NBA Playoffs
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50 free NBA Playoffs trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The NBA playoffs turn a long regular season into two months of win-or-go-home basketball, and the format rewards drama: a top seed can be sent home by a team that barely qualified, one shot at the horn can end a series, and a lead that looks safe on Tuesday can be gone by Sunday. This quiz covers the moments fans still argue about, from last-second winners and overtime epics to the lowest seeds that toppled favorites. It also asks about postseason scoring feats, the coaches and stars behind long runs, and how the bracket, the seeding and the length of each round have changed since the early days of the league. It is written for basketball fans who want to test their memory of springs past, and for quiz hosts who need accurate questions with answers. Every question comes with a short explanation, so a miss still leaves you with a story worth retelling.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Whose Game 7 buzzer-beater bounced on the rim four times before sending Toronto to the 2019 East finals?
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard's corner shot was the first Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history. It gave the Raptors a 92–90 win over Philadelphia.
Q 02Who scored an NBA playoff-record 63 points in a 1986 double-overtime loss at Boston Garden?
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan scored 63 in a season when a broken foot had cost him 64 games. He broke Elgin Baylor's playoff record, and Chicago still lost 135–131.
Q 03Which team's refusal to take the floor after the police shooting of Jacob Blake halted the 2020 NBA playoffs?
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks stayed off the court before Game 5 of their first-round series, and all three games scheduled that day were postponed. Blake had been shot in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Q 04Which team missed a record 27 straight three-pointers while losing Game 7 of the 2018 West finals?
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets led that Game 7 by 11 at halftime before the drought, then lost 101–92. No team has missed more threes in a row in a playoff game.
Q 05Which film director and Knicks fan did Reggie Miller taunt during a 25-point fourth quarter in 1994?
Spike Lee
Spike Lee got a choke sign from Miller, who scored 39 in the Game 5 win at Madison Square Garden. A year later Miller beat the same team with eight points in 8.9 seconds.
Q 06Which Laker shot four airballs in the final minutes and overtime of a 1997 playoff elimination loss at Utah?
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant was an 18-year-old rookie, and all four misses were jump shots between the end of regulation and the end of overtime. He went on to win five titles with the Lakers.
Q 07Which Lakers guard caught, turned and scored with 0.4 seconds left to beat San Antonio in a 2004 playoff game?
Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher's shot came one play after Tim Duncan's fadeaway had put the Spurs ahead 73–72. The Lakers won Game 5 by a single point.
Q 08Which Bulls star refused to re-enter a 1994 playoff game because the final shot was drawn up for Toni Kukoč?
Scottie Pippen
Scottie Pippen stayed on the bench with 1.8 seconds left and the score tied at 102. Kukoč hit the 23-foot winner anyway, and the Bulls' coach stormed off the court unsmiling.
Q 09Which Toronto star attended his college graduation before racing to a 2001 playoff game in Philadelphia?
Vince Carter
Vince Carter collected his North Carolina degree during a seven-game series with the 76ers. In Game 7 he missed a potential game-winning shot with 2.0 seconds left.
Q 10Which Celtics center won all ten of the Game 7s he played across his NBA playoff career?
Bill Russell
Bill Russell went 11–0 in winner-take-all games, counting one deciding Game 5. He won eleven championships in thirteen seasons.
Q 11Whose 31 blocks helped an eighth seed beat an NBA top seed for the first time, stunning Seattle in 1994?
Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo's 31 blocks remain a record for a five-game series. His team lost the first two games, then won three straight.
Q 12Which Knicks player's four-point play with 5.7 seconds left won Game 3 of the 1999 East finals against Indiana?
Larry Johnson
Larry Johnson was fouled as he sank a three-pointer, then made the free throw. New York went on to become the first eighth seed to reach the NBA Finals.
Q 13Which guard led an eighth seed past 67-win Dallas in the 2007 NBA playoffs, the first such upset in a best-of-seven?
Baron Davis
Q 21Which team was the first to erase 3–1 series deficits twice in one NBA postseason, both inside the 2020 bubble?
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets rallied past Utah in the first round and did it again in the conference semifinals. Jamal Murray had two 50-point games in the Utah series.
Q 22Which eighth seed erased a record 31-point deficit to win a 2019 NBA playoff game on the road?
LA Clippers
The LA Clippers trailed 94–63 with 7:31 left in the third quarter, then outscored the defending champions 72–37 the rest of the way.
