The NBA Playoffs start up on Friday and the first round has a number of great matchups in the eastern and western conference, with the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets and LA Clippers starting their quests through the postseason schedule to make it to the championship round.
The games start up on Saturday and have the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors kicking off the postseason with a 12:30 pm ET matchup on ESPN and that will be from Canada for Game 1. The series puts together two Atlantic division teams that were battling for the title all season and after their early year struggles, the Nets are a team that can make some noise. The Nets won all four games this season against the Miami Heat and they would love to advance to face them in the playoffs.
The second game of the day on Saturday has the Golden State Warriors and Clippers matching up in Los Angeles and that will be a 3:30 pm TV matchup and that will be on ABC. The matchup could be one of the best of the playoffs and has two teams that are exciting and high scoring, with players like Blake Griffin, Steph Curry and Chris Paul going at it. The Atlanta and Indiana matchup is interested despite being a one and eight matchup, as the Pacers have struggled over the last month of the season and while they have appeared to get it together, they could have some weaknesses exposed. The Pacers got the number one seed in the conference and they are looking to get the Miami Heat in the eastern conference finals after losing to them last season.
The final game on Saturday is the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the two and seven matchup and it has potential MVP Kevin Durant looking to get back to the finals. That game will also be on ESPN and starts up at 9:30 pm ET. The Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs play the 8-1 matchup on Sunday and that starts at 1 pm on TNT, while the second game between Charlotte and Miami is on ABC at 3:30 pm. The playoffs continue with the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls playing Game 1, while the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets are the final game of the night on Sunday.
