The NBA playoffs are all set and now the seeds are locked in for the first round of the postseason in the east and west, as the top seeded Indiana Pacers will play against the Atlanta Hawks, while the Miami Heat play against the Charlotte Bobcats and the San Antonio Spurs face off against the number eight seed in the Dallas Mavericks after they lost their final game.
The Pacers come into the playoffs with some momentum after faltering down the stretch and they now will face off against the Hawks and the season series between the two was 2-2 and that could make things interesting. Indiana has been fantastic at home, but they were just .500 on the road and the Hawks have some momentum as well and that could be a fun series. The San Antonio Spurs and Mavericks will play, while the Oklahoma City Thunder has the Grizzlies.
Some of the other matchups include:
Toronto Raptors against the Brooklyn Nets in the east three and six matchup.
Chicago Bulls and Wizards in the east 4 and 5 matchup.
Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors in the three and six in the west.
Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers in the four and five matchup in the west.
Check here for the NBA playoffs schedule and standings from ESPN.
And just for some fun, here is a look back to the beginning of the season for the schedule on TNT and what some of us thought heading into the season and compare it to what happened through the season. The NBA season is finally here after a long exhibition calendar of games and the first night of basketball begins with three games and two of them will be on TNT, which is kicking off another season of games and their Inside the NBA studio show and on opening night the Miami Heat will host the Chicago Bulls and the Lakers and Clippers will play in Los Angeles for all the team' openers.
The first game on the schedule for TNT is the Heat taking on Derrick Rose and the Bulls and in that game Miami will be awarded their championship rings and will raise their banners and they are also scheduled to wear special jerseys for the game that are gold in certain spots to honor their second straight title after winning last season over the San Antonio Spurs. The Bulls will be energized with Derrick Rose returning to the lineup and he has looked explosive off the dribble in the preseason and the point guard told reporters that he can jump higher and feels stronger now than he did before the surgery and that should be trouble for the East. The Bulls are likely the top contender to knock off the Heat and the Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks all should be solid challengers in the conference as well.
Miami is working on trying to get its third straight championship and until someone knocks them off at least in the east, they are the favorite to win the conference again. The Lakers and Clippers will be playing in Los Angeles at the Staples Center and the Clippers will start off in the first game as the home team and that of course means the banners will be up and that should make Kobe Bryant and company motivated to win. That will be the second game of the doubleheader on TNT for the Tuesday opening night schedule and then the network will pick up later in the week with the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls and then the Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers.
The TNT crew usually does a great job with games and the schedule for this season has a number of high-profile matchups coming later on, including the Los Angeles Clippers taking on the Thunder in a game that will feature two of the best points guards in the game with Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul and later in the season the Nets will host those same Clippers. The west is a bit deeper than the East this season with the Thunder, Spurs, Grizzlies, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors, while there are plenty of other talented teams in the Lakers, Pelicans and Blazers. The east is top heavy this season with the Heat as well as the Chicago Bulls, Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.
The top games coming in November includes the Houston Rockets and the Knicks, the Nuggets and Bulls as well as the Thunder and Warriors. Later in the season some games include Miami and New York as well as San Antonio and Golden State.
