NBA Playoffs 2024: Known Schedule, Bracket Format and Dangerous Teams
Only two days remain in the 2023-24 NBA regular season.
You'd think, then, more would have been decided with the playoff picture by now.
But with the standings still bottled up like traffic at rush hour—save for the Boston Celtics, who lead the Eastern Conference by a gazillion games—very few races can actually be called.
With the Association barreling toward a photo finish during Sunday's season finale, let's dig into what we know about the upcoming postseason by laying out the schedule and looking at the latest bracket before spotlighting a few teams capable of outperforming their playoff seed.
Playoff Schedule
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NBA play-in tournament: April 16-19
First round: begins April 20
Conference semifinals: begin May 6-7 (could move up to May 4-5)
Conference finals: begin May 21-22 (could move up to May 19-20)
NBA Finals, Game 1: Thursday, June 6
NBA Finals, Game 2: Sunday, June 9
NBA Finals, Game 3: Wednesday, June 12
NBA Finals, Game 4: Friday, June 14
NBA Finals, Game 5: Monday, June 17 (if necessary)
NBA Finals, Game 6: Thursday, June 20 (if necessary)
NBA Finals, Game 7: Sunday, June 23 (if necessary)
Latest Bracket
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Eastern Conference
No. 1 Boston Celtics vs. No. 8 Play-In Winner
No. 2 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 7 Play-In Winner
No. 3 New York Knicks vs. No. 6 Indiana Pacers
No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 5 Orlando Magic
Eastern Conference—Play-In Tournament
No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers vs. No. 8 Miami Heat
No. 9 Chicago Bulls vs. No. 10 Atlanta Hawks
Western Conference
No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No. 8 Play-In Winner
No. 2 Minnesota Timberwolves vs. No. 7 Play-In Winner
No. 3 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 6 New Orleans Pelicans
No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 5 Dallas Mavericks
Western Conference—Play-In Tournament
No. 7 Phoenix Suns vs. No. 8 Los Angeles Lakers
No. 9 Sacramento Kings vs. No. 10 Golden State Warriors
Dangerous Teams
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Dallas Mavericks
Buoyed by both good health at the right time (knock on wood) and the roster reinforcements added at the trade deadline, the Mavericks are as hot as anyone. Their 16 wins since March 1 trail only the Celtics, while Dallas' average point differential of plus-7.0 is third-best over this stretch behind just Boston and Denver.
Impressively, the Mavs' defense is driving a lot of this success, as they rank fifth in efficiency during this stretch, per NBA.com. That's a scary development for their playoff opponent, given how offensively explosive the Kyrie Irving-Luka Dončić duo can be.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers might be locked into the play-in tournament, but they proved last season how dangerous they can be out of that spot. Back then, L.A. used the tournament to snag the No. 7 seed, then won back-to-back playoff rounds before keeping things about as close you can in a series sweep—all four games were decided by single digits—against eventual champion Denver.
If this defense can find another gear—it ranks 20th in efficiency since the All-Star break—the Lakers could be a tricky matchup for even the top seeds. Few teams, if any, have good answers for the LeBron James-Anthony Davis tandem, and any one of Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura are a threat to pop for 25-plus points on any given night.
Philadelphia 76ers
With reigning MVP Joel Embiid not only back on the court, but back to his typical domination—32 points, 13 boards and seven assists Friday—there's an argument to be made that Philly could be Boston's biggest threat in the East. Those two teams split the two games in which Embiid appeared, and both contests were decided by a total of 13 points.
The Sixers are riding a league-best seven-game winning streak and have a great chance to make it eight straight with their season finale coming against the lottery-bound Brooklyn Nets. A red-hot Philly team with Embiid manning the middle and Tyrese Maxey continuing his ascension on the perimeter is a threat to put together a deep playoff run regardless where it starts.
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