The 1972 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1971–72 season.
The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals.
The Lakers won their first NBA Finals in their last nine appearances without superstar Elgin Baylor, who had played in each of the preceding eight losses.
The Conference Semifinals series between the Bullets and Knicks would be the last NBA playoff series in which the team with the inferior regular season record held home-court advantage based on division champions holding home-court advantage over a division runner-up through the Conference Finals.
However, home-court advantage would be based on regular season record, with division champion status being used as a possible tiebreaker to determine seeding.