Ben Harris
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NBA Playoffs Bracket
The NBA Playoffs Bracket sees the welcome return of familiarity to a season in which it has lacked in recent months, albeit in a bubble. The NBA restart games have been completed, and the final regular-season standings have been set with the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks leading the way as number one seeds in the conferences.
With a dip in form to contend with since the restart, some of the NBA’s powerhouses will look to put that straight from the get-go, but we could be in store for a dramatic postseason during unprecedented times.
The NBA Playoff Bracket sees some mouth-watering first-round clashes and the anticipation of some even bigger matchups to follow, so check out each teams’ route to the finals right here, with the NBA playoff bracket, playoff schedule, and TV schedule right here.
Eastern Conference playoff bracket
Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks lead the way in the East, despite only winning three of their eight games in the bubble so far, they are clear favorites in the Eastern Conference, with the reigning champion Toronto Raptor’s snapping at their heels.
Milwaukee (-10000) are big favorites to prevail against Orlando as is Toronto (-5000) in their first-round matchup against a depleted Brooklyn Nets side.
The remaining two Eastern Conference series’ sees the Indiana Pacers v Miami Heat and Boston Celtics v Philadelphia 76ers, which the sportsbooks odds suggest are much closer and could go either way.
NBA Eastern Conference seeding
- (1) Milwaukee Bucks
- (2) Toronto Raptors
- (3) Boston Celtics
- (4) Indiana Pacers
- (5) Miami Heat
- (6) Philadelphia 76ers
- (7) Brooklyn Nets
- (8) Orlando Magic
Western Conference playoff bracket
The Los Angeles Lakers return to the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2013 and do so as the number one seeds. Their fellow Los Angeles neighbors, the Clippers, finished just three games back in second place, and many have long-expected an all-LA affair in the Western Conference Finals, but can someone spoil that?
The Houston Rockets are favored by sportsbooks to be the most likely non-LA team to reach the finals, and they can set up a date with the Lakers in the conference semifinals, should they both prevail in the first round.
The Denver Nuggets (-200) v Utah Jazz (+160) series is the closest contest in the first round according to the odds compilers. They head here separated by just two games in the regular-season standings, but Denver won all three of their head-to-heads this season, including their 134-132 game, which required double-overtime in the bubble on August 8th.
NBA Western Conference seeding
- (1) Los Angeles Lakers
- (2) Los Angeles Clippers
- (3) Denver Nuggets
- (4) Houston Rockets
- (5) Oklahoma City Thunder
- (6) Utah Jazz
- (7) Dallas Mavericks
- (8) Portland Trail Blazers
NBA playoff schedule
When do the NBA playoffs start?
The NBA restart and regular season concluded on Saturday, Aug 15 after the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Memphis Grizzlies 126-122 in the Western Conference play-in game.
The 2020 NBA playoffs start on August 17th, at 13:30 ET when the Nuggets and Jazz get the 2020 NBA postseason underway.
NBA Playoffs First Round Schedule & TV information
The first round of the NBA playoffs will air across four channels, with the first 4 games of each series to be played over nine days, and a schedule, including the TV schedule, will be drawn up accordingly, should games five, six, or seven be needed.
The NBA Playoffs First Round Schedule up to game four in each series can be seen below, along with the tv information regarding How to watch the NBA playoffs.
The remainder of the NBA playoff schedule will be released in due course, but the current date for the start of the NBA Finals is set for the 30th of September 2020.
| August 17 | ||
| Game 1 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Jazz vs. Nuggets | 1:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Nets vs. Raptors | 4 p.m. | ESPN |
| 76ers vs. Celtics | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Mavericks vs. Clippers | 9 p.m. | ESPN |
| August 18 | ||
| Game 1 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Magic vs. Bucks | 1:30 p.m. | TNT |
| Heat vs. Pacers | 4 p.m. | TNT |
| Thunder vs. Rockets | 6:30 p.m. | TNT |
| Trail Blazers vs. Lakers | 9 p.m. | TNT |
| August 19 | ||
| Game 2 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Nets vs. Raptors | 1:30 p.m. | NBA TV |
| Jazz vs. Nuggets | 4 p.m. | TNT |
| 76ers vs. Celtics | 6:30 p.m. | TNT |
| Mavericks vs. Clippers | 9 p.m. | TNT |
| August 20 | ||
| Game 2 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Heat vs. Pacers | 1 p.m. | ESPN |
| Thunder vs. Rockets | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Magic vs. Bucks | 6 p.m. | ESPN |
| Trail Blazers vs. Lakers | 9 p.m. | ESPN |
| August 21 | ||
| Game 3 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Raptors vs. Nets | 1:30 p.m. | NBA TV |
| Nuggets vs. Jazz | 4 p.m. | TNT |
| Celtics vs. 76ers | 6:30 p.m. | TNT |
| Clippers vs. Mavericks | 9 p.m. | TNT |
| August 22 | ||
| Game 3 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Bucks vs. Magic | 1 p.m. | TNT |
| Pacers vs. Heat | 3:30 p.m. | TNT |
| Rockets vs. Thunder | 6 p.m. | ESPN |
| Lakers vs. Trail Blazers | 8:30 p.m. | ABC |
| August 23 | ||
| Game 4 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Celtics vs. 76ers | 1 p.m. | ABC |
| Clippers vs. Mavericks | 3:30 p.m. | ABC |
| Raptors vs. Nets | 6:30 p.m. | TNT |
| Nuggets vs. Jazz | 9 p.m. | TNT |
| August 24 | ||
| Game 4 | Time (ET) | TV Station |
| Bucks vs. Magic | 1:30 p.m. | NBA TV |
| Rockets vs. Thunder | 4 p.m. | TNT |
| Pacers vs. Heat | 6:30 p.m. | TNT |
| Lakers vs. Trail Blazers | 9 p.m. | TNT |
