CBS posts playoff TV times

CBS Sports posted the full first-round National Basketball Association playoff TV schedule on April 16, giving fans exact tip times through May 3 as the bracket shifts from the play-in to eight best-of-seven series. (cbssports.com) The first round starts Saturday, April 18, with Raptors-Cavaliers at 1 p.m. Eastern, Timberwolves-Nuggets at 3:30 p.m., Hawks-Knicks at 6 p.m. and Rockets-Lakers at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. (cbssports.com) Sunday’s openers are staggered around the two remaining play-in winners: 76ers-Celtics at 1 p.m. Eastern, the No. 8 seed at Thunder at 3:30 p.m., the No. 8 seed at Pistons at 6:30 p.m. and Trail Blazers-Spurs at 9 p.m. Eastern. (nba.com) Two playoff spots were still unsettled Friday: Magic vs. Hornets at 7:30 p.m. Eastern for the East’s No. 8 seed, and Suns vs. Warriors at 10 p.m. Eastern for the West’s No. 8 seed. Philadelphia locked up the East’s No. 7 seed on April 15, and Portland took the West’s No. 7 seed on April 14. (nba.com) The schedule also shows how the league’s new media-rights era works in the postseason. First-round games are split across ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock and Prime Video, instead of the old TNT-heavy setup. (nba.com) That shift began this season under the NBA’s 11-year agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon, which started with the 2025-26 season and run through 2035-36. The league said those deals put more national games on broadcast television and broadly distributed streaming services. (nba.com) The bracket itself reflects a changed standings picture. Detroit finished 60-22 for the No. 1 seed in the East, Oklahoma City went 64-18 for the top seed in the West, and Boston, New York, Cleveland, San Antonio, Denver and the Lakers all entered the first round with home court in their series. (nba.com) Several series come with built-in storylines before Game 1. Nuggets-Timberwolves is a postseason rematch for the third time in four years, and Lakers-Rockets puts LeBron James against Kevin Durant in the playoffs for the first time since the 2018 National Basketball Association Finals. (cbssports.com) The full first-round map is now fixed on the calendar, even if two opponents were still unknown entering Friday night. By the weekend, the play-in ends and the main bracket starts on time at 1 p.m. Eastern in Cleveland. (cbssports.com)