NBA Playoff Schedule 2016: TV Guide, Live Stream Coverage for Entire Postseason
The NBA playoffs will begin Saturday, with the Golden State Warriors being heavy favorites to defend their crown after a 73-win regular season.
The Warriors' quest for a second straight championship will begin against the Houston Rockets in a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals. That is one of four games on tap for Saturday, with the rest of the playoff teams tipping off Sunday.
Before diving into this year's postseason, here's a look at the television and live-stream lineup for the entire NBA playoffs:
| April 16 | Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors | 12:30 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| April 16 | Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors | 3:30 p.m. | ABC | WatchESPN |
| April 16 | Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks | 7 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| April 16 | Dallas Mavericks at Oklahoma City Thunder | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| April 17 | Detroit Pistons at Cleveland Cavaliers | 3 p.m. | ABC | WatchESPN |
| April 17 | Charlotte Hornets at Miami Heat | 5:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 17 | Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs | 8 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 17 | Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles Clippers | 10:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 18 | Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors | 7 p.m. | NBA TV | NBA.com |
| April 18 | Dallas Mavericks at Oklahoma City Thunder | 8 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 18 | Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors | 10:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 19 | Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks | 7 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 19 | Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs | 9:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 20 | Charlotte Hornets at Miami Heat | 7 p.m. | NBA TV | NBA.com |
| April 20 | Detroit Pistons at Cleveland Cavaliers | 8 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 20 | Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles Clippers | 10:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 21 | Oklahoma City Thunder at Dallas Mavericks | 7 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 21 | Toronto Raptors at Indiana Pacers | 7:30 p.m. | NBA TV | NBA.com |
| April 21 | Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets | 9:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 22 | Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons | 7 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| April 22 | Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics | 8 p.m. | ESPN 2 | WatchESPN |
| April 22 | San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| April 23 | Toronto Raptors at Indiana Pacers | 3 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 23 | Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets | 5:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 23 | Oklahoma City Thunder at Dallas Mavericks | 8 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| April 23 | Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers | 10:30 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| April 24 | San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies | 1 p.m. | ABC | WatchESPN |
| April 24 | Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets | 3:30 p.m. | ABC | WatchESPN |
| April 24 | Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics | 6 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 24 | Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons | 8:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 25 | Dallas Mavericks at Oklahoma City Thunder | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 25 | Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 25 | Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers | 10:30 p.m. | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 26 | Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 26 | Detroit Pistons at Cleveland Cavaliers | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 26 | Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 26 | Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 27 | Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles Clippers | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 27 | Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 27 | Charlotte Hornets at Miami Heat | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 28 | Oklahoma City Thunder at Dallas Mavericks | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 28 | Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 28 | San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 28 | Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 29 | Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 29 | Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 29 | Toronto Raptors at Indiana Pacers | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 29 | Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April 30 | Detroit Pistons at Cleveland Cavaliers | TBD | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 30 | Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs | TBD | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 30 | Dallas Mavericks at San Antonio Spurs | TBD | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| April 30 | Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks | TBD | TNT | TNT Overtime |
| May 1 | Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| May 1 | Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles Clippers | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| May 1 | Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| May 1 | Charlotte Hornets at Miami Heat | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Conference Semifinals | May 2 (could be moved up to April 30 or May 1, depending on when quarterfinals end) |
| Conference Finals | May 17 (could be moved up to May 15 or May 16, depending on when semifinals end) |
| NBA Finals | June 2 |
All games stream live on WatchESPN, TNT Overtime or NBA.com based on which network is broadcasting the game.
Top Storyline: Warriors' Historic Season
Looking back at preseason prognostications, it's amazing to realize there was skepticism over the Warriors' title last season.
For instance, in October, ESPN's Amin Elhassan suggested the Warriors may not have been as good as the group that won 67 games last year:
"But there's a reason they project to seven fewer W's: SCHOENE predicts the Spurs, Clippers and Rockets will have top-10 defenses. It also predicts a drop in the Warriors' effective field-goal percentage (an NBA-high 54 percent last year) and declines in points per game and 3-point percentage for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. They'll still be great -- but great might not be good enough.
"
A record-setting 73 wins later, the Warriors now face the pressure of having to win a championship to complete their historic season instead of becoming MLB's 2001 Seattle Mariners or the NFL's 2007 New England Patriots.
It seems as though the only team with a remote shot of knocking off Golden State in the playoffs is the San Antonio Spurs, and the entire Eastern Conference has been an afterthought in the postseason race.
The Spurs did hold the Warriors to a season-low 79 points March 19, but the Warriors won three of their four matchups during the regular season and scored 112-plus points in two of those victories.
Yet CBS Sports' Zach Harper put forth an interesting metric regarding San Antonio's defense against the fast-paced Warriors, which would be interesting to follow if the two teams meet in the Western Conference Finals:
"In those three games, the Warriors scored just over 101 points per 100 possessions. The Spurs only won one of those games, but the defense noticeably disrupted one of the most impressive offenses we've ever seen. The Warriors usually score 112 points per 100, so an 11-point drop-off shows you how legitimate that defense is in Texas. They slowed the pace and uglied up the game. They battled on the boards. They took away the tempo the Warriors love to dictate.
"
The problem is Golden State's defense, which fans don't talk about enough because of how many points the offense puts up, gave up more than 90 points in only one of those four games.
It's dangerous to say anything in the playoffs is a foregone conclusion, but the Warriors not winning another NBA title would be one of the most shocking upsets in professional sports history.
Key Question: Who Are the Cleveland Cavaliers?
The Eastern Conference has been the Cleveland Cavaliers and everyone else since LeBron James returned last year.
The Chicago Bulls were supposed to be a threat, but injuries destroyed them last year, and the team looked lost under new head coach Fred Hoiberg en route to missing the playoffs this year.
Examining the Cavaliers entering the playoffs, though, this is a team that seems to be battling itself as much as it will be competing against the Detroit Pistons in the first round.
If you believe in the regular season as an indicator of postseason success, the Pistons won three of four games against the Cavaliers. The last game of the year doesn't count, though, because the key players on both sides either rested or played sparingly.
The Cavaliers' problems go beyond who they are facing on the court. Following Cleveland's 106-103 loss against the injury-depleted Memphis Grizzlies in March, Chris Mannix of The Vertical reported the disconnect between James and Kyrie Irving was becoming more prominent:
"[The] disconnect between Irving and James is real, several scouts and coaches told The Vertical, with the on-court chemistry between the two, said one scout who saw Cleveland play recently, “basically nonexistent.” Team sources insist the relationship is solid, that James is simply teaching, trying to raise Irving’s basketball IQ. No one understands Irving’s importance more than James, team sources told The Vertical, which is why no one is working harder than James to get the two All-Stars on the same page.
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The Cavaliers have been looking for scapegoats all year. They fired head coach David Blatt in January despite being 30-11 because general manager David Griffin said the team needed to "build a collective spirit," per Jen Steer of Fox 8.
The Cavs turned to Tyronn Lue as the man to build that collective spirit, but he had a worse record (27-14) than Blatt.
Cleveland is paying Kevin Love like a superstar, and though he nearly averaged a double-double this season (16.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game), he also had the second-lowest shooting percentage (41.9) of his career.
The Cavaliers thought they found their identity last year. Despite losing in the NBA Finals, they showed poise and determination by taking Golden State to six games with James carrying nearly the entire load.
Now, with Irving (foot) and Love (shoulder) being healthy, the Cavaliers somehow seem like a worse team than the group that lost in the Finals.
James is at a crossroads, too. He's still one of the best players in the league, but at 31 years old, his legs have a lot of miles on them. He needs help from Irving and Love if the Cavs are going to make it out of the East and have any kind of chance against a team such as Golden State or San Antonio.
Cleveland is still the best team in the East and should make it back to the Finals, but it would be a bigger surprise if the Cavs win the title than it would be if someone eliminates them before that.
