Jayson Tatum and Finals MVP Jaylen Brown close out Dallas in Game 5 to secure Boston's NBA-record 18th championship. Dallas has an enviable foundation with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but a return trip to the title round is no guarantee.

The NBA playoffs expanded from 12 to 16 teams in 1984. Recently, the NBA also developed a play-in tournament, in which eight total teams battle it out to determine the final two seeds for each conference. Obviously, the lowest seed (the 8-seed) has the ...