NBA

The 2021-22 NBA season will be the 76th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The pre-season matches commence on October 3rd, 2021, while the regular season will begin on October 19th, 2021.

The 2021-22 NBA season also marks the 75th anniversary of the league. In order to celebrate this milestone, the NBA will pay its tribute to the history of the league, starting with the use of a commemorative diamond logo all season long. It will also announce an unranked list of 75 greatest players in NBA history.

1. NBA Scores
2. NBA Playoffs and Play-In Tournament
3. NBA Standings
4. NBA Schedule
5. NBA Draft
6. NBA Teams
7. NBA Power Rankings
8. NBA Trade Rumors
9. NBA Rankings
10. FAQs

NBA Scores

In the NBA, a point is scored by a team when the basketball goes through a hoop, that is placed 10-feet high. But it doesn’t end there, as there are different ways to score points. 

If a team scores a basket, throwing it from within 22 feet of the basket, the team will be awarded 2 points. However, if the shot is taken from more than 22 feet away from the basket the team will get 3 points. There is an arc on the court to represent the 3-point line.

Further, if a player gets fouled while shooting within the 3-point line, and the player misses the basket, the team will be awarded two free throws, each shot worth one point. If the same is done from outside the three-point line, the player will be awarded three free throws. A single free throw is awarded if the player makes the shot while being fouled.

Teams can also be awarded free throws if a player on the opposing team is found eliciting inappropriate behavior of any kind, and is given a technical foul by the referee. 

NBA Playoffs and Play-In Tournament

After all the teams have completed the 82-game regular season, the top 6 franchises from each conference directly enter the postseason known as the NBA Playoffs.

Teams placed 7 to 10 in each conference participate in the NBA Play-In Tournament to decide the 7th and 8th seeds. The 7th and 8th placed teams get two chances to qualify for the NBA Playoffs while the 9th and 10th placed teams must win two games in a row to qualify for the postseason. As a result, the Play-In Tournament comprises of three games in either conference with the following format:

1. Game 1: Team #7 vs Team #8 (Winner qualifies as 7th seed)
2. Game 2: Team #9 vs Team #10 (Loser gets eliminated)
3. Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2 (Winner qualifies as 8th seed, loser gets eliminated)

During the postseason, each team plays against another team from their own conference in a 7-game series, where the first team to win 4 games moves on to the next round. A team must go through 3 rounds, before reaching the NBA Finals as champions of their own conference and face off against the champions from the other conference. The winner here would win an NBA Championship, bringing the NBA Playoffs to a close. 

The 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament is slated to take place from April 12 to April 15. The 2022 NBA Playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 16 and will conclude no later than June 19.

NBA Standings

As mentioned before, the NBA is divided into two conferences, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. As we wait for the new season to begin, here is a look at the final standings for the 2020-21 regular season for both conferences. The standings have been adjusted to account for the results of the 2021 NBA Play-In Tournament.

Western Conference

1. Utah Jazz
2. Phoenix Suns
3. Denver Nuggets
4. LA Clippers
5. Dallas Mavericks
6. Portland Trail Blazers
7. LA Lakers
8. Memphis Grizzlies
9. Golden State Warriors
10. San Antonio Spurs
11. New Orleans Pelicans
12. Sacramento Kings
13. Minnesota Timberwolves
14. Oklahoma City Thunder
15. Houston Rockets

Eastern Conference 

1. Philadelphia 76ers
2. Brooklyn Nets
3. Milwaukee Bucks
4. New York Knicks
5. Atlanta Hawks
6. Miami Heat
7. Boston Celtics
8. Washington Wizards
9. Indiana Pacers
10. Charlotte Hornets
11. Chicago Bulls
12. Toronto Raptors
13. Cleveland Cavaliers
14. Orlando Magic
15. Detroit Pistons

NBA Schedule

As mentioned before, each team plays 82 games in the regular season, with the purpose of deciding the top 6 teams in each conference that will qualify for the NBA Playoffs with teams placed 7th to 10th going through the grind of the NBA Play-In Tournament. The league schedules some of the best and most interesting games on Opening Day and Christmas Day, making them the most popular days for NBA fans apart from the All-Star Weekend.

