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

May 5, 2025, 9:25 AM ET

The Pacers were road warriors Sunday. And so were the actual Warriors.

Home-court advantage didn't exist in Sunday's two games of the NBA playoffs. Round 1 ended with Golden State winning a Game 7 at Houston — there has now been a Game 7 road winner in nine consecutive seasons, or 10 if counting the 2020 bubble season where nobody really was at home. And Round 2 started with Indiana winning a Game 1 in Cleveland.

There are a pair of Game 1s in Round 2 on Monday: Denver at Oklahoma City and New York at Boston. The final second-round matchup to get underway will be Golden State at Minnesota, taking place Tuesday.

Monday's national TV schedule

All times Eastern

7 p.m. — New York at Boston (TNT)

9:30 p.m. — Denver at Oklahoma City (TNT)

Tuesday's national TV schedule

All time Eastern

7 p.m. — Indiana at Cleveland (TNT)

9:30 p.m. — Golden State at Minnesota (TNT)

Wednesday's national TV schedule

All times Eastern

7 p.m. — New York at Boston (TNT)

9:30 p.m. — Denver at Oklahoma City (TNT)

Betting odds

Oklahoma City (+135) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+195).

After that, it's Cleveland (+600), Minnesota (+1600), Golden State (+2000), Denver (+3500), Indiana (+3500) and New York (+6000).

The Pacers' odds improved considerably with their Game 1 win at Cleveland.

Award season

On Monday, the NBA coach of the year (Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson, Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff or Houston’s Ime Udoka) will be announced at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT.

There are two other awards this week — executive of the year is Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, and the social justice champion will be announced Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern.

Other awards so far:

— Boston's Jrue Holiday won the sportsmanship award.

— Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels won most improved player.

— San Antonio's Stephon Castle won rookie of the year.

— 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 player of the year.

— New York's Jalen Brunson won clutch player of the year.

— Boston's Payton Pritchard won sixth man of the year.

— Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson wins NBCA coach of the year award.

The league has not announced when MVP, as well as the All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams, will be revealed.

Scoring leaders

The highest-scoring games by players so far in this year's playoffs:

43 — Jamal Murray, Denver vs. LA Clippers, April 29

43 — Anthony Edwards, Minnesota vs. LA Lakers, April 27

40 — Jalen Brunson, New York at Detroit, May 1

39 — Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers at Denver, April 21

38 — Luka Doncic, LA Lakers at Minnesota, April 27

38 — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City at Memphis, April 26

38 — LeBron James, LA Lakers at Minnesota, April 25

38 — Jalen Green, Houston vs. Golden State, April 23

Key upcoming events

May 12 — Draft lottery, Chicago.

May 18 or 20 — Game 1, Western Conference finals.

May 19 or 21 — Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.

June 5 — Game 1, NBA Finals. (Other games: June 8, June 11, June 13, June 16, June 19 and Game 7, if necessary, will be June 22.)

June 25 — NBA draft, first round.

June 26 — NBA draft, second round.

Stories of note

— Series preview for Celtics-Knicks and series preview capsule.

— Series preview for Thunder-Nuggets and series preview capsule.

— Celtics should have Jrue Holiday back for Game 1 vs. Knicks.

— Spurs coach Gregg Popovich steps down.

— Mitch Johnson takes over for Pop in San Antonio.

— Appreciation: Gregg Popovich changed the NBA.

— Grizzlies promote Iisalo to head coach, remove interim tag.

— A look inside the numbers of this season, headed into the playoffs

Stats of the day

— Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell now has 30 or more points in eight consecutive Game 1s. Nobody in NBA history has done that; Michael Jordan had two separate seven-game streaks of at least 30 points in series openers.

— How close was the Golden State-Houston rivalry this season? They played 12 times. Golden State scored 1,245 points. Houston scored 1,237.

— Sunday marked the first time in Golden State guard Stephen Curry's career that he had at least 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocked shots in the same game.

— The 3-point line decided games Sunday. Indiana outscored Cleveland by 30 points on 3s and won by nine. Golden State outscored Houston by 36 points on 3s and won by 14.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba