Though the NBA has another full day of seeding games on Friday, the match-ups for the 2020 playoffs are all but set. In fact, only the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference is up for grabs, with the league’s first-ever play-in tournament set to begin on Saturday. However, the league had the luxury of putting together a full schedule for the first round of the postseason a bit early and, on Thursday evening, the NBA released the full slate of games that we’ll be able to watch over the next two weeks.
In an interesting decision, the league is electing to showcase playoff games in the afternoon on weekdays, rather than pitting games against each other in prime time. For die-hards, that will be something of a dream, with easily accessible quadruple-headers every day for what could be two full weeks. On the flip side, it might be at least a little bit difficult for fans of specific teams to catch 1:00/1:30 p.m. ET tip-offs during the week, and this is something of an experiment.
For the sake of clarity, the league also released the schedule broken down series by series.
From tip-off between the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets on Monday, Aug. 17 through the end of the first round, high-level basketball will be available for consumption all day, every day. The seeding games, and even the televised scrimmages before them, were a tremendous warm-up. However, the main event is here, the excitement is palpable and observers can now begin their calendar planning through the end of August.