{"id":709343,"date":"2026-04-13T01:18:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T01:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/709343\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T01:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T01:18:32","slug":"2026-nba-playoffs-schedule-scores-news-and-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/709343\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NBA playoffs: Schedule, scores, news and highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NBA playoffs<\/a> are set to begin Saturday, April 18, rolling all the way until the middle of June. It’s sure to be an exciting run toward the NBA Finals, which begin June 3 and will be broadcast by ABC.<\/p>\n

Can the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, who locked in their third straight 1-seed in the Western Conference, repeat as champions? Which team will emerge from the crowded East field? Could there be upsets throughout the 16-team field?<\/p>\n

The playoff bracket isn’t set just yet, however. The play-in tournament begins Tuesday, with the Nos. 7 through 10 seeds playing to determine which teams get to face the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in each conference.<\/p>\n

After the play-in tournament concludes Friday, April 17, the playoffs begin with four games on Saturday. Eight teams from each conference reach the first round and face off in a best-of-seven series to advance. All four rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven, and teams are not reseeded after each round. The team with the better regular-season record in each series will have home-court advantage for that series. All series are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the team with the better record hosting Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 (if necessary).<\/p>\n

Here’s what we know about the Eastern Conference playoff brackets, with the West being finalized later Sunday night:<\/p>\n

Full NBA playoff bracket<\/p>\n

Eastern Conference<\/p>\n

1. Detroit Pistons<\/a> vs. 8. Play-in winner TBD
2. Boston Celtics<\/a> vs. 7. Play-in winner TBD
3. New York Knicks<\/a> vs. 6. Atlanta Hawks<\/a>
4. Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> vs. 5. Toronto Raptors<\/a><\/p>\n

Eastern Conference play-in<\/p>\n

7. Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> vs. 8. Orlando Magic<\/a>
9. Charlotte Hornets<\/a> vs. 10. Miami Heat<\/a>
Loser 7\/8 vs. Winner 9\/10<\/p>\n

Play-in tournament schedule<\/p>\n

Eastern Conference<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

(8) Orlando Magic<\/a> at (7) Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>
Wednesday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

(10) Miami Heat<\/a> at (9) C<\/a>harlotte Hornets<\/a>
Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Winner 9\/10 at Loser 7\/8
Friday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

How the games will work:<\/p>\n

Game 1s: Each conference’s No. 7 team in the standings will host the No. 8 team, with the winner earning the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The losing teams get another chance in their respective conference’s Game 3.<\/p>\n

Game 2s: Each conference’s No. 9 team will host the No. 10 team, with the winner moving on to Game 3. The losers are eliminated and enter the NBA draft lottery.<\/p>\n

Game 3s: The losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 matchups will host the winners of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 matchups, with the victors grabbing each conference’s No. 8 seed in the postseason. The losers of Game 3 enter the NBA draft lottery.<\/p>\n

Eastern Conference first round\"\"<\/p>\n

Game 1: at Detroit
Game 2: at Detroit
Game 3: at Play-in winner
Game 4: at Play-in winner
Game 5 (if necessary): at Detroit
Game 6 (if necessary): at Play-in winner
Game 7 (if necessary): at Detroit<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game 1: at Boston
Game 2: at Boston
Game 3: at Play-in winner
Game 4: at Play-in winner
Game 5 (if necessary): at Boston
Game 6 (if necessary): at Play-in winner
Game 7 (if necessary): at Boston<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Game 1: at New York
Game 2: at New York
Game 3: at Atlanta
Game 4: at Atlanta
Game 5 (if necessary): at New York
Game 6 (if necessary): at Atlanta
Game 7 (if necessary): at New York<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Game 1: at Cleveland
Game 2: at Cleveland
Game 3: at Toronto
Game 4: at Toronto
Game 5 (if necessary): at Cleveland
Game 6 (if necessary): at Toronto
Game 7 (if necessary): at Cleveland<\/p>\n

NBA Finals schedule<\/p>\n

The 2026 NBA Finals will begin Wednesday, June 3, with each game tipping off at 8:30 p.m. ET. ABC will broadcast every matchup.<\/p>\n

Game 1: Wednesday, June 3
Game 2: Friday, June 5
Game 3: Monday, June 8
Game 4: Wednesday, June 10
Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, June 13
Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 16
Game 7 (if necessary): Friday, June 19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NBA playoffs are set to begin Saturday, April 18, rolling all the way until the middle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-709343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116394769056405682","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}