NBA playoff guide: Who plays when, how to watch, what the odds are
Stephen Curry made a wild shot. Oklahoma City made a lot of shots.
Day 2 of the NBA playoffs had four games, all of them decided by double digits. The Thunder routed Memphis by 51 points, the fifth-biggest margin in NBA postseason history to take Game 1 of that series.
Cleveland beat Miami 121-100, Boston beat Orlando 103-86 and Golden State downed Houston 95-85. The Warriors led by as many as 23 in that game, with Curry’s viral 3-pointer midway through the third quarter pushing the margin to 64-41.
And now come a pair of Game 2s on Monday, with New York trying to take a 2-0 lead over Detroit and Denver seeking a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Monday’s national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7:30 p.m. — Detroit at New York (TNT/truTV)
10 p.m. — L.A. Clippers at Denver (TNT/truTV)
Tuesday’s national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — Milwaukee at Indiana (NBA TV)
7:30 p.m. — Memphis at Oklahoma City (TNT/truTV)
10 p.m. — Minnesota at L.A. Lakers (TNT/truTV)
Wednesday’s national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — Orlando at Boston (TNT/truTV)
7:30 p.m. — Miami at Cleveland (NBA TV)
9:30 p.m. — Golden State at Houston (TNT/truTV)
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+165) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200). After that, it’s Cleveland (+600), Golden State (+1400), the Los Angeles Lakers (+1600), Denver (+2500), New York (+2800), then Minnesota and the Los Angeles Clippers (both +3500).
From there, it’s some real long shots: Indiana (+6600), Houston (+8000), Milwaukee (+12500), Detroit (+50000), Miami (+75000), and then Memphis and Orlando (both +100000).
Golden State, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, is favored (-375) to win its series against No. 2 seed Houston. The Warriors entered that matchup favored, and Sunday’s win moved those odds even more.
Key upcoming events
Monday — Draft lottery tiebreaker is held at 3 p.m. Eastern.
April 26 — NBA early entry deadline.
May 3 — Earliest possible start date for Round 2 of the playoffs. Series could also start on May 4, May 5 or May 6.
Stories of note
—Preview of Monday’s games: Pistons-Knicks, Clippers-Nuggets.
— The NBA finalists for seven awards are released.
— The playoffs could be wide-open. Again.
— A look inside the numbers of this season, headed into the playoffs.
— Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson wins NBCA coach of the year award.
Stats of the day
— Teams that took a double-digit lead in Game 1s over the weekend went 7-1. The Clippers blew a 15-point lead to Denver; every other team that led by 10 or more went on to win.
— The five teams that were favored by six or more points (Oklahoma City, Boston, Cleveland, New York and Indiana), according to BetMGM Sportsbook, went 5-0 over the weekend. The three favorites of less than six points (the Lakers, Denver and Houston) went 0-3.
— Golden State coach Steve Kerr is now the seventh coach with 100 playoff wins. He’s tied with Larry Brown on the all-time list, behind Phil Jackson (229), Pat Riley (171), Gregg Popovich (170), Doc Rivers (113) and Erik Spoelstra (110).
— Stephen Curry also joined the 100 club; he played in his 100th playoff win on Sunday for the Warriors, while Draymond Green tied Klay Thompson for most games played (158) and most games won (108) in Warriors playoff history. That doesn’t count play-in games, which are not officially recognized in NBA all-time statistics.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba