Detroit Pistons 1991: Chicago Bulls 1992: Chicago Bulls 1993: Chicago Bulls 1994: New York Knicks 1995: Orlando Magic 1996: Chicago Bulls 1997: Chicago Bulls 1998: Chicago Bulls 1999: New York Knicks 2000: Indiana Pacers 2001: Philadelphia 76ers 2002: New Jersey Nets 2003: New Jersey Nets 2004: Detroit Pistons 2005: Detroit Pistons 2006: Miami Heat 2007: Cleveland Cavaliers 2008: Boston Celtics 2009: Orlando Magic

2010: Boston Celtics 2011: Miami Heat

NBA Champions in bold

List of Eastern Conference teams with the most conference championships

• 21: Boston Celtics
• 9: Philadelphia 76ers – Syracuse Nationals
• 8: New York Knicks
• 6: Chicago Bulls
• 5: Detroit Pistons
• 4: Washington/Baltimore Bullets
• 3: Philadelphia Warriors
• 2: Miami Heat
• 2: New Jersey Nets
• 2: Orlando Magic
• 1: Cleveland Cavaliers
• 1: Indiana Pacers
• 1: Washington Capitols