The Eastern Conference semifinals are set: We already knew it was Cleveland vs. Indiana, and now we've got Boston vs. New York in the other bracket.
As for the Western Conference, the wait continues.
and the Knicks are into Round 2 of the playoffs after beating Detroit in Game 6 on Thursday night, ending a series where the road team won each of the final five games.
against the Denver Nuggets, winning in LA on Thursday night to extend that series to the ultimate.
There's one game on Friday 鈥� Game 6 between Golden State and Houston, with the Warriors looking to finish off that series.
Friday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
9 p.m. 鈥� Houston at Golden State (ESPN)
Saturday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7:30 p.m. 鈥� LA Clippers at Denver (TNT)
Sunday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
6 or 8 p.m. 鈥� Indiana at Cleveland (TNT)
8:30 p.m. 鈥� Golden State at Houston (TNT, if necessary)
(If there is no Golden State-Houston game, the Indiana-Cleveland game will start at 8 p.m.)
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (+150) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed closely by Boston (+200). After that, it's Cleveland (+500), Golden State (+1800), Minnesota (+1800), the Los Angeles Clippers (+3000), New York (+4000), Denver (+4000), Indiana (+6600) and Houston (+12500).
Award season
On Thursday, Boston鈥檚 Jrue Holiday was named the league鈥檚 winner for the second time.
Other awards so far:
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The league has not announced a schedule for other awards 鈥� including MVP and coach of the year 鈥� along with All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams.
Scoring leaders
The highest-scoring games by players so far in this year's playoffs:
43 鈥� Jamal Murray, Denver vs. LA Clippers, April 29
43 鈥� Anthony Edwards, Minnesota vs. LA Lakers, April 27
40 鈥� Jalen Brunson, New York at Detroit, May 1
39 鈥� Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers at Denver, April 21
38 鈥� Luka Doncic, LA Lakers at Minnesota, April 27
38 鈥� Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City at Memphis, April 26
38 鈥� LeBron James, LA Lakers at Minnesota, April 25
38 鈥� Jalen Green, Houston vs. Golden State, April 23
Key upcoming events
Sunday 鈥� Round 2 of the playoffs starts.
May 12 鈥� Draft lottery, Chicago.
May 18 or 20 鈥� Game 1, Western Conference finals.
May 19 or 21 鈥� Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.
June 5 鈥� 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 鈥� NBA draft, first round.
June 26 鈥� NBA draft, second round.
Stories of note
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Stats of the day
鈥� Detroit now has sole possession of the longest home losing streak in NBA playoff history, after extending that drought to 10 games 鈥� since 2008 鈥� with Thursday's loss to New York. Philadelphia dropped nine straight from 1968 through 1971. Miami has lost eight straight at home in playoff games; play-in games don't count in that figure.
鈥� The Knicks had the 20th instance in NBA history of a team going 3-0 or better in road games in a single playoff series. This doesn't include three teams 鈥� Boston, Toronto and Miami 鈥� who went 3-0 (or in the Celtics' case, 4-0) in 鈥渞oad鈥� games during a series in the bubble at Walt Disney World in 2020.
鈥� Detroit's Malik Beasley finished the season with 339 made 3-pointers, 12th-most in NBA history (including playoffs) and the most of anyone not named Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, James Harden or Luka Doncic.
鈥� James Harden played 46 minutes, 35 seconds in the Clippers' win over Denver. That's the most he's ever logged in a non-overtime game and pushed him over the 3,000-minute mark for the season for the eighth time in his career. Among active players, only LeBron James has more 3,000-minute seasons. Thursday was only the second time he played the second, third and fourth quarters in full without a rest; the other was a Christmas Day game for Philadelphia in 2022.
鈥� Denver's David Adelman will become the 110th Game 7 coach in NBA history (and got there in just his 10th career game). Clippers coach Tyronn Lue will look to join Red Auerbach as the only coaches to win their first five Game 7s; Lue is 4-0, Auerbach was 8-0 in his career. Lue will try to be the first coach to win three Game 7s on the road.
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AP NBA:
The Associated Press
