1970-71 NBA Season Standings
The Milwaukee Bucks, powered by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (regular-season MVP) and Oscar Robertson, swept the Baltimore Bullets 4-0 in the Finals. This was the league's first season under a reorganized four-division, two-conference format (Atlantic and Central in the East, Midwest and Pacific in the West), and three expansion franchises debuted: the Buffalo Braves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Portland Trail Blazers, bringing the league to 17 teams.
Sourcing caveat: The NBA split into two conferences with two divisions each starting this season (Atlantic/Central in the East, Midwest/Pacific in the West); playoff seeding was actually determined by division finish, not the single conference-wide ranking shown here, which is a per-conference merge of both divisions sorted by winning percentage (recalculated GB relative to the conference's top team) for consistency with this dataset's format. Los Angeles and Phoenix were tied at 48-34 (.585); order shown alphabetically.
Eastern Conference
| Seed | Team | W | L | PCT | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NYKNew York Knicks | 52 | 30 | .634 | - |
| 2 | P7Philadelphia 76ers | 47 | 35 | .573 | 5.0 |
| 3 | BCBoston Celtics | 44 | 38 | .537 | 8.0 |
| 4 | BBBaltimore Bullets | 42 | 40 | .512 | 10.0 |
| 5 | AHAtlanta Hawks | 36 | 46 | .439 | 16.0 |
| 6 | CRCincinnati Royals | 33 | 49 | .402 | 19.0 |
| 7 | BBBuffalo Braves | 22 | 60 | .268 | 30.0 |
| 8 | CCCleveland Cavaliers | 15 | 67 | .183 | 37.0 |
Western Conference
| Seed | Team | W | L | PCT | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MBMilwaukee Bucks | 66 | 16 | .805 | - |
| 2 | CBChicago Bulls | 51 | 31 | .622 | 15.0 |
| 3 | LALLos Angeles Lakers | 48 | 34 | .585 | 18.0 |
| 4 | PSPhoenix Suns | 48 | 34 | .585 | 18.0 |
| 5 | DPDetroit Pistons | 45 | 37 | .549 | 21.0 |
| 6 | SFWSan Francisco Warriors | 41 | 41 | .500 | 25.0 |
| 7 | SDRSan Diego Rockets | 40 | 42 | .488 | 26.0 |
| 8 | SSSeattle SuperSonics | 38 | 44 | .463 | 28.0 |
| 9 | PTBPortland Trail Blazers | 29 | 53 | .354 | 37.0 |
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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