Q 23Which team's 2023 return to the NBA playoffs ended a 16-season absence, the longest drought in league history?
Sacramento Kings
Baron Davis set the tone with a Game 1 win in Dallas, and the series was over in six. The Mavericks had gone 67–15, the best record in the league.
Q 14Which eighth seed beat top-seeded San Antonio in 2011 for the first playoff series win in franchise history?
Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies had been swept in all three of their earlier playoff trips. Their Game 1 win over the Spurs was the first playoff victory in franchise history.
Q 15Which Miami forward scored 56 points in Game 4 as the eighth-seeded Heat ousted the league's top seed in 2023?
Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler scored 22 of Miami's 28 first-quarter points and 21 more in the fourth. The Heat went on to reach the NBA Finals, only the second eighth seed to get there.
Q 16Which guard ended a 2019 first-round series with a 37-foot buzzer-beater over Paul George to finish with 50 points?
Damian Lillard
Damian Lillard's three broke a 115–115 tie and eliminated Oklahoma City in Game 5. It was the second series-ending three-pointer of his career, five years after the first.
Q 17Who scored Cleveland's final 25 points, 18 of them in overtime, to win a 2007 East finals game at Detroit?
LeBron James
LeBron James forced overtime with a dunk in the last ten seconds of regulation and won it on a layup with 2.2 seconds left in the second overtime. He went on to score more playoff points than anyone in NBA history.
Q 18Which Celtic stole a Detroit inbound pass in the final seconds to win Game 5 of the 1987 East finals?
Larry Bird
Larry Bird's steal came with Boston trailing 107–106, and his pass to a cutting teammate produced the layup with one second left.
Q 19Which Celtic tipped away a 76ers inbound pass late in Game 7 in 1965, inspiring Johnny Most's famous radio call?
John Havlicek
John Havlicek spun, leaped and tipped Hal Greer's pass to a teammate. The NBA has called "Havlicek stole the ball!" the most famous radio call in basketball history.
Q 20Which team opened the 2017 NBA playoffs with a record 15 straight wins and finished the postseason 16–1?
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors lost only Game 4 of the Finals, to Cleveland. Their 16–1 mark edged the 15–1 run of the 2001 Lakers.
The Sacramento Kings had last qualified in 2006. De'Aaron Fox scored 38 points in his playoff debut to give them their first postseason win in 17 years.
Q 24Which team overcame a 20-point deficit to win a 2024 Game 7 and eliminate the defending NBA champions?
Minnesota
Minnesota's rally set a record for the largest Game 7 comeback in NBA playoff history. In Game 6 the Timberwolves had beaten the same opponent by 45 points.
Q 25Which team won a quadruple-overtime game in the 2019 conference semifinals, the NBA's longest playoff game since 1953?
Portland
Portland's win was only the second four-overtime playoff game in NBA history and the first of the shot-clock era. The other was played in 1953 between Boston and Syracuse.
Q 26Which coach's career ended when Dallas swept his two-time defending champion Lakers out of the 2011 NBA playoffs?
Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson had never been swept in a playoff series before that second-round loss. The 122–86 defeat in Game 4 was his final game as an NBA head coach.
Q 27Which Dallas forward went 24-for-24 at the free-throw line in Game 1 of the 2011 West finals, a playoff record?
Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Nowitzki broke the mark of 21 free throws without a miss that Paul Pierce had set in 2003. Dallas went on to win the 2011 championship.
Q 28Which coach led San Antonio during its run of 22 straight NBA playoff appearances from 1998 to 2019?
Gregg Popovich
Gregg Popovich named himself head coach in December 1996 and had a winning record in each of his first 22 full seasons. The streak tied an NBA record set by the Syracuse and Philadelphia franchise.
Q 29Whose putback with 0.1 seconds left won Game 6 of the 2023 East finals after Boston had trailed the series 3–0?
Derrick White
Derrick White's tip-in made Boston the fourth team ever to force a Game 7 after trailing 0–3. Miami still won the series and reached the NBA Finals.
Q 30Which center became the first player to lead a single NBA postseason in total points, rebounds and assists, in 2023?
Nikola Jokić
Nikola Jokić finished with 600 points, 269 rebounds and 190 assists. He had been the 41st pick of the 2014 draft, the lowest selection ever named Finals MVP.