We have a Round 2 matchup: It'll be Cleveland vs. Indiana in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The NBA playoffs have 12 teams left in the race for the Larry O'Brien Trophy — and that number may drop by one or two on Wednesday night.
Cleveland and Oklahoma City — the No. 1 seeds in the East and West — were already in the conference semifinal round. Indiana and Boston joined them on Tuesday night; the Pacers erased a seven-point deficit in the final 40 seconds or so of overtime to stun and eliminate Milwaukee, while Boston ended its game on a 67-36 run to oust Orlando.
Denver took a 3-2 lead in its West series against the Los Angeles Clippers, and Detroit topped New York to stave off elimination and force a Game 6 in the Motor City on Thursday night.
On Wednesday, Golden State and Minnesota will look to clinch series on the road — both taking 3-1 leads into Game 5s. The Warriors are at Houston and the Timberwolves visit LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Wednesday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7:30 p.m. — Golden State at Houston (TNT/truTV/Max)
10 p.m. — Minnesota at LA Lakers (TNT/truTV/Max)
Thursday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7:30 p.m. — New York at Detroit (TNT)
10 p.m. — Denver at LA Clippers (TNT)
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+150) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200). After that, it's Cleveland (+450), Golden State (+1500), Minnesota (+2500), Denver (+3500), the Los Angeles Lakers (+4000), the Los Angeles Clippers (+4000), New York (+4000) and Indiana (+5000).
From there, it's Houston (+15000) and Detroit (+50000).
The No. 6 and No. 7 seeds in the Western Conference are both favored to advance. Golden State (-1000) is favored over No. 2 Houston, and Minnesota (-500) is favored over the third-seeded Lakers.
Award season
When it comes to rookie of the year awards, the Spurs have gone back-to-back.
San Antonio's Stephon Castle was announced as this year's top rookie on Tuesday, after Spurs teammates Victor Wembanyama won it last year.
On Wednesday, the most improved player — Cade Cunningham of Detroit, Dyson Daniels of Atlanta, or Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers — will be announced at 7 p.m. EDT on TNT.
The league's sportsmanship award will be announced Thursday at noon.
Other awards so far:
— Golden State's Stephen Curry won the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award.
— Golden State's Draymond Green won the hustle award.
— Cleveland’s Evan Mobley won defensive player of the year.
— New York's Jalen Brunson won clutch player of the year.
— Boston's Payton Pritchard won sixth man of the year.
The league has not announced a schedule for other awards — including MVP and coach of the year — along with All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams.
LeBron down 3-1
This is the sixth time that a LeBron James-led team has faced a 3-1 deficit in the NBA playoffs. A look at how the previous five turned out:
— 2009 (with Cleveland), Eastern Conference quarterfinals vs. Orlando, lost in 6
— 2014 (with Miami), NBA Finals vs. San Antonio, lost in 5
— 2016 (with Cleveland), NBA Finals vs. Golden State, won in 7
— 2017 (with Cleveland), NBA Finals vs. Golden State, lost in 5
— 2024 (with LA Lakers), Western Conference quarterfinals vs. Denver, lost in 5
Key upcoming events
Saturday — Earliest possible start date for Round 2 of the playoffs. The Cleveland-Indiana series will start Sunday.
May 12 — Draft lottery, Chicago.
May 18 or 20 — Game 1, Western Conference finals.
May 19 or 21 — Game 1, 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.
Stories of note
— Preview of Wednesday's games: Warriors-Rockets, Timberwolves-Lakers.
— Tyrese Haliburton wasn't happy with his dad's postgame celebration.
— Doc Rivers says Damian Lillard isn't going out like this.
— A Kobe Bryant mural was vandalized. Luka Doncic is paying to restore it.
— The Kings are keeping Doug Christie as their coach, after he served as interim.
— 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
— The weirdest streak continued. Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double for the Bucks in their loss to Indiana — making it six consecutive playoff triple-doubles in losses, extending the longest streak in NBA history. (Cade Cunningham on April 27, Nikola Jokic on April 24, Jokic on April 21, Luka Doncic on June 9 and Doncic on May 28 had the others.)
— And then that streak ended a few hours later. Jokic got a triple-double in Denver's win over the Clippers.
— Antetokounmpo had the sixth triple-double of at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in NBA playoff history. Jokic has three, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain had the others. Despite how great those stat lines were, their teams went 3-3 in those six games.
— Teams with leads of seven or more points in overtime had gone 97-1 in those games since November 2021, before Milwaukee wasted such a lead in the final 35 seconds of its season-ending game against Indiana. (The other loss also came this season, when Miami wasted an eight-point OT lead and lost to Detroit on Dec. 16.)
— Boston, which set NBA records this season for 3-pointers made and attempted, didn't have one in the first half Tuesday against Orlando. The Celtics had made at least one 3-pointer by halftime in 389 consecutive games, including playoffs, before Tuesday. It didn't hold the Celtics back; they pulled away in the third quarter and finished off a 4-1 series win.
— More on the Celtics. NBA teams have now won 1,050 playoff games when trailing at halftime. Boston was the first to do so and win by at least 30 points; the Celtics won by 31.
— The Knicks haven't won a series-clinching opportunity at home since 1999. Tuesday's loss dropped them to 0-5 in such games in the last quarter-century.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
The Associated Press
