The 2013 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2012âÂÂ13 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat defeating the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals. LeBron James was named NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year.
The Miami Heat headed into the playoffs with a franchiseâÂÂbest 66 wins, topping the league in the regular season. Their 2012 Finals opponents, the Oklahoma City Thunder, topped the Western Conference with 60 wins, making it the first time since 2006 that the two teams who faced off in the previous year's finals topped their respective conferences in the next regular season.
This was also the final NBA Playoffs played under commissioner David Stern.
The San Antonio Spurs continued the longest active playoff streak at 16 straight appearances. The Dallas Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2000, ending the second-longest active streak of playoff appearances, which stretched 12 years.
The Los Angeles Clippers made franchise history by winning their first Pacific Division title and having a 56âÂÂwin season, tied with the Memphis Grizzlies, whose 56 wins were also a franchise record. However, home court advantage went to the Clippers by virtue of winning their division. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers entered their eighth consecutive postseason. However, this was their first appearance since 1996 without Kobe Bryant, as he was out with injury.
The Denver Nuggets entered their tenth consecutive postseason. They also earned the West's third seed and headed into the playoffs with a franchiseâÂÂrecord 57 wins.
The Golden State Warriors made their first playoff appearance since 2007, while the Houston Rockets made their first playoff appearance since 2009.
The Indiana Pacers won the Central Division for the first time since 2004, while the New York Knicks entered the playoffs with their best regular-season performance since , finishing atop the Atlantic Division for the first time since . The Knicks also opened the playoffs at home for the first time since 2001.
The Brooklyn Nets made the playoffs for the first time since 2007, when they were known as the New Jersey Nets, while the Milwaukee Bucks appeared for the first time since 2010. The Bucks were the first team since 2011 to make the playoffs despite finishing below .500 in the regular season.
The New York Knicks entered their third consecutive postseason. Their first round opponent, the Boston Celtics opened their postseason run just days after the Boston Marathon bombing, which occurred just blocks from where the Celtics play their games at TD Garden.
The Orlando Magic missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006, ending the longest active streak in the Eastern Conference. As a result, the Atlanta Hawks would own this distinction from 2013 to 2017.
Game 1 of the BullsâÂÂNets series marked the first time that Barclays Center hosted a playoff game. Game 7 of the same series also marked the 14th straight postseason with at least one Game 7. The 1999 NBA playoffs was the last time that a Game 7 was not played.
With their series sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks, the Miami Heat swept a playoff series for the first time since 2005. They also won every game by double digits.
Game 3 of the KnicksâÂÂCeltics series was the first Celtics home game since the Boston Marathon Bombings.
Game 4 of the SpursâÂÂLakers series was the final Lakers playoff game until 2020.
With their Game 6 win over the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks won a playoff series for the first time since 2000.
For the first time since 2000, the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks met in the postseason, reigniting the KnicksâÂÂPacers rivalry.
With Oklahoma City's Game 5 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the Conference Semifinals, home court advantage in the Western Conference Finals went to the San Antonio Spurs, who were two games ahead of the Grizzlies. With the win, the Grizzlies made the conference finals for the first time in franchise history.
With their Game 6 win over the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs returned to the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive year.
With their Game 6 win over the New York Knicks, the Indiana Pacers made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2004. The Knicks would not return to the playoffs until 2021.
By sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals, the San Antonio Spurs returned to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007.
For the second consecutive postseason, the Eastern Conference Finals went to a Game 7. The Heat won the game, and earned their third straight berth in the NBA Finals.
The 2013 NBA Finals were notable for several reasons.
The six division winners and 10 other teams with the most wins from each conference 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.
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.
â = Did not achieve
â = Did not achieve
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. Home court advantage for the playoffs does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record. Teams with home court advantage are shown in italics. 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 head-to-head record followed by record vs. opposite conference. <section begin=Bracket /><section end=Bracket />
This was the first playoff meeting between the Heat and the Bucks.
This was the 15th playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning eight of the first 14 meetings.
This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the each team winning two series apiece.
The Nets led wire-to-wire as they routed the Bulls 106âÂÂ89 to take a 1âÂÂ0 series lead. A dominant first half allowed the Nets to put the game away early as they outscored the Bulls 25âÂÂ14 in the first quarter and 35âÂÂ21 in the second quarter, building a 60âÂÂ35 halftime lead.
Following their embarrassing Game 1 loss, the Bulls bounced back with a 90âÂÂ82 win, evening the series at 1âÂÂ1 and stealing homecourt advantage. The Bulls took control of the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Nets 22âÂÂ11 in the period and building a 12-point 4th quarter lead. The Nets attempted to rally, but the Bulls made enough clutch shots to hold them off. After scoring 89 points through 3 quarters in Game 1 (and 106 for the game), the Nets were held to 82 points for all of Game 2.
