Tonight’s NBA slate
- The NBA playoff slate for tonight features Magic at Pistons and Suns at Thunder on ESPN. - Tip times are 6:00 p.m. ET for Magic–Pistons and 8:30 p.m. ET for Suns–Thunder. - National broadcasts give these early series chances to define momentum and viewership trends for Round 1 ( ).
Two first-round series are back on national television tonight, with Orlando at Detroit at 6 p.m. Eastern and Phoenix at Oklahoma City at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. (nba.com) Detroit and Oklahoma City both won on Wednesday, leaving the Pistons-Magic series tied 1-1 and the Thunder up 2-0 on the Suns. Detroit beat Orlando 98-83, and Oklahoma City beat Phoenix 120-107. (nba.com) The Pistons finished the regular season 60-22 and earned the No. 1 seed in the East, while the Magic entered as the No. 8 seed at 45-37. Oklahoma City went 64-18 and took the No. 1 seed in the West, and Phoenix arrived as the No. 8 seed at 45-37. (espn.com, espn.com) The early first round is still in the 2-2-1-1-1 format, which gives the better seed Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 at home. That means Detroit and Oklahoma City used their first two home dates to steady their series before the matchups shift sites this weekend. (espn.com, nba.com) Detroit’s split with Orlando kept alive one of the East’s sharper surprises: a Pistons team that finished eight games ahead of Cleveland in the Central Division still had to answer after dropping Game 1. Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 27 points and 11 assists in Game 2 as the Pistons blocked 11 shots. (espn.com, nba.com) Oklahoma City’s game carries a different question after Jalen Williams exited Game 2 with a left hamstring injury in the third quarter. The Thunder still won by 13 behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but Williams’ status hangs over a series they lead 2-0. (nba.com, nba.com) The league has already reported a strong television start to the postseason. NBA.com said opening Sunday of the playoffs reached more than 35 million viewers across ABC and NBC/Peacock, up 65% from last year, and the play-in tournament averaged 2.79 million U.S. viewers across six Prime Video windows, up 18%. (nba.com, nba.com) Tonight’s doubleheader lands before both series move to Orlando and Phoenix for Game 3 on Saturday, April 25. By the end of the night, one matchup could be reset at 1-1 on the road and the other could put the Suns one loss from elimination. (espn.com, nba.com)
