NBA Playoffs 2017: Postseason Schedule, Bracket Format and Odds
The 2016-17 NBA season is finally over. For those of you who can't stand the monotony and the grind of the 82-game regular season (you know who you are), it's finally time to enjoy basketball again.
That's right, it's time for the playoffs.
Of course, the NBA's second season is a grind all in its own. While we're finally getting games that feel like they mean something, we'll be getting a lot of them. The playoffs kick off this Saturday. The Finals won't kick off until the beginning of June.
This is because 16 of the league's 30 teams are in the postseason, with eight from each conference. Here, we're going to examine the teams, the tournament and the odds for opening weekend—courtesy of OddsShark.com. We'll also examine some of the latest storylines heading into the playoffs.
The Teams
| 1 | Boston Celtics |
| 2 | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 3 | Toronto Raptors |
| 4 | Washington Wizards |
| 5 | Atlanta Hawks |
| 6 | Milwaukee Bucks |
| 7 | Indiana Pacers |
| 8 | Chicago Bulls |
| 1 | Golden State Warriors |
| 2 | San Antonio Spurs |
| 3 | Houston Rockets |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers |
| 5 | Utah Jazz |
| 6 | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| 7 | Memphis Grizzlies |
| 8 | Portland Trail Blazers |
Opening Weekend
| Sat. 4/15, 3 p.m. ET | Indiana at Cleveland | CLE -8.5 | ABC |
| Sat. 4/15, 5:30 p.m. ET | Milwaukee at Toronto | TOR -7 | ESPN |
| Sat. 4/15, 8 p.m. ET | Memphis at San Antonio | SA -9 | ESPN |
| Sat. 4/15, 10:30 p.m. ET | Utah at Los Angeles | LA -5 | ESPN |
| Sun. 4/16, 1 p.m. ET | Atlanta at Washington | WAS -5 | TNT |
| Sun. 4/16, 3:30 p.m. ET | Portland at Golden State | GS -14.5 | ABC |
| Sun. 4/16, 6:30 p.m. ET | Chicago at Boston | BOS -7.5 | TNT |
| Sun. 4/15, 9 p.m. ET | Oklahoma City at Houston | HOU -7.5 | TNT |
First Round Schedule
| 1) Chicago at Boston | Sunday, April 16 | 6:30 p.m. |
| 2) Chicago at Boston | Tuesday, April 18 | 8 p.m. |
| 3) Boston at Chicago | Friday, April 21 | 7 p.m. |
| 4) Boston at Chicago | Sunday, April 23 | 6:30 p.m. |
| 5) Chicago at Boston | Wednesday, April 26 | TBD |
| 6) Boston at Chicago | Friday, April 28 | TBD |
| 7) Chicago at Boston | Sunday, April 30 | TBD |
| 1) Indiana at Cleveland | Saturday, April 15 | 3 p.m. |
| 2) Indiana at Cleveland | Monday April 17 | 7 p.m. |
| 3) Cleveland at Indiana | Thursday, April 29 | 7 p.m. |
| 4) Cleveland at Indiana | Sunday, April 23 | 1 p.m. |
| 5) Indiana at Cleveland | Tuesday, April 25 | TBD |
| 6) Cleveland at Indiana | Thursday, April 27 | TBD |
| 7) Indiana at Cleveland | Saturday, April 29 | TBD |
| 1) Milwaukee at Toronto | Saturday, April 15 | 5:30 p.m. |
| 2) Milwaukee at Toronto | Tuesday, April 18 | 7 p.m. |
| 3) Toronto at Milwaukee | Thursday, April 20 | 8 p.m. |
| 4) Toronto at Milwaukee | Saturday, April 22 | 3 p.m. |
| 5) Milwaukee at Toronto | Monday, April 24 | TBD |
| 6) Toronto at Milwaukee | Thursday, April 27 | TBD |
| 7) Milwaukee at Toronto | Saturday, April 29 | TBD |
| 1) , Atlanta at Washington | Sunday, April 16 | 1 p.m. |
| 2) Atlanta at Washington | Wednesday, April 19 | 7 p.m. |
| 3) Washington at Atlanta, | Saturday, April 22 | 5:30 p.m. |
| 4) Washington at Atlanta | Monday, April 24 | 8 p.m. |
| 5) Atlanta at Washington | Wednesday, April 26 | TBD |
| 6) Washington at Atlanta | Friday, April 28 | TBD |
| 7) Atlanta at Washington | Sunday, April 30 | TBD |
| 1) Portland at Golden State | Sunday, April 16 | 3:30 p.m. |
| 2)Portland at Golden State | Wednesday, April 19 | 10:30 p.m. |
| 3) Golden State at Portland | Saturday, April 22 | 10:30 p.m. |
| 4) Golden State at Portland | Monday, April 24 | 10:30 p.m. |
| 5) Portland at Golden State | Wednesday, April 26 | TBD |
| 6) Golden State at Portland | Friday, April 28 | TBD |
| 7) Portland at Golden State | Sunday, April 30 | TBD |
| 1) Memphis at San Antonio | Saturday, April 15 | 8 p.m. |
| 2) Memphis at San Antonio | Monday, April 17 | 9:30 p.m. |
| 3) San Antonio at Memphis | Thursday, April 20 | 9:30 p.m |
| 4) San Antonio at Memphis | Saturday, April 22 | 8 p.m. |
| 5) Memphis at San Antonio | Tuesday, April 25 | TBD |
| 6) San Antonio at Memphis | Thursday, April 27 | TBD |
| 7) Memphis at San Antonio | Saturday, April 29 | TBD |
| 1) Oklahoma City at Houston | Sunday, April 16 | 9 p.m. |
| 2) Oklahoma City at Houston | Wednesday, April 19 | 8 p.m. |
| 3) Houston at Oklahoma City | Friday, April 21 | 9:30 p.m. |
| 4) Houston at Oklahoma City | Sunday, April 23 | 3:30 p.m. |
| 5) Oklahoma City at Houston | Tuesday, April 25, | TBD |
| 6) Houston at Oklahoma City | Thursday, April 27 | TBD |
| 7) Oklahoma City at Houston | Saturday, April 29 | TBD |
| 1) Utah at LA Clippers | Saturday, April 15 | 10:30 p.m. |
