NBA playoff guide: Who plays when, how to watch, what the odds are
Posted/updated on: May 15, 2025 at 5:10 am
The Indiana Pacers are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder are one win away from the Western Conference Finals. The New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves could lock up trips to the NBA’s final four on Wednesday as well.
And the injury bug that has hit these NBA playoffs keeps getting worse.
The Pacers eliminated top-seeded Cleveland on Tuesday night, winning that East second-round series 4-1. The top-seeded Thunder finished with a flourish to beat Denver and take a 3-2 lead in their West second-round series. Those results came after the news that Boston’s Jayson Tatum had surgery Tuesday to repair his ruptured right Achilles — meaning his season is over and his 2025-26 season is in some doubt now as well.
The Celtics have to win on Wednesday to extend their series against the Knicks, while Minnesota can close out Golden State in their West second-round series. The Warriors will be without Stephen Curry in Game 5 — his fourth consecutive game missed with a hamstring strain. The Warriors said Wednesday that Curry is improving and has been cleared for light court work and shooting drills.
If the Warriors win Wednesday, Curry will be evaluated again Saturday ahead of a possible Game 6 on Sunday.
Wednesday’s national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — New York at Boston (TNT)
9:30 p.m. — Golden State at Minnesota (TNT)
Thursday’s national TV schedule
All times Eastern
8:30 p.m. — Oklahoma City at Denver (ESPN)
Friday’s national TV schedule
All times Eastern
8 p.m. — Boston at New York (ESPN), if necessary
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+135) remains the big favorite to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, and now New York (+500) is the second choice — after Boston had been in that spot for the entirety of the playoffs until this week.
Minnesota is +600, Indiana is +650, Boston and Denver are both at +3000 and Golden State is +20000.
An Indy doubleheader
Mark your calendars, then start your engines.
For the first time since 2013, Indianapolis will play host to the Indianapolis 500 and a Pacers home game on the same day.
It’ll happen May 25. The race starts the day, then Game 3 of the East finals is that night in Indy.
Award season
There’s no word yet on when the NBA will announce this season’s MVP. It’ll be Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic or Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Also coming in the next few weeks: the All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams.
Other awards so far:
— Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti won executive of the year.
— Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson won coach of the year. He also won the same award from the National Basketball Coaches Association.
— Boston’s Jrue Holiday won the social justice award and the sportsmanship award.
— Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels won most improved player.
— San Antonio’s Stephon Castle won rookie of the year.
— 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.
Scoring leaders
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
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
39 — Jalen Brunson, New York vs. Boston, May 12
39 — Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers at Denver, April 21
Key upcoming events
May 18 or 20 — Game 1, Western Conference finals.
May 19 or 21 — Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.
June 2 — Last possible date for Game 7 of Eastern Conference finals.
June 3 — Last possible date for Game 7 of the Western 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.
Draft lottery
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 on Monday night in Chicago.
— Mavs win lottery
— Rick Welts has seen this before
Stories of note
— Preview of Wednesday’s games: Warriors-Timberwolves, Knicks-Celtics
— Pat Riley speaks: On Heat future, on Jimmy Butler, on being 80
— These are the playoffs of the big comeback, where no 20-point lead is safe.
— Gregg Popovich’s new job: ‘El Jefe’
— Spurs coach Gregg Popovich steps down.
— Mitch Johnson takes over for Pop in San Antonio.
— Appreciation: Gregg Popovich changed the NBA.
— A look inside the numbers of this season, headed into the playoffs
Comeback season
There have been five 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)
Stats of the day
— Oklahoma City’s Luguentz Dort has four games in these playoffs with at least eight 3-point tries and zero 2-point tries. The only players to do that more in a single postseason were Miami teammates Jae Crowder and Duncan Robinson, who did it five times apiece in the bubble in 2020.
— The first 3-pointer made in the Knicks-Celtics game Wednesday will be the 35,000th in the league this season — sort of, but not really. The current total of 34,999 also includes the play-in tournament and NBA Cup championship game, which aren’t officially counted toward league stats. (The actual number right now is 34,828, still an overall league record and with plenty of time left to get to 35,000 for real.)
— The Pacers went 5-0 at Cleveland this season — while the rest of the league went 5-36 on the Cavs’ home floor. They’re the first team to go 5-0 or better on an opposing team’s home floor in a season since Boston did it to Milwaukee in 1985-86. The Celtics technically went 6-0 “at” Toronto in 2019-20, but some of those games were in the bubble.
Quote of the day
“We’re different than every other team in the NBA. You know, we don’t just have one guy who scores all the points. I think we defeat teams in different ways. We move the ball. The ball’s flying. We’ve got a lot of different guys making shots, making plays. We’ve preached our depth for the last couple years and it’s paying off now.” — Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton, after the Pacers reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season.
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