2018 NBA Playoffs

First round Playoff teams and TV schedules. A little excitement in the playoffs this year with the Warriors and Cavs not the heavy favorites they were in the past to go to the NBA finals. I saw the Sixers Bucks game and the Sixers destroyed the Bucks, Bucks were at full strength with Delle and Brogdon back and the Bucks not resting anyone but the Sixers scored 80 pts the first half with Redick out with back soreness and Simmons on the bench with 2 fouls along with Joel. Sixers came at the Bucks in waves, Saric, Bellenelli, Fultz, TJ, Anderson, Holmes, Covington, Ilyasova and Johnson looking like all-stars. Sixers first team to go into the playoffs on a 16 game win streak and a much better 3 pt shooting team with Bellenelli and Ilyasova instead of Booker and Bayless, 3 pt shooting is going to be critical with Brett Brown saying he wants his center Embiid to take 8 3s a game. If they sweep Miami that says they're very good and a chance to play a BOS team w/o Kyrie makes them my dark horse pick to go to the EC finals. Embiid definitely out for game 1 but he's close, practicing with the team so I expect him back in the 1st round some time and Fultz will be in the rotation for the playoffs.




First-round NBA playoff schedule, TV times

(All times Eastern; *If necessary)
Eastern Conference

(1) Raptors vs. (8) Wizards
Game 1 — April 14, at Toronto, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
Game 2 — April 17, at Toronto, 7 p.m., NBA TV
Game 3 — April 20, at Washington, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Game 4 — April 22, at Washington, 6 p.m., TNT
*Game 5 — April 25, at Toronto, TBD
*Game 6 — April 27, at Washington, TBD
*Game 7 — April 29, at Toronto, TBD
(2) Celtics vs. (7) Bucks
Game 1 — April 15, at Boston, 1 p.m., TNT
Game 2 — April 17, at Boston, 8 p.m., TNT
Game 3 — April 20, at Milwaukee, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Game 4 — April 22, at Milwaukee, 1 p.m., ABC
*Game 5 — April 24, at Boston, TBD
*Game 6 — April 26, at Milwaukee, TBD
*Game 7 — April 28, at Boston, TBD
(3) 76ers vs. (6) Heat
Game 1 — April 14, at Philadelphia, 8 p.m., ESPN
Game 2 — April 16, at Philadelphia, 8 p.m., TNT
Game 3 — April 19, at Miami, 7 p.m., TNT
Game 4 — April 21, at Miami, 2:30 p.m., TNT
*Game 5 — April 24, at Philadelphia, TBD
*Game 6 — April 26, at Miami, TBD
*Game 7 — April 28, at Philadelphia, TBD
(4) Cavs vs. (5) Pacers
Game 1 — April 15, at Cleveland, 3:30 p.m., ABC
Game 2 — April 18, at Cleveland, 7 p.m., TNT
Game 3 — April 20, at Indiana, 7 p.m., ESPN
Game 4 — April 22, at Indiana, 8:30 p.m., TNT
*Game 5 — April 25, at Cleveland, TBD
*Game 6 — April 27, at Indiana, TBD
*Game 7 — April 29, at Cleveland, TBD
Western Conference

(1) Rockets vs. (8) Timberwolves
Game 1 — April 15, at Houston, 9 p.m., TNT
Game 2 — April 18, at Houston, 9:30 p.m., TNT
Game 3 — April 21, at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
Game 4 — April 23, at Minnesota, 8 p.m. TNT
*Game 5 — April 25, at Houston, TBD
*Game 6 — April 27, at Minnesota, TBD
*Game 7 — April 29, at Houston, TBD
(2) Warriors vs. (7) Spurs
Game 1 — April 14, at Golden State, 3 p.m., ABC
Game 2 — April 16, at Golden State, 10:30 p.m., TNT
Game 3 — April 19, at San Antonio, 9:30 p.m., TNT
Game 4 — April 22, at San Antonio, 3:30 p.m., ABC
*Game 5 — April 24, at Golden State, TBD
*Game 6 — April 26, at San Antonio, TBD
*Game 7 — April 28, at Golden State, TBD
(3) Trail Blazers vs. (6) Pelicans
Game 1 — April 14, at Portland, 10:30 p.m., ESPN
Game 2 — April 17, at Portland, 10:30 p.m., TNT
Game 3 — April 19, at New Orleans, 9 p.m., NBA TV
Game 4 — April 21, at New Orleans, 5 p.m., TNT
*Game 5 — April 24, at Portland, TBD
*Game 6 — April 26, at New Orleans, TBD
*Game 7 — April 28, at Portland, TBD
(4) Thunder vs. (5) Jazz
Game 1 — April 15, at Oklahoma City, 6:30 p.m., TNT
Game 2 — April 18, at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m., NBA TV
Game 3 — April 21, at Utah, 10 p.m., ESPN
Game 4 — April 23, at Utah, 10:30 p.m., TNT
*Game 5 — April 25, at Oklahoma City, TBD
*Game 6 — April 27, at Utah, TBD
*Game 7 — April 29, at Oklahoma City, TBD

