NBA playoff guide: Who plays when, how to watch, what the odds are

Cleveland is into Round and won by points to get there Golden State is on the brink of Round and had to fight until the very last second to get into that position In the NBA playoffs how you win doesn t matter The Cavaliers swept Miami and finished off the the majority one-sided series in NBA playoff history to earn their spot in the Eastern Conference semifinals The Warriors dug deep to beat Houston and take a - lead in that Western Conference first-round series There are four games Tuesday Indiana can oust Milwaukee New York can oust Detroit Boston can oust Orlando and the Los Angeles Clippers-Denver winner will take a - lead in that series Tuesday s national TV schedule All times Eastern p m Milwaukee at Indiana NBA TV p m Detroit at New York TNT p m Orlando at Boston NBA TV p m LA Clippers at Denver TNT Wednesday s national TV schedule All times Eastern p m Golden State at Houston TNT truTV Max p m Minnesota at LA Lakers TNT truTV Max Betting odds Oklahoma City is favored to win the NBA title according to BetMGM Sportsbook followed closely by Boston After that it s Cleveland Golden State the Los Angeles Clippers Minnesota the Los Angeles Lakers New York Indiana and Denver From there it s Houston Milwaukee Detroit and Orlando The No No and No seeds in the Western Conference are all favored to advance Golden State - is favored over No Houston Minnesota - is favored over the third-seeded Lakers and the Clippers - are a slight favorite over No Denver Award season On Tuesday the rookie of the year Stephon Castle of San Antonio Zaccharie Risacher of Atlanta or Jaylen Wells of Memphis will be unveiled at p m EDT on TNT On Wednesday the the bulk improved sportsman Cade Cunningham of Detroit Dyson Daniels of Atlanta or Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers will be released also at p m EDT on TNT The league s sportsmanship award will be reported 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 competitor 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 publicized a schedule for other awards including MVP and coach of the year along with All-NBA All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams LeBron down - This is the sixth time that a LeBron James-led club has faced a - deficit in the NBA playoffs A look at how the previous five turned out with Cleveland Eastern Conference quarterfinals vs Orlando lost in with Miami NBA Finals vs San Antonio lost in with Cleveland NBA Finals vs Golden State won in with Cleveland NBA Finals vs Golden State lost in with LA Lakers Western Conference quarterfinals vs Denver lost in Key upcoming events Saturday Earliest manageable start date for Round of the playoffs Series could also start on May May or May May Draft lottery Chicago May or Event Western Conference finals May or Tournament Eastern Conference finals June Match NBA Finals Other games June June June June June and Meeting if necessary will be June June NBA draft first round June NBA draft second round Stories of note Preview of Tuesday s games Magic-Celtics Pistons-Knicks Bucks-Pacers Clippers-Nuggets Damian Lillard demands surgery on his torn Achilles The Pistons and Lakers both were on the wrong end of missed calls Sunday Changes will come in Miami Kevin Love s father first-round pick Stan Love passes away The Thunder are getting time off 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 Playoff Jimmy strikes again Warriors forward Jimmy Butler had nine clutch-time that s the last minutes of games with a margin of five points or less points in Golden State s Championship win over Houston Since the bubble playoffs in until now Butler s clutch-time points is the largest part in the NBA The biggest win in Cleveland history was a -point romp over Miami in And now the biggest win in Cleveland playoff history and second-biggest win overall is also over Miami the -point supremacy in Challenge to finish off the sweep For the first time since Golden State had two -point scorers in a playoff event and neither was named Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson Jimmy Butler had and Brandin Podziemski added for the Warriors in Challenge Cleveland scored points in the four games against Miami That s the second-most in a four-game series Toronto scored in a four-game bubble sweep against Brooklyn in AP NBA https apnews com nba Source