NBA Playoff Schedule 2020: Known Dates for Round-by-Round Bracket

Bring on the NBA playoffs.

The dates and times are set for this year's postseason, with only the final seed to be determined in the Western Conference. Below, we will take a look at the schedule and preview the first-round series on tap.

1st-Round Matchups and Schedules

Milwaukee Bucks vs. Orlando Magic

Toronto Raptors vs. Brooklyn Nets

Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers

Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Play-In Winner

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets vs. Utah Jazz

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Houston Rockets

Additional Rounds

Shams Charania of the Athletic and Stadium shared the dates for the NBA Finals that the league sent to teams, though they are tentative:

Preview

We start in the Eastern Conference, where the Milwaukee Bucks will absolutely roll the Orlando Magic. If Orlando takes a game in the series, it will be a pretty huge surprise. When you post a .767 winning percentage like the Bucks, you don't have to dive too deep into first-round matchups.

The Brooklyn Nets are scrappy, meanwhile, and Caris LeVert has been excellent in Orlando, with 22 or more points in four of the six games he played and two contests with 30-plus points. But the Toronto Raptors are the better, deeper, more experienced team. They should also win comfortably.

But things get very interesting from there.

The Philadelphia 76ers vs. the Boston Celtics is a fascinating matchup. The Sixers won the season series 3-1, and Boston doesn't have anyone capable of slowing down Joel Embiid. The big man should expect to see waves of double teams. Philly's size, in general, is an advantage for them.

But Boston won't have to deal with the injured Ben Simmons and has a vastly superior arsenal of perimeter scorers in Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward. The Orlando bubble also means the Sixers won't get three games in Philly, where they were 31-4 this season. Weirdly, a neutral location feels like an advantage for the Celtics.

This series between divisional rivals should be fun. Expect six or seven games, though the Simmons injury tips the scale toward Boston.

The final series between the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat should be a battle as well, especially given the fondness between T.J. Warren and Jimmy Butler.

Granted, Warren's status is somewhat murky after plantar fasciitis caused him to sit out Wednesday's 108-104 win over the Houston Rockets. A source told ESPN's Tim MacMahon that the injury is "not serious."

This series feels like a toss-up. Both teams finished the season with 44-28 records. Both have star power and strong depth. But the Heat did go 3-0 against the Pacers in the regular season, including a 114-90 win Monday. And unless Domantas Sabonis is able to return at some point in the series, the Pacers will be without a key player. This should be a battle, but the Heat look poised to move on.

In the West, the Los Angeles Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies do not. It doesn't matter which team gets through the play-in series—the Lakers will roll them.

The Mavericks are one of the NBA's most fun teams to watch, with Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis and a high-scoring offense. But the Los Angeles Clippers have the two best players in the series (Kawhi Leonard and Paul George), more postseason experience, better depth, and did we mention the two best players in the series? 

Doncic is good. Really, really good. But he's not "upset a legitimate title contender in the first round" good. At least not yet.

The Denver Nuggets vs. the Utah Jazz is going to be fun. Nikola Jokic vs. Rudy Gobert. Jamal Murray vs. Donovan Mitchell. The key player, though, might be Michael Porter Jr., who had four games with 20 or more points and two games with 30 or more points in the bubble.

That, combined with Denver's season sweep of Utah, gives them the slight edge (though Denver is dealing with some injuries, which could hurt them). This one has seven games written all over it.

And finally, there's the Houston Rockets vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder, which would be a good enough series without the storyline of Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul facing their former teams. That just adds more spice.

Well, it will if Westbrook plays. The star guard is recovering from a strained right quad muscle and is expected to miss at least part of this series. That's a huge loss, and don't sleep on OKC's 1-2 record against Houston this season. Both teams went 4-4 in the bubble.

This is a tough call. When in doubt, go with the best player in the series. That would be Houston's James Harden, an NBA MVP finalist. But this one also feels like a matchup that could easily go seven games, especially if the Thunder jump out to an early series lead with Westbrook sidelined.