The San Antonio Spurs entered their fifteenth consecutive postseason, continuing the longest active playoff streak at the time.
The defending champion Dallas Mavericks entered their twelfth consecutive postseason, the second longest active playoff streak in the Western Conference.
The Orlando Magic and Miami Heat gained notoriety for opening their postseason runs against the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks despite recent tragedies rocking their respective cities.
The Orlando Magic opened their NBA Playoffs against the Indiana Pacers just 2 months after the killing of Trayvon Martin in nearby Sanford, Florida, just 30 miles from where they play their games at Amway Center.
Meanwhile, the Miami Heat opened their NBA Playoffs against the New York Knicks just 15 days after a drunk driver caused a devastating crash in southwest Miami-Dade County, just 18 miles from where they play their games at American Airlines Arena.
Game 1 of the Bulls–Sixers series was extremely notable as Derrick Rose tore his ACL in the waning minutes of the Bulls’ 103–91 victory.
With their Game 5 win against the New York Knicks, the Miami Heat beat their arch rivals in a playoff series for the first time since 1997.
With their Game 4 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, the San Antonio Spurs became the fourth team in NBA History (and first in the Western Conference) to go 8–0 through the first two rounds of the playoffs.
With a Game 6 win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder returned to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1996 (when they were known as the Seattle SuperSonics).
With a Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat returned to the NBA Finals for the second straight season.
Ironically, the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated the last three Western Conference finalists: the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the San Antonio Spurs, all in sequential order.
The Bulls, who were out of timeouts, had one last chance to force a Game 7 but C. J. Watson's halfcourt heave bounced off the back of the rim, giving the 76ers the series.
But led by Carmelo Anthony's 41, the Knicks won 89–87, escaping a sweep as Wade's potential series-winning 3 missed at the buzzer.
The Hawks had homecourt advantage for the series despite being the lower seeded team by having the better season-record of the two; the Celtics took the 4th-seed by winning their division title.
However, Josh Smith stripped a Rondo pass intended for Kevin Garnett, letting the Hawks survive and force a Game 6.
However, Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili eventually sealed the series by stealing the ball and scoring on a basket respectively.
The Mavs still tried to win but Shawn Marion failed to get a shot off at the buzzer, giving the Thunder a one-point victory and a 1–0 series lead.
Trailing by as many as 27, and down 95–71 with 9:13 left, the Clippers held the Grizzlies to just one field goal the rest of the game and pulled off an improbable 99–98 victory before a stunned, sold-out crowd of 18,119 at FedExForum.
In Game 5, it was the Pacers who took the major blow when Danny Granger got injured in the second quarter by stepping on James's foot.
Game 5 saw Brandon Bass score 27 points, including 18 in the third quarter as the Celtics blew out the Sixers, 101–85, to push them a win away from the Eastern Conference Finals.
Also, another team based out of Staples Center, the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings, participated in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.
As a result of these 3 teams sharing one arena, Games 3 and 4 of the Thunder–Lakers and Spurs–Clippers series were played back-to-back on May 18–19 and 19–20 respectively, to avoid scheduling conflicts.
Then, in the final moments of the game, Paul made several mistakes, a bad pass and an off-balanced jump shot that missed, that ultimately led to Clippers' demise.
The Lakers still had one last chance to tie but Kobe Bryant's three missed, with Harden hitting two free-throws to effectively seal the deal.
With the Celtics up 71–66 with 4:24 left in the third, a block by Wade on Allen ignited a 15–4 run by the Heat to end the quarter, as they took a 6-point lead heading into the fourth.
Boston answered back, holding a 3-point lead in the final minute before James hit a 3 to tie it with 36 seconds left.
In the fourth quarter, Kevin Durant scored half of his 36 points as the Thunder tied the series with a 109–103 win over the Spurs.
After a Harden 4-point play that gave the Thunder another 13-point lead, things began to unravel as the Spurs staged an 11–0 run through the next 4 minutes to bring them back into the game.
Following a Ginobili layup shot that cut the lead to 3, a fullcourt press by the Spurs forced a Thunder turnover, giving them a chance to tie the game.
With a few clutch shots by Derek Fisher and James Harden, the Thunder booked a trip to the Finals with a 107–99 comeback win over the Spurs.