The NBA playoffs are set up in a strange way. First the East and the Western conference are separated. In each conference there are three division. Then the winners of each divisions get the top three seeds. So even if someone who is in second their division but they have a better record then a leader of a division. So the best they can get is forth. To decide who gets first in the conference, the winners records get compared and who ever has the best record gets first. After that when everyone has rankings this is who plays who. First plays the 8th ranked team. Second plays 7th. Third plays 6th. 4th plays 5th. And it is the same for the other conference. That is how the NBA Playoffs are set up.
Info and picture is from:
www.nba.com