| 2) Utah at LA Clippers | Tuesday, April 18 | 10:30 p.m. |
| 3) LA Clippers at Utah | Friday, April 21 | 10 p.m. |
| 4) LA Clippers at Utah | Sunday, April 23 | 9 p.m. |
| 5) Utah at LA Clippers | Tuesday, April 25 | TBD |
| 6) LA Clippers at Utah | Friday, April 28 | TBD |
| 7) Utah at LA Clippers | Sunday, April 30, | TBD |
Playoff Format
The NBA playoffs consist of a four-round elimination tournament bracket, with the last round—the NBA Finals—pitting the remaining Eastern Conference team against the remaining Western Conference team. The eight teams in each conference are seeded from No. 1 to No. 8. In typical tournament format, the No. 1 seed plays the No. 8 seed in the opening round, the No. 2 seed plays the No. 7 seed and so on.
In the second round of the tournament, the winner of the No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup will face the winner of the 4-vs-5 matchup. The winner of 5-vs-6 faces the winner of 2-vs-7. These are the same pairings in each conference.
There is no reseeding in the tournament. The third round is the conference finals.
Each round of the tournament is a best-of-seven series. Home court for each series follows a 2–2–1–1–1 format. This means the team with home-court advantage hosts the first two games, then is on the road for two, then home-away-home. Unlike in many other sports, home-court advantage in each round does not belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead to the team with the better regular season record.
Latest Buzz
Cavaliers Lose Top Seed, Remain Confident
The defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers won't hold the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed this year. The team was edged out by the Boston Celtics, who finished the season two games ahead of Cleveland with a 53-29 record.
The Cavaliers also slumped to end the season, losing their final four games in a row. However, this hasn't done anything to drain confidence from LeBron James and Co.
"We have a good chance to win it all," James said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. "But it starts with baby steps first, and we understand that. It starts with our opponent in two days. We have to be very determined, but we also have to be very smart about our game plan and how we execute that game plan."
James hasn't missed an NBA Finals in the past six years, so he has every reason to believe in his team.
Cleveland Could be in Trouble, Though
At least, this is what some are thinking heading into the playoffs, because the Cavaliers weren't that impressive down the stretch in the regular season. The players looked tired, their defense was nonexistent, and the team lost nine of its final 15 games.
A prediction model at fivethirtyeight.com gives Cleveland just a 2 percent chance of winning the finals this year.
"It's becoming harder and harder to ignore what Cleveland's play might mean for the Cavs' chances of repeating as champs," Chris Herring of fivethirtyeight.com wrote during Cleveland's slump last month. "This may be the weakest LeBron team we've seen this late in a season since his finals streak began in 2011."
Of course, the betting odds don't really suggest this. The money line over at OddsShark.com has the Cavaliers at +333, second only to the Golden State Warriors.
New Warriors, New Challenge
The new-look Warriors had their ups and downs this past season. Adding Kevin Durant to the mix of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green seemed to mess with the team's chemistry just a bit in the early season, but the issues were eventually buffed out.
While Golden State wasn't able to match its record win total from last year, the team still finished with the best record in the NBA, 67-15.
Now, though, this super team has to test itself against playoff competition. Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com recently explained why the postseason could bring out the team's flaws:
"The main reason the Steph/KD duo hasn't wowed quite the way many had expected is probably that both prefer to be the ball handler in pick-and-rolls. That has been an issue in crunch time, but given this team's overwhelming quality, there hasn't been much crunch time to endure this season.
The postseason will assuredly bring on crunch time. Margins tend to narrow as teams grab and hold the Warriors' off-ball attack in a playoff crucible that allows more contact.
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Of course, it's difficult at this point to see anyone in the postseason actually knocking off the Warriors in a seven game series. Not only did the team lead the league in scoring (115.9 points per game) but it ranked 11th in scoring defense with 104.3 points per game allowed.
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