NBA Playoff Schedule 2020: Odds, TV, Live Stream Guide for Wednesday's Matchups

Game 7 of the first round of the 2020 NBA playoffs between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder is almost the equivalent of an afterthought for Chris Paul.

Even if he loses, he wins.

This past summer, the Rockets traded the 10-time All Star to the Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook.

It was if he were being shipped off into basketball purgatory where he'd have to suffer the rebuilding process instead of competing in the postseason.

He was written off, counted out and left for washed up.

But here he is now, pushing his former team to the brink of elimination and, by all accounts, a full-on rebuke of his basketball demise.

He has led his team to this point and earned his redemption no matter what happens Wednesday night.

If OKC loses, he goes home with his head held high.

Should they win, his legend only grows.

That makes the Houston vs. OKC game quite the encore to the Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat matchup, where Giannis Antetokounmpo will try to shake off a Game 1 loss to even the series 1-1.

To do that, he's going to need some help because Jimmy Butler has the Heat firing on all cylinders.

With the stage set, here's how to watch both games and the latest odds, per Vegas Insider.

Wednesday, Sept. 2 NBA Playoff Schedule and Odds

Eastern Conference

No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 5 Miami Heat

Series: Heat lead Bucks 1-0

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: ESPN

Latest Line: Bucks -4

Western Conference

No. 4 Houston Rockets vs. No. 5 Oklahoma City Thunder

Series: Rockets and Thunder tied 3-3

Time: 9:00 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: ESPN

Latest Line: Rockets -5

Predictions

Bucks vs. Heat

Miami is for real and its Game 1 win over Milwaukee is proof of that.

They are hungry, they believe they can beat anybody and they have a bonafide leader in Jimmy Buckets.

The five-time All Star erupted for a playoff career-high 40 points on Monday, which was impressive enough, but what stood out the most was how he scored.

Butler took over in the fourth quarter when his team needed him the most, scoring 13 of the his team's last 16 points.

Overall, he was 13-of-20 from the floor (including 2-of-2 from three) and 12-of-13 from the free throw line.

Simply put, he was in his bag.

"I told my teammates I probably wasn’t going to pass the ball," Butler told ESPN’s Marc J. Spears. "I made a couple shots. And they said, ‘That’s fine with me.’"

One of the biggest reasons why the Bucks couldn't get anything going was the absence of Eric Bledsoe, who was ruled out because of a strained right hamstring.

If they want cool off the Heat, they'll need Bledsoe on the floor so they can't wall up Antetokounmpo.

The reigning league MVP will be on a mission to get his team back in this series, especially since he was called to the carpet for not defending Butler in the home stretch.

The Defensive Player of the Year will also need to put more than 18 points on the board.

If Bledsoe plays and Antetokounmpo steps up on both ends of the floor, this one is all Milwaukee.

Prediction: Bucks 112, Celtics 107

                    

Rockets vs. Thunder

There's nothing better than a Game 7 in the playoffs and this game brings more than its share of intrigue.

CP3 put the NBA on notice this season and this game can be his exclamation point.

On the flip side, Westbrook has a lot to prove and so does James Harden.

For the 2017 MVP, it's going to come down to pride.

After all, the Rockets traded Paul for him and if he comes up short, the optics aren't great.

That's especially true considering how he basically threw the ball away for his seventh turnover with the game on the line.

For his part, though, he owned up to his costly mistake.

"That’s my fault, honestly," Westbrook told Ben Golliver of the Washington Post. "That’s easy. Last game I had zero and tonight I had seven. Simple as that."

There's a lot riding on this game for Houston.

If they lose, head coach Mike D'Antoni is definitely out of a job.

He should have put the ball in Harden's hands in the waning moments of Game 6.

He's the best player on the team and needs to be the decision maker, especially in a close out game.

The one rub against Harden, who has been otherworldly during the regular season, is his history of disappearing in the playoffs.

His legacy is on the line tonight and he knows it.

And that dig from CP3 about being built for the fourth quarter and how "some people shy away from it" has to be a big motivator for him.

The Rockets are too good of a team to be looking at a first-round exit, so look for them to figure it out and send Westbrook's old team packing.

Prediction: Rockets 108, Thunder 101

               

Follow Maurice Bobb on Twitter, @ReeseReport