NBA Playoff Schedule 2016: Known Dates for Round-by-Round Bracket

After Wednesday night, the NBA regular season is over.

Weird, isn’t it?

It feels like just yesterday we were all wondering whether the Golden State Warriors had it in them to repeat, if Kristaps Porzingis would be a bust and how poorly the Portland Trail Blazers would be sans LaMarcus Aldridge.

They do. He’s not. And they’re going to the playoffs.

It’s been a peculiar season, for sure, but also a historic one, highlighted by Golden State’s quest to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ regular-season record of 72 wins.

The 2015-16 campaign has been a drama-filled one, too. Blake Griffin broke his hand beating up an equipment manager. D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young had their…situation. On a more positive note, Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour has been the good kind of dramatic.

Now, it’s playoff time. Let’s scope out some key dates to know.

Important dates

Event	Date	Possible change
Regular season ends	April 13
Rosters set for NBA playoffs	April 15 (3 p.m. ET)
NBA playoffs begin	April 16
Conference semifinals begin	May 2	April 30 or May 1
Conference finals begin	May 17	May 15 or May 16
NBA Finals begin	June 2

For more information on the playoff schedule, check out NBA.com.

First-round dark horses

East: Boston Celtics

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Heat are loaded with battle-tested veterans like Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson and Amar’e Stoudemire with a pinch of youth mixed in. The Atlanta Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals last year as the No. 1 seed.

But the Boston Celtics are no joke.

Led by a miniature star in Isaiah Thomas, Brad Stevens’ team is a perfect storm of youth, scrappiness and athleticism. Hardwood Paroxysm’s Matt Moore addressed one such attribute on Tuesday:

The Celtics don’t shoot the three too well—tied for 26^th at 33.5 percent—but they score 105.8 points a night, fifth-best in the league.

In addition, Boston’s point differential (plus-3.1) is No. 8 in basketball.

Seeding is still up in the air, and it’s possible Boston will finish anywhere from No. 4 to No. 6. Sean Grande, the team’s play-by-play announcer, broke it down simply:

Yes, the Celtics close the regular season hosting the Heat in what could very well be a playoff preview.

Looking through a wider-angle lens, CBS Boston broke down all the possibilities:

"

The Celtics will be the five-seed if there is a wild four-way tie and the C’s, Hawks, Hornets and Heat finish with identical 48-34 records. Miami would be the three-seed by way of winning the Southeast Division, while Atlanta would fall to fourth ahead of Boston via tiebreakers. So on Wednesday, Boston will be rooting for the Hawks.

"

Miami or Atlanta will be no pushovers, and the still-rebuilding Celtics aren’t expected to go on some sort of title run. But they’re certainly on their way up.

A year after making the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers sweat in Round 1, expect Boston to keep chugging upward and on to the conference semifinals.

West: Portland Trail Blazers

Sam Forencich/Getty Images

Raise your hand if, at the beginning of the year, you thought the Blazers would be in the playoffs.

Put your hand down, liar.

Nobody saw this coming—aside from Portland itself. This team played with a vengeance all season long, relishing in the lack of belief it was getting from all sides.

On March 6, the Blazers put out an epic “Never Doubt Rip City” commercial. It was a giant slap in the face to the massive amount of detractors they had before the year:

Now, in fairness, this team lost Aldridge and four other starters—four! Damian Lillard was the only one left.

As it turns out, he’s the only one the Blazers needed.

C.J. McCollum has made a strong case for Most Improved Player, and Meyers Leonard has broken onto the scene, too.

But even with the arrival of some unexpected major contributors, the team still lives and dies with its star point guard, who averaged 26.5 points and six dimes a game after the All-Star break.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Portland will be happy to keep on riding Lillard in the postseason.

There’s a major cluster in the middle of the Western Conference, but Jason Quick of Comcast SportsNet Northwest provided some clarity earlier in the week:

The Los Angeles Clippers are heavy on big-name talent, but that Blazers backcourt is dangerous. On Feb. 19, Lillard (51) and McCollum (21) dropped a combined 72 points in a 137-105 beatdown of the Golden State Warriors:

If the opponent is Chris Paul and Co., don’t be surprised if the Blazers do what they’ve done all year—win in spite of doubt.