NBA Playoff Schedule 2015: TV Coverage and Network Guide for Monday Games
Monday is a big day.
With one foot out the door, two teams—the Milwaukee Bucks and the Portland Trail Blazers—will fight to keep their postseason pulse pumping. The Brooklyn Nets, who looked dead after Games 1 and 2, will have a chance to even the odds against the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks.
The Chicago Bulls and the Memphis Grizzlies, on the other hand, have had enough of the first round. With a win over the Bucks and the Blazers, respectively, they will move on.
These are games that you’d be wise to watch. Here’s how to do so:
TV Schedule
| Hawks at Nets | 7 p.m. | 2-1 ATL | NBATV |
| Bucks at Bulls | 8 p.m. | 3-1 CHI | TNT |
| Grizzlies at Blazers | 10:30 p.m. | 3-0 MEM | TNT |
Key Storylines
Bucks and Bulls Won’t be Exchanging Christmas Cards
It seems like the Bucks and the Bulls are bound to brawl at some point.
These teams clearly don’t like each other. Through the first four games of the series, we’ve seen more shoves, staredowns and tough-guy confrontations than any other series outside of the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Boston Celtics.
But we haven’t seen a full-fledged scrap yet. Will we?
Hopefully not. It’s a treat for everyone when two teams cannot stand one another—which is what we have here—but it’s no fun when someone gets hurt. Take the Cavs-Celtcs rivalry, for example.
Sunday, Kevin Love nearly had his arm ripped off by Kelly Olynyk as the two tangled up in pursuit of a rebound.
The power forward darted right to locker room in obvious pain. It’s likely that he’ll be out for a while, per ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst:
Love wasn’t happy with Olynyk, as ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin relayed:
Later in the game, Kendrick Perkins laid the wood to Boston’s Jae Crowder, who was soon the victim of a back-punch from Cleveland’s J.R. Smith. Crowder, completely dazed from the blow, also twisted his knee on the way down. Smith rightfully received a flagrant-2 foul and got tossed.
Initial reports indicated it was just a knee sprain for Crowder, but he’s still going to have an MRI either Monday night or Tuesday morning, according to Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com.
See? No fun.
The Bulls are a hard-nosed team, and Milwaukee hasn’t backed down one bit. Hopefully things don’t turn ugly.
Mike Conley’s Health
Late in the third quarter Saturday, C.J. McCollum collided with Mike Conley, Memphis’ ubertough point guard who is playing through a foot injury. The southpaw couldn’t return to the game and was actually transported to a local medical facility.
TNT’s Lewis Johnson reported that Conley will go under the knife Monday morning:
This loss will probably become a rallying point for Memphis, but it definitely hurts.
"He's got the biggest heart," coach Dave Joerger said, per Mike Tokito of The Oregonian. "He's the purest-hearted guy, he's a true leader, he's a winner, will do whatever's asked of him, and what isn't asked he looks for to help the team win. It's a big blow."
Marc Gasol doesn’t have a single doubt that the shifty point guard will be back in no time.
"He's going to be here," Gasol said, per Tokito. "We're talking like he's going to be out for a long time. He's fine. Of course it's unfortunate what happened, but he will be fine."
Memphis sounds ready to go.
The Moda Center won’t be so loud when the Grizzlies overcome an injury to one of their top players and complete the sweep of Portland of its home floor.
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