CBS counts three East Game 7s
- Boston and Philadelphia reached a first-round Game 7 on May 3, while Detroit-Orlando and Cleveland-Toronto were already set for Sunday deciders. - New York is the only East team already through, after a 140-89 closeout of Atlanta, and now waits for a bracket to unfreeze. - Three East series going the distance is the real story — the conference semifinal picture stayed unresolved into Sunday.
The Eastern Conference bracket basically jammed itself into one last bottleneck. New York already handled Atlanta and moved on, but almost nobody else in the East was ready to join them. By Sunday, May 3, three first-round series had gone the full seven — Boston vs. Philadelphia, Detroit vs. Orlando, and Cleveland vs. Toronto. That matters because the Knicks have advanced, but their opponent and much of the semifinal map still depended on one crowded elimination weekend. ### Wait, which series actually went to Game 7? Detroit and Orlando were tied 3-3 and scheduled for Game 7 on Sunday, May 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET. Cleveland and Toronto were also tied 3-3, with their Game 7 set for Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. ET. Boston and Philadelphia were tied 3-3 as well — the NBA playoff bracket listed Celtics-76ers as a live Game 7 matchup on Sunday. First-round series reached the last possible game. ### Why is the Knicks piece important? Because New York is the one team that already escaped the traffic. The Knicks beat the Hawks 140-89 in Game 6 on April 30 and won that series 4-2. That sent them to the Eastern Conference semifinals while the rest of the conference kept fighting. The bracket page already shows “Knicks vs. TBD,” which is the cleanest possible sign that the East is still unresolved. ### How did the East get this clogged? Two series got dragged there by dramatic Game 6 swings. Toronto forced Game 7 by beating Cleveland 112-110 in overtime on May 2, with RJ Barrett hitting the winning 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left. Detroit forced its own Game 7 after coming back from 24 points down to beat Orlando 93-79 in Game 6. Those weren’t — they reshaped the weekend schedule and kept a whole side of the bracket in suspense. ### Does this change the shape of the bracket? Yes — mostly by delaying certainty. The Knicks know they are in
