The 2013 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2012–13 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion and defending champion Miami Heat defeating the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals. LeBron James was named NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year.
Overview The Miami Heat headed into the playoffs with a franchise–best 66 wins, topping the league in the regular season. Their 2012 Finals opponents, the Oklahoma City Thunder, topped the Western Conference with 60 wins, making it the first time since 2006 that the two teams who faced off in the previous year's finals topped their respective conferences in the next regular season.
This was also the final NBA Playoffs played under commissioner David Stern.
Western Conference The San Antonio Spurs continued the longest active playoff streak at 16 straight appearances.ESPN – Top stats to know: NBA playoffs The Dallas Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2000, ending the second-longest active streak of playoff appearances, which stretched 12 years.Hoopsworld
The Los Angeles Clippers made franchise history by winning their first Pacific Division title and having a 56–win season, tied with the Memphis Grizzlies, whose 56 wins were also a franchise record. However, home court advantage went to the Clippers by virtue of winning their division. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers entered their eighth consecutive postseason. However, this was their first appearance since 1996 without Kobe Bryant, as he was out with injury.
The Denver Nuggets entered their tenth consecutive postseason. They also earned the West's third seed and headed into the playoffs with a franchise–record 57 wins.
The Golden State Warriors made their first playoff appearance since 2007, while the Houston Rockets made their first playoff appearance since 2009.
Eastern Conference The Indiana Pacers won the Central Division for the first time since 2004, while the New York Knicks entered the playoffs with their best regular-season performance since , finishing atop the Atlantic Division for the first time since . The Knicks also opened the playoffs at home for the first time since 2001.
The Brooklyn Nets made the playoffs for the first time since 2007, when they were known as the New Jersey Nets, while the Milwaukee Bucks appeared for the first time since 2010. The Bucks were the first team since 2011 to make the playoffs despite finishing below .500 in the regular season.
The New York Knicks entered their third consecutive postseason. Their first round opponent, the Boston Celtics opened their postseason run just days after the Boston Marathon bombing, which occurred just blocks from where the Celtics play their games at TD Garden.
The Orlando Magic missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006, ending the longest active streak in the Eastern Conference. As a result, the Atlanta Hawks would own this distinction from 2013 to 2017.
First Round Game 1 of the Nets–Bulls series marked the first time that Barclays Center hosted a playoff game. Game 7 of the same series also marked the 14th straight postseason with at least one Game 7. The 1999 NBA playoffs was the last time that a Game 7 was not played.
With their series sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks, the Miami Heat swept a playoff series for the first time since 2005. They also won every game by double digits.
Game 3 of the Knicks–Celtics series was the first Celtics home game since the Boston Marathon Bombings.
Game 4 of the Spurs–Lakers series was the final Lakers playoff game until 2020.
With their Game 6 win over the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks won a playoff series for the first time since 2000.
Conference Semifinals For the first time since 2000, the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers met in the postseason, reigniting the Knicks–Pacers rivalry.
With Oklahoma City's Game 5 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the Conference Semifinals, home court advantage in the Western Conference Finals went to the San Antonio Spurs, who were two games ahead of the Grizzlies. With the win, the Grizzlies made the conference finals for the first time in franchise history.
With their Game 6 win over the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs returned to the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive year.
With their Game 6 win over the New York Knicks, the Indiana Pacers made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2004. The Knicks did not return to the playoffs until 2021.
Conference Finals By sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals, the San Antonio Spurs returned to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007.
For the second consecutive postseason, the Eastern Conference Finals went to a Game 7. The Heat won the game, and earned their third straight berth in the NBA Finals.
NBA Finals The 2013 NBA Finals were notable for several reasons.
Game 2: LeBron James’ block of Tiago Splitter Game 5: Danny Green setting an NBA Finals record for three pointers made in a series. Game 6: The Miami Heat came back from a five-point deficit with 28.2 seconds in regulation to win the game in overtime. The highlights of the comeback, Ray Allen's game tying three pointer at the end of regulation and Chris Bosh's game winning block against Danny Green, rated Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals as one of the greatest NBA Finals games ever played. Game 7: The Miami Heat won their second consecutive NBA championship with a win over the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, on the other hand, lost an NBA Finals series for the first time in franchise history. This was the last NBA Finals series ever played under NBA commissioner David Stern, and this was also the last time the NBA Finals were played in the 2–3–2 format. The format was reverted to the 2–2–1–1–1 format beginning in 2014.
