2018 NBA playoffs

Kevin Durant was named the NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year.

Home court advantage in any round belong to the higher-seeded team, who has the better regular season record (number 1 is the highest).

[3] On March 30, 2018, the Houston Rockets clinched the Western Conference ending a three-year run by the Golden State Warriors as the top seed.

For the first time since the 1996–97 NBA season, two teams played their last game against each other for the 8th and final spot in the playoffs.

The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Denver Nuggets 112–106 in overtime to clinch the final playoff seed in the West.

[5] For the first time since the 2010–11 NBA season, the Los Angeles Clippers would miss the postseason following a loss to the Denver Nuggets on April 7, 2018.

[32] LeBron James capped off his heroic Game 5 performance with a game-winning 3 at the buzzer to put the Cavaliers up 3–2 in the series.

However, Russell Westbrook and Paul George combined for 47 second-half points to help keep their season alive.

This was the fifth playoff meeting between the SuperSonics/Thunder franchise and the Jazz, but the first since the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008.

In the final seconds (6.7 seconds to be exact) with the Rockets up 96–94, the Warriors had one last chance to tie or take the lead in the game, Draymond Green however lost his balance and turned the ball over to Eric Gordon who was then fouled and sealed the game making both of his free throws sending Houston within 1 game to their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1995, but it came at a cost however as Chris Paul suffered a "right hamstring injury" in the final minute, he did not play for the rest of the series.

Kevin Durant scored 29 points while Draymond Green had 15 rebounds & Stephen Curry had 6 assists for the Warriors

The Rockets' 25 second-half points tied a franchise record low for scoring in any half in the postseason.

However, the final minutes did not come without controversy as Durant seemingly charged onto James when driving to the basket.

The officials reviewed that James was not within the restricted area, and the call was then reversed into a blocking foul, thus allowing Durant to tie the game with a pair of free throws.

Eventually, when the Warriors were leading 107–106, James passed the ball that went out of bounds while George Hill was fouled, thus giving him a pair of free throws.

[50] After a close first half in Game 4, the Warriors dominated the third quarter and routed the Cavaliers 108–85 behind Stephen Curry's 37 points and seven three-pointers, as well as a triple-double by Durant, thus completing the sweep.

[53] ESPN, TNT, ABC, NBA TV, ESPN2, and ESPNews televised the playoffs nationally in the United States.

ABC had exclusive television rights to the 2018 NBA Finals, which was the 16th consecutive year for the network.