NBA bracket locked
- The NBA playoff bracket and full schedule are now set after Sunday's games, with matchups and TV info posted. - ESPN is tracking the complete schedule, scores, and streaming details for every series through the Finals. - With the calendar fixed, fans can plan viewing and travel around the dense opening-week slate (x.com / espn.com).
The 2026 National Basketball Association playoff bracket is now fully set, with all 16 first-round teams locked in and the opening-week schedule posted. (nba.com) The first round began Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, carries four more Game 1s: Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics at 1 p.m. Eastern, Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder at 3:30 p.m., Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons at 6:30 p.m., and Portland Trail Blazers at San Antonio Spurs at 9 p.m. (nba.com) Four series already opened Saturday. The New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks 113-102, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors 126-113, the Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-105, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 107-98. (nba.com) The play-in tournament filled the last four spots from April 14 through April 17. Philadelphia claimed the East No. 7 seed, Orlando took East No. 8, Portland grabbed West No. 7, and Phoenix secured West No. 8. (nba.com) That completed the East bracket as Detroit-Orlando, Boston-Philadelphia, New York-Atlanta, and Cleveland-Toronto. The West is Oklahoma City-Phoenix, San Antonio-Portland, Denver-Minnesota, and Los Angeles-Houston. (nba.com) The bracket also fixes the road to the Finals. Oklahoma City enters as the defending champion and the West’s No. 1 seed at 64-18, while Detroit leads the East field at 60-22 after Boston finished 56-26, New York 53-29, and Cleveland 52-30. (espn.com) (nba.com) The format does not change once the bracket starts. Every round is best-of-seven, teams are not reseeded, and the club with the better regular-season record hosts Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 in the 2-2-1-1-1 setup. (espn.com) Television windows are spread across ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, Prime Video, and the ESPN App, depending on the game. ESPN’s postseason tracker is also carrying the running schedule, scores, and streaming details through the Finals, which are scheduled to begin June 3 on ABC. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) The first round calendar is compressed from the start. Game 2s in Knicks-Hawks and Cavaliers-Raptors are set for Monday, April 20, followed by Celtics-76ers, Trail Blazers-Spurs, and Rockets-Lakers on Tuesday, April 21, then Magic-Pistons and Suns-Thunder on Wednesday, April 22. (nba.com) By Sunday night, every first-round matchup will have tipped off at least once, and the postseason map will be fixed from April 18 to at least June 3. (nba.com) (espn.com)
