Playoffs: Saturday slate
The NBA Playoffs open Saturday with four scheduled games — Raptors vs. Cavaliers at 1:00 p.m. ET, Timberwolves vs. Nuggets at 3:30 p.m. ET, Hawks vs. Knicks at 6:00 p.m. ET, and Rockets vs. Lakers at 8:30 p.m. ET. (x.com) All four matchups are set to air across Prime and ABC on the same broadcast window. (x.com)
The National Basketball Association playoffs start Saturday, April 18, with four Game 1s spread from 1 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Eastern. (nba.com) The official first-round schedule lists Toronto at Cleveland at 1 p.m. ET and Atlanta at New York at 6 p.m. ET, both on Prime Video. Minnesota at Denver follows at 3:30 p.m. ET, and Houston at Los Angeles closes the day at 8:30 p.m. ET. (nba.com) Saturday is also the first full playoff day after the SoFi Play-In Tournament ended Friday, April 17. The play-in ran from April 14 through April 17, and all six of those games aired exclusively on Prime Video. (nba.com) (aboutamazon.com) The bracket shows how tight the opening matchups are. Cleveland is the East No. 4 seed against No. 5 Toronto, New York is No. 3 against No. 6 Atlanta, Denver is No. 3 in the West against No. 6 Minnesota, and the Lakers are No. 4 against No. 5 Houston. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) (nba.com 3) That seeding matters because the first round is still a best-of-seven series, with the higher seed opening at home and hosting Game 7 if needed. The Cleveland-Toronto series page lists a possible Game 7 on Sunday, May 3, and the New York-Atlanta page lists a possible Game 7 on Saturday, May 2. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) Saturday also doubles as a broadcast marker for the league’s new media setup. Amazon’s published April schedule lists three first-round games on Prime Video on April 18 at 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern, while the league schedule places the late Rockets-Lakers game on ABC. (aboutamazon.com) (nba.com) The opening day is only half the first-round launch. The NBA schedule has four more Game 1s on Sunday, April 19, including Orlando at Detroit, Philadelphia at Boston, Phoenix at Oklahoma City and Portland at San Antonio. (nba.com) By Saturday night, every team on the board will have moved from regular-season seeding to an actual series score. The playoffs begin with four 0-0 matchups, and the next deadlines arrive immediately with Game 2s starting Monday, April 20. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2)