Nice Playoff Thread .. Tiger !!!
I hope we have a healthy postseason!

This year playoffs will be 100 % better than last years injury-prone playoffs.
It looks like a 50-50 chance for several teams to make the conference finals this season.
Will number 1 seed Raptors bump-heads vs number 1-seed Rockets in the Finals?
Will 2-seed Boston or 2-seed GSW make enough noise to go to the conference finals?
How far do you think the young-core Philly 76ers will go in the postseason games?
The Lebron Cavs could be scary but this playoff Cavs team dont look built like their previous season teams.
OKC Leader-Westbrook & Co., Plus Portland Leaders-Lillard/McCollum both teams will be fighting tooth n Nails for a series win to make it to the conference finals.

I dont see two many sweeps coming in the first round. Great!
Raptors vs Wizards .. 6 games Raptors
Rockets vs Wolves .. sweep Rockets
Celtrics vs Bucks .. 6 games Celtrics
GSW vs Spurs .. 7 games GSW
Philly vs Miami .. 7 games Philly
Blazers vs Pelicans .. 6 games Blazers
Cavs vs Pacers .. 7 games Cavs
Thunders vs Jazz .. 6 games Thunders

Great thread, tig.

The Pelicans are taking it all.

Imagine playing in a playoff game and not game 13 in the regular season and this call isn't made...

This game is close at the moment just a possession game

This was a sneaky skilled grown man move

I was impressed with the Sixers like I said above and they destroyed MIA tonight. They are scary good, dominating teams without Joel. Said Bellinelli and Ilyasova were good pickups but they have to be the best prorated 1.5M any team ever spent for a playoff push, 42 pts between them.

tiger0330 said:

I was impressed with the Sixers like I said above and they destroyed MIA tonight. They are scary good, dominating teams without Joel. Said Bellinelli and Ilyasova were good pickups but they have to be the best prorated 1.5M any team ever spent for a playoff push, 42 pts between them.

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If they have a great Playoffs/Finals, their off-season could be crazy.

RunningJumper said:

If they have a great Playoffs/Finals, their off-season could be crazy.

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Co-signed. 2 first round picks and 4 second rounders. Lot of flexibility cap wise, they could make a play for Lebron and he might say yes if they go far in the playoffs.

tiger0330 said:

Co-signed. 2 first round picks and 4 second rounders. Lot of flexibility cap wise, they could make a play for Lebron and he might say yes if they go far in the playoffs.

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Or trade for a better fit in Kawhi(if he truly wants out of SA), which I'm skeptical of

Lebron will definitely go to PHI, if he leaves CLE and can?t convince a KL or PG and some accessories to join him in LaK.

I think he?s smart enough to know if he joins PHI, he ends his career going to another 3 Finals with Sixers....


And, if Lebron says no then Philly could easily trade for KL.

tiger0330 said:

Co-signed. 2 first round picks and 4 second rounders. Lot of flexibility cap wise, they could make a play for Lebron and he might say yes if they go far in the playoffs.

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Didn't know about the picks. That could wind up amazing.

On The Jump not long again one of the woman who's on there sometimes brought up her idea of them trading for Kawhi and signing LeBron. I wonder if this is possible. I also wonder if they'd be better off not trading any of their players. Reddick is on a one year deal now and deserves more than the minimum. They might not even need another star, but we'll see how they do in the Playoffs/Finals.

