NBA Playoff Schedule 2016: TV Info and Outlook for Conference Semifinals
With the midpoint of May fast approaching, three of the four 2016 NBA conference semifinal matchups are still ongoing. The only team to have gone through to the next round is the Cleveland Cavaliers, who completed a four-game sweep of the Atlanta Hawks with a 100-99 win Sunday.
The Golden State Warriors have established a 3-1 advantage over the Portland Trail Blazers on the strength of a triumphant return for Stephen Curry. Playing in his first game since suffering a knee sprain against the Houston Rockets in the previous round, the superstar point guard scored a record-breaking 17 of his 40 points in overtime in the Warriors' 132-125 victory on Monday.
Elsewhere, the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are knotted up at two games apiece, with the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors in a similar situation in a series that has featured nothing but close games.
Here's the TV info for the rest of the round.
| May 10 | 5 | 8 p.m. | Oklahoma City Thunder | San Antonio Spurs | TNT |
| May 11 | 5 | 8 p.m. | Miami Heat | Toronto Raptors | TNT |
| May 11 | 5 | 10:30 p.m | Portland Trail Blazers | Golden State Warriors | TNT |
| May 12 | 6 | 8:30 p.m. | San Antonio Spurs | Oklahoma City Thunder | ESPN |
| May 13 | 6 | 8 p.m. | Toronto Raptors | Miami Heat | ESPN |
| May 13 | 6* | 10:30 p.m. | Golden State Warriors | Portland Trail Blazers | ESPN |
| May 15 | 7* | TBD | Miami Heat | Toronto Raptors | TBD |
| May 15 | 7* | TBD | Oklahoma City Thunder | San Antonio Spurs | TNT |
| May 16 | 7* | 9 p.m. | Portland Trail Blazers | Golden State Warriors | TNT |
Curry's Return Seals Portland's Fate
Even with Curry on the court Monday, the underdog Trail Blazers at least threatened to even the series at 2-2 in forcing overtime. Though they were likely only staving off the inevitable, a series in which Curry remained sidelined or looked as rusty as he did in regulation in Game 4 absolutely could have gone six and maybe, just maybe, seven games.
Forget all that. The Warriors are wrapping this one up at home on Wednesday. Curry's overtime scoring binge was the best in NBA history. He was dripping with confidence, as the highlight reel of his instantly famous five minutes shows:
Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen's blank expression of disbelief says it all, per SportsCenter:
According to Bay Area News Group's Diamond Leung, Curry will start in Game 5. The Blazers have played admirably this series, especially Damian Lillard, who is averaging 32.8 points per game through four games.
However, it won't be enough to beat the team with the best regular-season record in NBA history at full strength. There are simply too many matchup nightmares when the best player in basketball right now is on the court.
Toronto-Miami and Oklahoma City-San Antonio Both Capable of Going the Distance
You could be forgiven for not noticing there was another playoff game that went to overtime Monday. Prior to Curry going supernova, the Heat tied up the series at home with a 94-87 overtime win over the Raptors—the third time in four games that these two teams needed extra basketball to separate themselves.
While the series has been tantalizingly close, it hasn't always been pretty. Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry's playoff shooting woes returned Monday after a one-game hiatus in Game 3. He shot just 2-of-11 from the field and 0-of-6 from three-point range en route to a measly 10 points. DeMar DeRozan wasn't much help, either, scoring nine on 4-of-17 shooting.
To make matters worse, Lowry fouled out in Game 4, and that made quite a bit of difference, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Dwyane Wade was certainly feeling all right Monday, scoring 30 points in another vintage performance. As SportsCenter noted, he's been the epitome of clutch this postseason:
Wade and backcourt mate Goran Dragic have generally been excellent in this series, in stark contrast to their counterparts on the Raptors. One would think Toronto could quickly establish control of this matchup if Lowry and DeRozan started shooting at reasonable levels, but even that seems like a remote possibility.
Lowry got his act together and dropped 33 in Game 3, and yet Toronto eked out a 95-91 road win. Plus, with center Jonas Valanciunas out for the remainder of the series with a sprained right ankle, the Raptors are starting offensive non-factor Bismack Biyombo.
Miami can't seem to fully take advantage of the Raptors' offensive dysfunction. As long as either Lowry or DeRozan gets his shooting back up to even a mediocre level (instead of utter futility, which is where both players are at now), this series has all the makings of a seven-game affair.
As for the Thunder and Spurs, there's no reason to believe they won't need a full seven to decide their matchup.
Behind 41 points from Kevin Durant, the Thunder earned a relatively comfortable 111-97 win Sunday to even up the series.
Russell Westbrook's voluminous but often poor shot selection has hampered the Thunder a bit against the Spurs, but he tempered his aggressive play and dished out 15 assists to soften the impact of 14 points on a 5-of-18 night from the field.
The Spurs have gotten plenty of efficient, excellent basketball out of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge in this series, giving them a dynamic duo to compete with the Durant-Westbrook combination.
San Antonio is still losing the frontcourt battle, however, with Tim Duncan practically nonexistent and David West playing poorly.
Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams and Enes Kanter are asserting themselves down low on both ends of the court for the Thunder, with Ibaka's bonus contributions from outside perhaps making him the most valuable component of this trio, per the Oklahoman's Berry Tramel:
"Did anyone have Ibaka in the pool for most 3-pointers in this series? His 11 are more than Durant and Russell Westbrook combined (five each). More than Danny Green (who made five in Game 1 but just five in the next three games).
In true shooting percentage, which accounts for 3-points and foul shots, Ibaka leads Aldridge .679-.651 in this series. Now, Aldridge has taken more than twice as many shots, so Aldridge’s value is much higher. But Ibaka’s efficiency is besting a guy who was making historic runs at efficiency. In effective field-goal percentage, which counts 3-pointers extra but does not include foul shots, Ibaka’s lead is even more, .679-.602.
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Ibaka's rangy shooting creates space for the Thunder against San Antonio's wicked defense, and they appear to have the advantage in this series if everything holds and Westbrook doesn't hurt the team by jacking up too many shots.
However, this is the Spurs we are talking about, so don't expect the Thunder to just waltz away with the rest of the series. Leonard is perhaps the league's premier defender, and the team defense can cause even the most fluid of offenses serious fits.
Head coach Gregg Popovich hasn't established a dynastic franchise by being unable to solve problems on the fly. Look for San Antonio to find a way to counter and push this series to the limit.
