NBA Playoff Bracket 2018: Dates, TV Schedule for Upcoming Conference Semifinals
Three-quarters of the NBA conference finals field is set after the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors took care of business in the fifth game of their respective series.
The Cleveland Cavaliers await their Eastern Conference final opponent, which will either be the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers. Currently, Boston has a 3-1 lead over Philadelphia, with Game 5 set to take place on Wednesday.
The C's are one-point favorites in the matchup, per OddsShark, with the over/under total set at 204 points.
Below you can find a quick preview of Game 5, alongside the NBA playoff results so far.
NBA Playoff Bracket: Eastern Conference
1st Round
No. 1 Toronto Raptors 4, No. 8 Washington Wizards 2
No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 4, No. 5 Indiana Pacers 3
No. 3 Philadelphia 76ers 4, No. 6 Miami Heat 1
No. 2 Boston Celtics 4, No. 7 Milwaukee Bucks 3
2nd Round
Cleveland 4, Toronto 0
Boston 3, Philadelphia 1
Conference Finals
Cleveland vs. Boston or Philadelphia. The Celtics or 76ers will have home-court advantage.
NBA Playoff Bracket: Western Conference
1st Round
No. 1 Houston Rockets 4, No. 8 Minnesota Timberwolves 1
No. 5 Utah Jazz 4, No. 4 Oklahoma City Thunder 2
No. 6 New Orleans Pelicans 4, No. 3 Portland Trail Blazers 0
No. 2 Golden State Warriors 4, No. 7 San Antonio Spurs 1
2nd Round
Golden State 4, New Orleans 1
Houston 4, Utah 1
Conference Finals
Houston vs. Golden State. Houston will have home-court advantage.
NBA Finals
Cleveland, Boston or Philadelphia vs. Houston or Golden State. The winner of the Western Conference finals will have home-court advantage in the finals, as the Rockets and Warriors have the best two regular-season records of the teams remaining.
Conference Semifinal TV Schedule
Philadelphia at Boston (Game 5): Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on TNT
Boston at Philadelphia (Game 6, if necessary): Friday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN
Philadelphia at Boston (Game 7, if necessary): Sunday, Time and TV TBD
Philadelphia at Boston: Who To Watch
Celtics guard Marcus Smart wasn't shy when asked what he expected during Game 5, per NBC Sports Boston:
Smart has been a pest in this series: The former Oklahoma State star is seemingly on the floor every play after colliding with another player and/or diving for a loose ball, and he's filling up the box score to the tune of 12.8 points, 4.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
He's also averaged 4.8 fouls per game, up from his average of 2.5 a night. That's not necessarily a bad thing given the physical nature of this series, and provided it continues for Game 5, it falls right into Smart's wheelhouse.
He's also the type of player who can rev up the home crowd with a big play, like a steal and fast-break dunk or a big block. As it is, Celtics fans should already be amped for Game 5 given that a win will clinch a rematch with LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the conference finals.
T.J. McConnell
The 76ers employed a new starting lineup for Game 4, inserting guard T.J. McConnell for small forward Robert Covington. That change by head coach Brett Brown worked perfectly, as McConnell scored a career-high 19 points (on 9-of-12 shooting) in addition to seven rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes.
McConnell will obviously be back in the starting lineup for Game 5, which might be a problem for Celtics guard Terry Rozier. Here are a few noteworthy stats from Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia regarding their one-on-one battles from Game 4:
"On the 29 possessions when McConnell defended Rozier, the Celtics guard scored one point and missed all three of his field-goal attempts. With McConnell tailing Rozier and effectively eliminating him as an offensive option, Boston struggled. The Celtics scored only 18 points on those 29 possessions."
Rozier scored 11 points and missed seven of his 11 shots, so it will be interesting to see how he fares Wednesday. At the very least, he'll have the home crowd on his side: McConnell clearly fed off the energy of the Wells Fargo Center crowd, which isn't an option for Game 5.
Jaylen Brown
Former Detroit Piston Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson got his nickname based off his hot shooting, which was most evident when he played for the "Bad Boy" Pistons of the late 1980s and early 1990s as a reserve.
However, Celtics guard Jaylen Brown could prove to be the 21st century version of Johnson on Wednesday. Yes, his 76ers series hasn't been particularly successful, in part because Brown missed Game 1 with a hamstring injury and has been on minute restrictions while playing off the bench.
That being said, the Cal Star had some excellent games as a starter during his first-round series with the Milwaukee Bucks, scoring 30 points (on 12-of-22 shooting) in Game 2 and 34 more (on 13-of-24 shooting) in Game 4. He's capable of carrying the offense on his back on any given night.
Brown shot well in Games 2 and 3 (11-of-24) but committed five fouls and played just 23 minutes in Game 4. Assuming Smart gets the starting nod again for Game 5, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Brown lead the second unit and dominate en route to the conference finals.
76ers' Outside Shooters
The 76ers won 103-92 on Monday despite shooting just 40.4 percent from the field and 26.9 percent from three-point range. Eryan Ilyasova, Robert Covington, Marco Belinelli and JJ Redick combined to make just eight of 35 field-goal attempts, which is only 22.9 percent.
Obviously, all four players are much better shooters than they showed on Monday, which makes Game 5 all the more intriguing. If the move to McConnell works well again, and the 76ers' shooters are knocking down shots, then there's a chance the 76ers could run away with this one and head back to Philadelphia.
To play devil's advocate, though, the poor shooting was caused in part by the Celtics defense, which is ranked No. 1 in the NBA in defensive efficiency. It will be interesting to see how that quartet fares on Wednesday in enemy territory.
