Tonight's NBA slate
- The NBA has four playoff games scheduled tonight: Bucks at Pistons (7:00 p.m. ET), Trail Blazers at Spurs (7:30 p.m.), 76ers at Celtics (8:00 p.m.), and Suns at Thunder (9:30 p.m.). - NBC Sports lists those exact tip times as part of the first-round slate continuing today. - The matchup lineup matters for TV viewers and bettors, as each series now moves from play‑in outcomes into full postseason play. (nbcsports.com, cbssports.com)
Monday’s NBA playoff schedule has three Game 2s, not four, with Cavaliers-Raptors at 7 p.m. Eastern, Knicks-Hawks at 8 p.m., and Nuggets-Timberwolves at 10:30 p.m. (nba.com) The official NBA playoff schedule updated April 20 lists Celtics-76ers for Tuesday, April 21, at 7 p.m. Eastern, Spurs-Trail Blazers for Tuesday at 8 p.m., Pistons-Magic for Wednesday, April 22, at 7 p.m., and Suns-Thunder for Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern. (nba.com) CBS Sports’ bracket page matches that sequencing: Monday has Cavaliers-Raptors, Knicks-Hawks, and Nuggets-Timberwolves, while Celtics-76ers and Spurs-Trail Blazers are slotted for Tuesday. (cbssports.com) That split reflects where each first-round series stands after the opening weekend on April 18 and April 19. Cleveland, New York and Denver opened their series Saturday and return first; Boston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Detroit opened Sunday and come back later in the week. (cbssports.com, nba.com) The current bracket also shows every higher seed except Detroit won Game 1. Orlando beat the top-seeded Pistons 112-101 on Sunday, while Boston beat Philadelphia 123-91, Oklahoma City beat Phoenix 119-84, and San Antonio beat Portland 111-98. (cbssports.com, nba.com) NBC Sports’ “What NBA Playoff games are on today?” post that circulated Sunday was for April 19, not Monday, and it listed the four Sunday Game 1 matchups with those earlier tip times. (nbcsports.com) For viewers, the practical takeaway is simple: Monday, April 20, starts at 7 p.m. Eastern on Peacock with Raptors-Cavaliers, shifts to NBC at 8 p.m. for Hawks-Knicks, and stays on NBC for Timberwolves-Nuggets at 10:30 p.m. Eastern. (cbssports.com, nba.com) The first round began April 18 and can run through May 3, so the nightly slate now turns on calendar order as much as seeding. Monday’s postseason window is three games long, and the four-matchup card in the earlier roundup belongs to Sunday, April 19. (cbssports.com, nbcsports.com)
