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At long last, the first day of the 2017 NBA playoffs has arrived, and Saturday has a four-game slate to kick off the postseason after an 82-game affair.
Kicking off the weekend’s festivities are LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are on a quest to repeat as NBA champions and emerge from the Eastern Conference for the third straight season. They’ll take on Paul George and the Indiana Pacers, who recently re-signed Lance Stephenson — a talented wing disruptor who has a lengthy history getting underneath James’s skin.
Here’s how we picked the Cavs-Pacers series.
The following showdown is an interesting three-six matchup between the stacked Toronto Raptors and a Milwaukee Bucks team led by Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Raptors welcomed back Kyle Lowry from a wrist injury and ended the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the league. It’s a tall order for a Bucks team just scratching the surface of what they can accomplish in the future.
Here’s how we picked the Raptors-Bucks series.
Saturday’s third game is a grind-it-out matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies. The Spurs have a new face, Kawhi Leonard, who makes the show run on both ends of the floor. The Grizzlies still have Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, and Marc Gasol, but it’ll be tough for Memphis to compete with San Antonio’s sustained excellence over the years.
Here’s how we picked the Spurs-Grizzlies series.
Finally, Saturday night ends with the toughest first-round matchup to call: The Los Angeles Clippers versus the Utah Jazz. The two teams jockeyed back and forth for playoff position, resulting in a tie with a regular season record of 51-31. But the Clippers won the season series, 3-1, and took the fourth seed (and home court advantage) into the playoffs. It’ll be a hard-fought matchup between two teams with dominant defensive-minded centers, and each team could stand to lose something going forward as a result of a first-round exit.
Here’s how we picked the Clippers-Jazz series.
NBA Saturday is sure to pique fans’ collective interest in how the playoff picture will shape going forward. Here’s the schedule for the first day of the postseason.
All times Eastern
No. 2 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 7 Indiana Pacers
Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland
Time: 3 p.m.
Channel: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN
No. 3 Toronto Raptors vs. No. 6 Milwaukee Bucks
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto
When: 5:30 p.m.
Channel: ESPN, FSWI, Sportsnet One (Canada)
Live Stream: WatchESPN
No. 2 San Antonio Spurs vs. No. 7 Memphis Grizzlies
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio
When: 8 p.m.
Channel: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 5 Utah Jazz
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles
When: 10:30 p.m.
Channel: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN