the celtics traded two first round picks to the warriors and had home court advantage in nba finals.
who had home court advantage in nba finals?
the celtics traded two first round picks to the warriors
this was the first nba finals appearance for the raptors, and the league's first finals with games played outside of the united states. home-court advantage was awarded to toronto, who finished the regular season with one more win (58–24) than golden state (57–25). this was the first time in five consecutive nba finals appearances that the then-two-time defending nba-champion warriors did not have home-court advantage. also for the first time after the past four postseasons, the warriors and the cleveland cavaliers did not meet in the championship round. this was the first finals since 2010 not to include lebron james, who played in the past eight finals with cleveland and the miami heat.
2019 nba finals
miami became the sixth team to win consecutive nba championships, joining the boston celtics (1959–1966, 1968–1969), the los angeles lakers (1949–1950, 1952–1954, 1987–1988, 2000–2002, 2009–2010), the detroit pistons (1989–1990), the chicago bulls (1991–1993, 1996–1998), and the houston rockets (1994–1995). this series marked the fifth time the spurs have made the nba finals since 1999, second-most for any franchise in that span behind the los angeles lakers. the spurs had won all of their previous four finals appearances, putting them only behind the six-time champion chicago bulls for most titles without ever losing a finals, making this series the first finals loss in spurs history. this series was also the first time san antonio had played in the nba finals without home court advantage, as miami had home-court advantage based on their league-best regular season record. it was the heat's third consecutive nba finals appearance, the first eastern conference team to achieve that since the chicago bulls (1996–1998). this marked the first time a team made three consecutive finals appearances since the los angeles lakers did so in 2008–2010.
2013 nba finals