The Milwaukee Bucks entered the postseason with a 60-win season, their first since 1980–81, and with the best record in the group, the first time that’s happened since 1973–74. They would then sweep the Detroit Pistons, leading to their first series win since 2001 when they won in the Conference Semifinals against the Charlotte Hornets. The Bucks then defeated the Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals for the first time in a playoff series since 1983.
The Brooklyn Nets make the playoffs for the first time in 4 decades.
The Denver Nuggets create the playoffs for the first time in 6 years.
The Golden State Warriors entered the postseason for the seventh consecutive year, a new franchise record. This may also be their last time to play with in Oracle Arena in the playoffs before moving into the new Chase Center following season. They won the championship in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
The San Antonio Spurs make the playoffs for the 22nd consecutive season; they have not missed the playoffs because drafting Tim Duncan, who has retired.
The Orlando Magic make the playoffs for the first time because 2012, breaking up the longest Eastern Conference playoff appearance drought up to now.
The Detroit Pistons make the playoffs for the first time because 2016. Game 3 of the series vs. the Bucks was their first playoff game at the city of Detroit since Game 6 of the 1985 Eastern Conference Semifinals if they played at Joe Louis Arena.
The Boston Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round, which makes it the 43rd straight season that the sweep happened in the NBA playoffs. The last year a sweep didn’t happen in the playoffs was 1976.
The Los Angeles Clippers make the playoffs for the first time since 2017, playing with a roster with no Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and DeAndre Jordan.
The Nuggets-Spurs series is the first series to have a Game 7, which makes it the 20th consecutive NBA postseason with a Game 7. The last time that a Game 7 didn’t take place in the playoffs was 1999.
The Cleveland Cavaliers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014, largely due to the death of LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers missed the playoffs for the sixth year in a row Regardless of the addition of James. This was also the very first NBA Playoffs to not feature LeBron James since the 2005 NBA Playoffs.
Each one of the top seeds won the first round for the first time since 2008.
Together with the sweep against the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors earned their fifth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, which makes them the next franchise in the NBA postseason history to do so after the Boston Celtics failed it in ten years, starting from 1957 to 1966.
The Toronto Raptors innovative to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
The Toronto Raptors win the NBA Championship for the first time in franchise history
Kawhi Leonard joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James to win Finals MVP on two different teams. Leonard is also the first player to win Finals MVP in both the Eastern and Western Conference.