The Bulls took a 2âÂÂ1 series lead with a 79âÂÂ76 victory. Despite squandering most of a huge fourth quarter lead, the Bulls hung on to win when Cj Watson airballed a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Bulls stunned the Nets and took a commanding 3âÂÂ1 series lead with a 142âÂÂ134 victory in triple overtime. The Nets trailed 58âÂÂ55 at halftime. However, they outscored the Bulls 29âÂÂ18 in the third quarter and led by 8 points heading into the fourth quarter. With less than 3 minutes to go, the Nets extended their lead to 14, and the Bulls trailed 109âÂÂ95. However, the Bulls would go on a 16âÂÂ2 run to force the first of three overtimes. Nate Robinson caught fire, scoring 23 points in the 4th quarter, including 12 unanswered points as the Bulls cut the deficit to 109âÂÂ107 with just over one minute remaining. Carlos Boozer then scored the game-tying bucket to even the game at 109. On the Nets' next possession, Brook Lopez was fouled. He made both free throws to put the Nets up 111âÂÂ109. The Bulls drew up a play to give Luol Deng a go-ahead corner three. Deng missed the three, but Joakim Noah grabbed two offensive rebounds and tied the game at 111âÂÂ111. Deron Williams attempted to win the game at the end of regulation, but his shot rimmed out, and the Bulls forced overtime. During the overtimes, several players fouled out. For the Nets, Gerald Wallace and Reggie Evans would foul out while Robinson, Noah, and Gibson would foul out for the Bulls. The Bulls would go on to win the game in triple overtime as they pushed the Nets to the brink of elimination.
The Bulls entered this game without the services of Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Kirk Hinrich, but almost blew a 3âÂÂ1 series lead to the Nets. However, the Bulls dominated the first half, building a 61âÂÂ44 halftime lead. In the second half, the Nets fought back as they cut the deficit to 4, but they got no closer as the Bulls prevailed with a 99âÂÂ93 victory. It was the first time that the Bulls had won a Game 7 on the road in franchise history, becoming the 7th NBA road team to do so after leading series 3âÂÂ1. They were 0âÂÂ6 in their last 6 road Game 7's. This was also Gerald Wallace's last game as a Net.
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Bulls winning the first meeting. All previous meetings took place while the Nets were in New Jersey.
This was the seventh playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Thunder/SuperSonics franchise winning five of the first six meetings. All previous meetings took place while the Thunder franchise were still known as the Seattle SuperSonics.
The Spurs dominated the Lakers in Game 1 and took a 1âÂÂ0 series lead.
The Spurs dominated again in Game 2 and took a commanding 2âÂÂ0 series lead.
The Spurs throttled the Lakers 120âÂÂ89 and took a commanding 3âÂÂ0 series lead. For the Lakers, the 31-point loss represented the largest home playoff loss in franchise history.
The Spurs completed their sweep of the injury-depleted Lakers, routing them 103âÂÂ82. Dwight Howard picked up two technical fouls and was ejected in the third quarter. It would end up being his final game with the Lakers until his return to the team in 2019, as well as Kobe Bryant's final playoff game, as the Lakers would not make the playoffs until 2020
This was the 12th playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Lakers winning eight of the first 11 meetings.
This was the first playoff meeting between the Nuggets and the Warriors.
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Clippers winning the first meeting.
The Bulls stunned the Heat in Game 1 with a 93âÂÂ86 victory. The game was close throughout, with neither team leading by more than 8 points. The Heat entered the fourth quarter with a 62âÂÂ58 lead and led 86âÂÂ83 with just over two minutes to play when the Bulls scored the game's final 10 points. After giving up only 37 points in the first half, the Heat's defense allowed the Bulls to score 35 points in the 4th quarter alone. After Marco Bellinelli's game-tying three-pointer knotted the game at 86, Nate Robinson took over, scoring two consecutive shots to put the Bulls up 90âÂÂ86 with just over 40 seconds left. On the Heat's next two possessions, LeBron James would shoot an airball and miss a long three-pointer, and Nate Robinson made enough free throws to seal the win and help the Bulls steal homecourt advantage.
This was the seventh playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Bulls winning four of the first six meetings.
This was the seventh playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning three series apiece.
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Thunder winning the first meeting.
Golden State led by 16 points with four minutes to go, but they would be hindered by missing eight of their last nine shots while the Spurs roared back to force overtime. The Spurs would come back without Tim Duncan, who had been bothered by a stomach virus and had to be in the locker room for the final 4:31 of regulation. San Antonio finally tied the game on a Danny Green 3-pointer with 20 seconds left. Stephen Curry (who scored 22 points in the 3rd quarter) would have a shot to win the game at the buzzer, but he missed a tightly contested 15-footer. Manu Ginobili had a shot to potentially win the game at the end of the 1st overtime, but it was off the mark. With 44 seconds on the game clock in double overtime, Ginobili missed a three-pointer that would have given the Spurs a six-point lead. Curry then made a two-point shot twelve seconds later to narrow the score to one. A missed layup by Tony Parker gave the Warriors the ball back; with three seconds to go, Kent Bazemore gave the Warriors the lead on a layup. However, Ginobili would shoot a three-pointer to give the Spurs the lead with one second remaining on the clock, and Jarrett Jack's running jumper shot missed at the buzzer to deliver a Spurs victory.
This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Warriors winning the first meeting.
This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning one series apiece.
This was the first sweep of any NBA conference finals series since 2003, when the New Jersey Nets swept the Detroit Pistons.
This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning one series apiece.
This was the first playoff meeting between the Heat and the Spurs.
The following records were set or tied during the playoffs: