The Boston Celtics begin their title defense on Sunday in search of the franchise’s 19th NBA championship. They enter the NBA playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the East and will face the No. 7 Orlando Magic in the first round. The Cleveland Cavaliers are the top seed in the East and have a first-round matchup against the winner of tonight’s No. 8 play-in game between the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks.
The Oklahoma City Thunder won an NBA-best 68 games this season and are the top seed in the West behind what is likely to be an MVP campaign for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the league in scoring at 32.7 points a game. If SGA doesn’t win MVP honors, then it will be Nikola Jokić winning his fourth MVP in the last five years. The Denver Nuggets center became just the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double for the season, finishing third in scoring (29.6 points per game) and rebounds (12.7 per game) and second in assists (10.2 per game).
The most interesting development in the league this season was the shocking trade that sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers, pairing him with LeBron James. Luka, LeBron and the Lakers are the No. 3 seed in the West and begin the playoffs in primetime on Saturday against Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream the NBA playoffs.
Luka Dončić and LeBron James have the Los Angeles Lakers positioned as the No. 3 seed in the West for the 2025 NBA playoffs.
What is the NBA playoffs schedule for today?
The final two play-in games take place tonight, which will set the field of 16 for the playoffs. Here is the schedule for today’s games and those for the next few days (all times ET):
Friday, April 18
- East No. 8 seed play-in game: Heat at Hawks, 7 p.m. on TNT, TruTV and Max
- West No. 8 seed play-in game: Mavericks at Grizzlies, 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Saturday, April 19
- Game 1: Bucks at Pacers, 1 p.m. ET on ESPN
- Game 1: Clippers at Nuggets, 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
- Game 1: Pistons at Knicks, 6 p.m. ET on ESPN
- Game 1: Timberwolves at Lakers, 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC
Sunday, April 20
- Game 1: East No. 8 at Cavaliers, 1 p.m. ET on ABC
- Game 1: Magic at Celtics, 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC
- Game 1: West No. 8 at Thunder, 7 p.m. on TNT, TruTV and Max
- Game 1: Warriors at Rockets, 9:30 p.m. on TNT, TruTV and Max
Monday, April 21
- Game 2: Pistons at Knicks, 7:30 p.m. on TNT, TruTV and Max
- Game 2: Clippers at Nuggets, 10 p.m. on TNT, TruTV and Max
What does the NBA playoff bracket look like?
The Cleveland Cavaliers edged the Boston Celtics for the top spot in the East, and the Oklahoma City Thunder ran away with the top seed in the West. Here’s what the matchups look like for the 2024 NBA Playoffs that begin today:
Eastern Conference
- No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. winner of Heat/Hawks
- No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 7 Orlando Magic
- No. 3 New York Knicks vs. No. 6 Detroit Pistons
- No. 4 Indiana Pacers vs. No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks
Western Conference
- No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. winner of Mavs/Grizzlies
- No. 2 Houston Rockets vs. No. 7 Golden State Warriors
- No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves
- No. 4 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers
How to watch the NBA playoffs
The NBA playoffs will be shown across ABC, ESPN, TNT/TruTV and NBA TV. You can watch the games with a cable subscription or a live TV streaming service.
Three of the five major services offer all four channels. Hulu with Live TV lacks NBA TV, which will show only a handful of playoff games. Fubo lacks TNT, which shows a big portion of the NBA playoffs, making Fubo a poor choice for hoops fans. You can also watch the TNT/TruTV broadcasts of playoff games with Max.
YouTube TV costs $83 per month and includes all four channels needed to watch every game of the NBA playoffs. Plug in your ZIP code on its welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
Read our YouTube TV review.
DirecTV Stream’s $90-per-month Choice plan includes ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV. You can use its channel lookup tool to see if ABC is available where you live. If you are willing to skip the handful of games on NBA TV, you can get the other three channels with DirecTV Stream’s basic $80-per-month Entertainment package.
Read our DirecTV Stream review.
Hulu with Live TV costs $83 per month and includes ABC, ESPN and TNT. It’s the only service that doesn’t offer NBA TV, even as part of an add-on package. Click the “View channels in your area” link on its welcome page to see which local channels are offered in your ZIP code.
Read our Hulu with Live TV review.
You need the $17-a-month Standard plan to watch live sports on Max. (Either that or the $21-a-month Premium plan that adds 4K streaming.) Max will show the TNT/TruTV broadcasts for the NBA playoffs. With just Max, however, you’ll miss games on ESPN, ABC and NBA TV.
Read our Max review.
All the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.