Format
The six division winners and 10 other teams with the most wins from each conference qualified for the playoffs. The seedings are based on each team's record; however, a division winner is guaranteed to be ranked at least fourth, regardless of record.
Tiebreak procedures The tiebreakers that determine seedings are:
Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division Head-to-head record Division record (if all the tied teams are in the same division) Conference record Record vs. playoff teams, own conference Record vs. playoff teams, other conference (only in two-way tie) Point differential, all games
If there were more than two teams tied, the team that wins the tiebreaker gets the highest seed, while the other teams were "re-broken" from the first step until all ties were resolved. Since the three division winners were guaranteed a spot in the top four, ties to determine the division winners had to be broken before any other ties.
Playoff qualifying
Eastern Conference Seed Team Record ClinchedPlayoff berth Division title Best record in Conference Best record in NBA 1 Miami Heat 66–16 March 8 March 18 March 29 April 10 2 New York Knicks 54–28 March 22 April 9 — — 3 Indiana Pacers 49-33 March 21 April 7 — — 4 Brooklyn Nets 49–33 March 21 — — — 5 Chicago Bulls 45–37 March 27 — — — 6 Atlanta Hawks 44–38 March 27 — — — 7 Boston Celtics 42-40 April 3 — — — 8 Milwaukee Bucks 38–44 April 6 — — — — = Did not achieve
Western Conference Seed Team Record ClinchedPlayoff berth Division title Best record in Conference Best record in NBA 1 Oklahoma City Thunder 60–22 March 15 April 12 April 15 — 2 San Antonio Spurs 58–24 March 14 April 6 — — 3 Denver Nuggets 57–25 March 23 — — — 4 Los Angeles Clippers 56–26 March 22 April 7 — — 5 Memphis Grizzlies 56–26 March 27 — — — 6 Golden State Warriors 47–35 April 9 — — — 7 Los Angeles Lakers 45–37 April 17 — — — 8 Houston Rockets 45–37 April 9 — — — — = Did not achieve
Notes
Bracket Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage for the playoffs does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record. Teams with home court advantage are shown in italics. If two teams with the same record meet in a round, standard tiebreaker rules are used. The rule for determining home court advantage in the NBA Finals is head-to-head record followed by record vs. opposite conference.
First round All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
Eastern Conference first round
(1) Miami Heat vs. (8) Milwaukee Bucks
Regular-season series Miami won 3–1 in the regular-season series
This was the first playoff meeting between the Heat and the Bucks.
(2) New York Knicks vs. (7) Boston Celtics
Regular-season series New York won 3–1 in the regular-season series
This was the 15th playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning eight of the first 14 meetings. +Previous playoff seriesBoston leads 8–6 in all-time playoff series Game 6 marked Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett's final game as Celtics, as both of them, along with Jason Terry would be traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the off-season. This was the last the Celtics & Knicks faced off in the playoffs until 2025. This would be the Knicks last playoff series win until 2023.
(3) Indiana Pacers vs. (6) Atlanta Hawks
Regular-season series Tied 2–2 in the regular-season series
This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the each team winning two series apiece. +Previous playoff seriesTied 2–2 in all-time playoff series
(4) Brooklyn Nets vs. (5) Chicago Bulls
The Nets led wire-to-wire as they routed the Bulls 106–89 to take a 1–0 series lead. A dominant first half allowed the Nets to put the game away early as they outscored the Bulls 25–14 in the first quarter and 35–21 in the second quarter, building a 60–35 halftime lead.
Following their embarrassing Game 1 loss, the Bulls bounced back with a 90–82 win, evening the series at 1–1 and stealing homecourt advantage. The Bulls took control of the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Nets 22–11 in the period and building a 12-point 4th quarter lead. The Nets attempted to rally, but the Bulls made enough clutch shots to hold them off. After scoring 89 points through 3 quarters in Game 1 (and 106 for the game), the Nets were held to 82 points for all of Game 2.
The Bulls took a 2–1 series lead with a 79–76 victory. Despite squandering most of a huge fourth quarter lead, the Bulls hung on to win when C.J. Watson airballed a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer.