The NBA announced the current revised playoff seeding system on August 3, 2006. Following the NBA regular season, eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.
The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three division champions, and another team in the conference with the best record, are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees the division champions no worse than the fourth seed, and also guarantees the conference's two best teams (by record) will be the top two seeds even if the second-best team doesn't win its division. Of the remaining eleven conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their record.
In the event two or more teams are tied in the standings, a series of tiebreakers are applied to determine which team receives the higher seeding.
Two-team tiebreaker:
Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)
Better record in head-to-head games
Higher winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division)
Higher winning percentage in conference games
Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference (including tied teams)
Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in opposite conference (including tied teams)
Three-team tiebreaker:
Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)
Best head-to-head winning percentage among all teams tied
Highest winning percentage within division (if all tied teams are in the same division)
Highest winning percentage in conference games
Highest winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference (including tied teams)
Highest point differential between points scored and points allowed