Another key staple of the NBA is the All-Star Weekend. This lasts three days where the best players in the league face off in a myriad of competitions. The best rookies and sophomores from the season compete in the Rising Stars Challenge which takes place on Friday. This is preceded by the Celebrity Game where celebs from all walks of life come together to play a friendly game. Saturday is all about fun mini-games such as the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest. All of these are followed by the main event of the weekend on Sunday, the NBA All-Star Game. 

The 2022 NBA All-Star Game will be played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the home arena of the Cleveland Cavaliers, on February 20, 2022.

NBA Draft

The NBA Draft is an annual event through which, some of the top prospects from around the world, who have declared their availability for the NBA will be chosen by one of the 30 NBA teams. The order to determine who chooses when is decided by the wins to losses ratio of each team over the course of the previous year’s regular season.

The 14 teams who don't qualify for the playoffs participate in the NBA Draft Lottery. The three teams with the most losses in the previous season will have the highest odds of winning the first overall pick. All the remaining teams in the lottery will have reduced odds of landing the No.1 pick, with the odds being inversely proportional to the number of wins that the said team has. 

This 2021 NBA Draft was held on July 29, 2021, at the Barclays Center. The Detroit Pistons held the first overall pick and they drafted Oklahoma State University standout, Cade Cunningham.

NBA Teams

There are 30 total teams in the NBA, with each team representing a certain city in either the United States of America or Canada. Following are the teams in the NBA: 

1. LA Lakers  
2. Milwaukee Bucks
3. LA Clippers 
4. Toronto Raptors 
5. Denver Nuggets 
6. Boston Celtics 
7. Houston Rockets 
8. Indiana Pacers 
9. Oklahoma City Thunder
10. Miami Heat 
11. Utah Jazz
12. Philadelphia 76ers
13. Dallas Mavericks 
14. Brooklyn Nets 
15. Portland Trail Blazers 
16. Orlando Magic 
17. Memphis Grizzlies 
18. Washington Wizards 
19. Phoenix Suns 
20. Charlotte Hornets 
21. San Antonio Spurs 
22. Chicago Bulls
23. Sacramento Kings
24. New York Knicks 
25. New Orleans Pelicans 
26. Detroit Pistons 
27. Minnesota Timberwolves 
28. Atlanta Hawks 
29. Golden State Warriors 
30. Cleveland Cavaliers 

NBA Power Rankings

For the last half-decade, the Golden State Warriors have dominated the NBA power rankings, housing a team that was simply out of this world. But during the 2019-20 NBA season, many teams, like the LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat have become formidable teams and threatened to steal the throne. 

With the onset of the pandemic, several other franchises made the headlines during the 2020-21 NBA season. The likes of Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets topped the NBA Power Rankings quite frequently.

NBA Trade Rumors

Over the course of the season, and the off-season, the NBA is filled with trade rumors that, as the name suggests, covers stories about players potentially moving teams, what the chances of the trade happening at all are and so on. Trade rumors are provided by NBA insiders who work with several sports news media outlets to deliver the latest scoop that they're aware of.

NBA Rankings

During the regular season, the NBA ranking of a team is decided based on their win-loss ratio. The top 8 NBA teams from each conference (following the conclusion of the NBA Play-In Tournament) qualify for the postseason. The 8th ranked team goes up against the franchise placed at the 1st spot in that conference in the NBA Playoffs, while the 7th seed goes up against the 2nd. Similarly, the 6th seed faces the team seeded 3rd and the final first-round series sees teams ranked 4th and 5th take on each other.

NBA rankings also help in determining homecourt advantage. The top 4 teams get to host 4 out of the 7 games in the first round of the playoffs.

FAQs

How long is an NBA game? 

An NBA game is 48 minutes long, which are divided into four quarters, each 12 minutes long. If a game is tied at the end of 48 minutes, overtime periods of 5 minutes are played, until the two teams aren’t tied anymore. 

When do the NBA Playoffs start?

The NBA Playoffs generally start in the second or third week of April, though the exact date varies from season to season. 

Who has the most NBA championships?

The LA Lakers and Boston Celtics are tied for the most NBA Championships, with 17 each.