The first Games of the Playoffs .. Part 1

GSW 113 - Spurs 92 ..
The Kawhi-Less Spurs were no match last year vs GSW .. the Curryless Warriors first game win of the series today were to easy .. I wonder if coach Pop could pull one or two wins from up his sleeve in the series?

Raptors 114 - Wizards 106 ..
The Raptors 4th quarter charge won the game .. The Wizards are going to make it a tough series for the Raptors.

Philly 76ers 130 - Miami Heat 103 ..
The first half of the game it was any body game, the 2nd half of the game JJ Redick gets the MVP for scoring/passing/steals/and court leadership to out-score the Heat by 31 pts in the 2nd half for the blowout win.

NO Pelicans 97 - Blazers 95 ..
The Pelicans Anthony Davis grabbed the first game win of the series on Blazers home-court.

I'm really impressed with the Sixers and what they've done in these past months. I can see them in the EC finals but can they advance and face the Rockets?

tiger0330 said:

I was impressed with the Sixers like I said above and they destroyed MIA tonight. They are scary good, dominating teams without Joel. Said Bellinelli and Ilyasova were good pickups but they have to be the best prorated 1.5M any team ever spent for a playoff push, 42 pts between them.

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I been impressed by the 76ers co-existing same-page performance all season long!

The young-core Philly 76ers really dont need to add or subtract to their roster in the off-season ..
The 76ers roster only need a couple years of playing-time experience to enhance their Growth in becoming a consistent FINALS Team!
Philly has 4 star-players in their starting-lineup in Embiid / Saric / Reddick / Simmons, plus having a young dynamic athletic 6th Man PG-Fultz in the rotation with so many star role-players in Covington / Amir / Belinelli / McConnell / Ilyasova / Holmes

Good game up in BOS. Brogdon ties it with a big 3 with about 14 secs left and then Rozier shakes off Bledsoe with a crossover to counter with a 3, terrible D by Bledsoe allowing Rozier about 10 ft to get off his shot. Then Middleton hits a 35 ft 3 pt prayer at the buzzer to send it to OT.

tiger0330 said:

Good game up in BOS. Brogdon ties it with a big 3 with about 14 secs left and then Rozier shakes off Bledsoe with a crossover to counter with a 3, terrible D by Bledsoe allowing Rozier about 10 ft to get off his shot. Then Middleton hits a 35 ft 3 pt prayer at the buzzer to send it to OT.

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That game was bananas

What an insane game. I caught up with the score but only tuned in with a couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter. That game tier was crazy, would love to see a Bucks victory in game 2

tiger0330 said:

Good game up in BOS. Brogdon ties it with a big 3 with about 14 secs left and then Rozier shakes off Bledsoe with a crossover to counter with a 3, terrible D by Bledsoe allowing Rozier about 10 ft to get off his shot. Then Middleton hits a 35 ft 3 pt prayer at the buzzer to send it to OT.

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WOW! That was a nice exciting OVERTIME playoff game to watch on Sunday afternoon from the Bucks vs Boston ..
Giannis and Middleton were holding it down for the Bucks .. But Horford's strong team leadership still has the Celtricks playing at a winning level, Boston's Summer League Tandem of "Tatum & J.Brown" has transform their performance to the next-level again for a Boston 113 - 107 over-time win in the postseason.
Rozier stepped up his performance throughout the game to show the Bucks veteran PG Bledsoe are not the PG you want in a postseason game. Bledsoe & Parker performance were the pits!

I maybe completely wrong about the Cavs beating TOR and getting to the EC finals with LeBron playing his best bball at the end of the season and KLove back for the playoffs. Hard to win with a career journeyman like Jeff Green starting and scoring zero points and the Lakers weren't stupid enough to dump Clarkson and Nance if they were all-stars. LeBron loses a first game one in the first round in his career. Oladipo was sensational.

Pacers beat Cavs in Cleveland 98-80

The Pacers head Coach Nate McMillan did not give the Lebron Cavs a chance to breath comfortable for 48 minutes ..
The Pacers grabbed a 33-14 lead over the Cavs in the first quarter, holding the Cavs to just 80 pts for a first game loss in Cleveland. The Cavs veteran Jeff Green has never been a post-season player you want on the court to win.
Green / Hill / and Hood's performance were the pits!