In 2022, both were redesigned, with the Eastern and Western Conference trophies being renamed after Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson, respectively, who were instrumental in developing and advancing the players' labor union, the National Basketball Players Association. The NBA first started awarding conference championship trophies in 2001. Two other franchises, the Charlotte Hornets, and New Orleans Pelicans have never appeared in the conference finals. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers have each played in at least one Conference finals (Atlanta and Sacramento have played in two), but they have each failed to win their respective conference title. Twenty-two of the 30 active franchises have won at least one conference title. The Boston Celtics have won 10 Conference titles, the second most of any team. They have also made 23 appearances in the conference finals, more than any other team. The Los Angeles Lakers have won the most conference titles with 19. The trophies have a slightly different base for each conference to help distinguish one from the other the silver basketball on the Eastern Conference trophy sits on three pegs, while the Western Conference trophy has the basketball sitting on intercrossing circular rings. At the conclusion of the conference finals, winners are presented with a silver trophy, caps, and T-shirts, and advance to the NBA Finals. The two series are played in late May each year after the first and second rounds of the Playoffs and before the Finals. Currently, the conference finals are played in a best-of-7 series like the NBA playoffs and Finals. The finals was a best-of-3 series from 1949 to 1950, a best-of-5 series from 1951 to 1956, and a best-of-7 series since 1957. The two divisions format remained until 1970, when the NBA realigned itself into two conferences with two divisions each, which led to the renaming to Conference finals. However, the arrangement was only used for one season and the league went back into two divisions format in 1951. In the 1949–50 season, the league realigned itself to three divisions, with the addition of the Central Division. The first two seasons used a playoffs format where Eastern and Western Division teams would face each other before the BAA Finals, hence there were no divisional finals. The Divisional Finals were first played in 1949, the league's third season. Initially, the BAA teams were aligned into two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division. Also that year, the league started naming an NBA Conference finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for each conference. In 2022, they named them the Bob Cousy Trophy for the Eastern Conference and the Oscar Robertson Trophy for the Western Conference. Trophies were given to each conference winner starting in 2001. At the end of the playoffs, the top two teams play each other in the conference finals, to determine the Conference Champions from each side, who then proceed to play in the NBA Finals. After the regular season, eight teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs. Each team plays 82 games in the regular season. The league currently consists of 30 teams, of which 29 are located in the United States and 1 in Canada. The NBA adopted its current name at the start of the 1949–50 season when the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL). The NBA was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The National Basketball Association Conference finals are the Eastern and Western championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA), a major professional basketball league in North America. For the college basketball award, see Bob Cousy Award.
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