The first round series between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls set an NBA Playoff record for the most overtime games (4) and periods (7) played.

As for the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs, they failed to advance past the first round for the first time since 2000.

The Pistons were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers, while the Spurs lost to the Dallas Mavericks in a five-game upset.

With their Game 7 road win over the Boston Celtics, the Orlando Magic made the Conference Finals for the first time since 1996.

With the Lakers’ Game 5 win over the Orlando Magic, Phil Jackson overtook Red Auerbach with the most NBA Championships won by a head coach (10).

Game 3 was a tight contest until an 18–2 run by the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter secured the victory for Cleveland.

In Game 1, with the Bulls trailing by 1, rookie Derrick Rose hit 2 free throws with 9.6 seconds left.

Celtics captain Paul Pierce had a chance to win the game with his own free throws from a Joakim Noah foul but missed the second, leading to overtime.

In the overtime, with Rose fouling out, Tyrus Thomas scored six of the Bulls' eight points to put them up 105–103 with about 50 seconds left.

Ray Allen, who had a poor shooting night, had a chance to tie the game and send it into a second overtime but he did not succeed.

Rose matched Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's playoff debut of 36 points to lead the Bulls into a Game 1 road victory.

At home in the end of regulation of Game 4, Gordon hit a big bank shot putting the Bulls up 95–93.

Game 5: The Bulls held a double digit lead, and Boston came back behind Paul Pierce.

Pierce tied with his own jumper, Brad Miller missed 2 free throws with 2 seconds remaining in overtime, and Boston won.

In Game 1, the Magic had an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter and Andre Iguodala scored a jumper with 2.2 seconds remaining to give the Sixers a road win over Hedo Türkoğlu.

The Sixers won Game 3 courtesy of another late shot; Thaddeus Young scored a layup with 2 seconds left to secure the win, despite a career playoff-high 36-point performance by Dwight Howard.

The Magic secured a road win in Game 4 with their own late shot; Türkoğlu scored his own game-winning three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to even the series.

In Game 5, Dwight Howard had 24 points and a career playoff-high 24 rebounds, leading the Magic to a victory.

Despite losing two starters, Howard and Lee, the Magic won game 6, beating the Sixers on the road by 25 points to win the series.

[36] The Hawks finally won the game, despite losing starting center Al Horford due to injury in the second quarter.

The margin tied the most lopsided victory in playoff history set 53 years ago by the Minneapolis Lakers.

Carmelo Anthony scored his career playoff-high with 34 points as the Nuggets cruised to another double-digit win.

Early in the game, Howard made a thunderous jam that caused the shot clock to fall backwards.

A jump shot by Hedo Türkoğlu gave the Magic a 2-point lead with 1 second left on the clock, but LeBron James hit a three-pointer to tie the series at the buzzer.

After a win in Game 6, the Magic received their second NBA Finals berth in franchise history.

[46][47] The debacle would be a subject of a main event that night in a 10-man tag team match when a babyface team of John Cena, Batista, Montel Vontavious Porter, Jerry Lawler and Mr. Kennedy donning Lakers jerseys took on heels The Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, Jr.) and ShoMiz (The Big Show and The Miz) in Nuggets jerseys.