Instead, it’s a first-round Western Conference playoff series involving two teams who have recent conference finals history. The Lakers lost to Denver in the 2023 conference finals, and the Timberwolves lost to Dallas in last year’s conference finals.

All four rounds of the NBA playoffs are best-of-seven, and teams are not reseeded after each round. The team with the better regular-season record in each series will have home-court advantage for that series.