NBA Finals

The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, which replaced the original Walter A. Brown Trophy in 1976–77 following the ABA–NBA merger, though under the name "World Championship Trophy" before being renamed in 1983-84. The series was initially known as the BAA Finals prior to the 1949–50 season when the Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to form the NBA. The competition oversaw further name changes to NBA World Championship Series from 1950 to 1985, as well as a brief stint as the Showdown, before settling on NBA Finals in 1986. The NBA Finals was initially structured in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. In 1985, to ease the amount of cross-country travel, it was changed to a 2–3–2 format, in which the first two and last two games of the series were played at the arena of the team who earned home-court advantage by having the better record during the regular season. In 2014, the 2–2–1–1–1 format was restored. The team with the better regular season record hosts the first two games and the other team hosts the next two games. If needed, the remaining three are played at each team's home arena alternately, starting with the arena of the team with the better regular season record. A total of 21 franchises have won the NBA Finals, with the New York Knicks winning the most recent and earning their third title overall.