NBA playoff guide: Who plays when, how to watch, what the odds are
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By The
Associated Press
Oklahoma City is in the NBA Finals. Indiana could join the Thunder there on Saturday night.
The Pacers play host to the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. If the Pacers win, they're headed to Oklahoma City. If the Knicks win, there will be a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
The Knicks controlled virtually the entire game on Thursday night to beat the Pacers 111-94 in Game 5 and get within 3-2 in the East title series.
Game 1 of the finals is Thursday in Oklahoma City.
The Knicks became the eighth team to win a game when facing elimination this season.
Houston and Denver both successfully fended off elimination twice before seeing their seasons end. Detroit, Golden State, the Los Angeles Clippers, Boston, Oklahoma City and now New York all have done so once.
Indiana is the only team that has yet to play a win-or-else game in these playoffs.
Teams are 10-13 so far in win-or-else games this postseason.
A recap of Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's winning of the NBA MVP award.
The story: Gilgeous-Alexander tops Jokic for MVP award
The reaction: SGA tears up when talking about his wife
Steve Nash speaks: Canada's 1st MVP thrilled to see SGA follow him
8 p.m. EDT — New York at Indiana (TNT)
8 p.m. EDT — Indiana at New York (TNT), if necessary
Oklahoma City (-750) is an even bigger favorite now to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Indiana (+700) remains the second choice, followed by New York (+1500).
The Pacers are a 3.5-point favorite over New York on Saturday.
East (all 8 p.m. EDT) — Game 1, Indiana 138, New York 135, OT; Game 2, Indiana 114, New York 109; Game 3, New York 106, Indiana 100; Game 4, Indiana 130, New York 121; Game 5, New York 111, Indiana 94; Game 6 at Indiana on Saturday; Game 7 at New York on Monday.
June 5 — Game 1, at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 8 — Game 2, at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m. EDT
June 11 — Game 3, at Indiana or New York, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 13 — Game 4, at Indiana or New York, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 16 — Game 5, at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 19 — Game 6, at Indiana or New York, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 22 — Game 7, at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8 p.m. EDT
(And good news: No NBA Finals games conflict with Stanley Cup Final dates!)
The All-NBA team had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell on the first team, and LeBron James — at 40 years old — making an All-NBA team for the 21st time.
Other awards this season:
— Cleveland's Kenny Atkinson won coach of the year.
— Boston's Jrue Holiday won the social justice award and the sportsmanship award.
The highest-scoring games by players so far in this year's playoffs:
48 — Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland vs. Indiana, May 6
44 — Nikola Jokic, Denver at Oklahoma City, May 13
43 — Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland vs. Indiana, May 9
43 — Jamal Murray, Denver vs. LA Clippers, April 29
43 — Anthony Edwards, Minnesota vs. LA Lakers, April 27
43 — Jalen Brunson, New York vs. Indiana, May 21
42 — Jayson Tatum, Boston at New York, May 12
42 — Nikola Jokic, Denver at Oklahoma City, May 5
40 — Jalen Brunson, New York at Detroit, May 1
40 — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City at Minnesota, May 26
39 — Jalen Brunson, New York vs. Boston, May 12
39 — Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers at Denver, April 21
39 — Pascal Siakam, Indiana at New York, May 23
Monday — Last possible date for Game 7 of Eastern Conference finals.
June 5 — Game 1, NBA Finals. (Other games: June 8, June 11, June 13, June 16, June 19 and Game 7, if necessary, will be June 22.)
June 25 — NBA draft, first round.
June 26 — NBA draft, second round.
Dallas had 1.8% odds to win the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery — but overcame those odds and now has the opportunity to draft Cooper Flagg. The Mavericks won the lottery last Monday night in Chicago.
The Knicks — again — added to the list in Game 3 of the East finals.
There have been six wins by teams that trailed by 20 points or more so far in these playoffs. That's the most in any postseason during the play-by-play era, which started with the 1997 playoffs.
The biggest deficits that were successfully overcome:
29 — Oklahoma City at Memphis, April 24 (Thunder won 114-108)
20 — Indiana vs. Milwaukee, April 29 (Pacers won 119-118)
20 — New York at Boston, May 5 (Knicks won 108-105)
20 — Indiana at Cleveland, May 6 (Pacers won 120-119)
20 — New York at Boston, May 7 (Knicks won 91-90)
20 — New York at Indiana, May 25 (Knicks won 106-100)
Indiana has pulled off three last-minute rallies from at least seven points down to win in these playoffs:
— April 29: Trailed Milwaukee 118-111 with 34.6 seconds left in overtime, won 119-118.
— May 6: Trailed Cleveland 119-112 with 48 seconds left, won 120-119.
— May 21: Trailed New York 121-112 with 51.1 seconds left in regulation, won 138-135 in overtime.
— Jalen Brunson is two 3-pointers away from 100 in his Knicks playoff career. He'll be the second Knicks player to reach that mark (John Starks, 175).
— Myles Turner enters Saturday with 116 career playoff blocks. That's third in Pacers playoff history (in their NBA era, anyway); he's four behind leader Jermaine O'Neal and three behind Dale Davis.
— Game 6 of the East finals will be New York's 100th game of the season. It will mark only the third time in Knicks history that the team plays 100 games in a season (107 in 1993-94, 101 in 1969-70).
"Our backs are against the wall. I wasn’t thinking, ‘I need to play better than him.’ I was just thinking, ‘I need to help my team win.’ And that's my mindset every time I'm on the court.” — Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, asked about going up against Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton.
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