The NBA has been very coy with the playoff schedule to this point, as the league and its TV partners have seemingly wanted to wait until we know the outcomes of this week’s play-in series to finalize a first round schedule. This has led to some frustration from fans, media, and even teams, who up until Tuesday weren’t even certain what day they would be playing their first game.
On Tuesday morning, the NBA offered something of a compromise, announcing which four series would start on Saturday and which four series would start on Sunday, but still not announcing game times or networks as they are likely awaiting the results of, at least, Wednesday’s Lakers-Warriors play-in game before setting times for this weekend and then moving forward. It’s no surprise that the TV networks will want to lock in any series involving the Lakers (and, really, the Warriors) into primetime slots, and that seems to be a major part of the delay — as does giving Boston a more prime positioning than any of the other three East squads in the play-in should the Celtics make it in.
While we wait for tip times and a full schedule to be announced, here is how the league has split up the series across Saturday and Sunday.
SATURDAY, MAY 22
East 7-Seed AT Brooklyn
Miami AT Milwaukee
Dallas AT L.A. Clippers
Portland AT Denver
SUNDAY, MAY 23
East 8-Seed AT Philadelphia
Atlanta AT New York
West 7-Seed AT Phoenix
West 8-Seed AT Utah
At least the 12 teams that know they’re in the playoffs can begin planning their week’s practice schedules to ramp up to their games, with the obvious caveat for teams awaiting opponents that they won’t be able to fully prepare until the play-in games are done. It should also be noted that this doesn’t necessarily represent the order in which the games will be played that day, as there’s still some shuffling that could be done once games are set.