The Cleveland-Indiana game starts the Tuesday slate; the nightcap is Game 5 between Oklahoma City and Denver, that series tied at two games apiece.
Tuesday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — Indiana at Cleveland (TNT/truTV/Max)
9:30 p.m. — Denver at Oklahoma City (TNT/truTV/Max)
Wednesday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7 p.m. — New York at Boston (TNT)
9:30 p.m. — Golden State at Minnesota (TNT)
Thursday's national TV schedule
All times Eastern
7:30 p.m. — Cleveland at Indiana (ESPN), if necessary
8:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. — Oklahoma City at Denver (ESPN)
(If there is no Cleveland-Indiana game, the Oklahoma City-Denver game starts at 8:30.)
Betting odds
We have a shakeup in the betting odds, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
Oklahoma City (+105) remains the big favorite to win the NBA title, and now New York (+500) is the second choice — after Boston had been in that spot for the entirety of the playoffs. Minnesota is +600, Indiana is +900, Cleveland is +1000 and Denver is +1600.
Boston's odds are soaring now, up to +3000. And Golden State is at +15000.
Award season
There's no word yet on when the NBA will announce this season's MVP. It'll be Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver's Nikola Jokic or Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Also coming in the next few weeks: the All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams.
Other awards so far:
— Oklahoma City's Sam Presti won executive of the year.
— Cleveland's Kenny Atkinson won coach of the year. He also won the same award from the National Basketball Coaches Association.
— Boston's Jrue Holiday won the social justice award and 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.
Scoring leaders
The highest-scoring games by players so far in this year's playoffs:
48 — Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland vs. Indiana, May 6
43 — Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland vs. Indiana, May 9
43 — Jamal Murray, Denver vs. LA Clippers, April 29
43 — Anthony Edwards, Minnesota vs. LA Lakers, April 27
42 — Jayson Tatum, Boston at New York, May 12
42 — Nikola Jokic, Denver at Oklahoma City, May 5
40 — Jalen Brunson, New York at Detroit, May 1
39 — Jalen Brunson, New York vs. Boston, May 12
39 — Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers at Denver, April 21
Key upcoming events
May 18 or 20 — Game 1, Western Conference finals.
May 19 or 21 — Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.
June 2 — Last possible date for Game 7 of Eastern Conference finals.
June 3 — Last possible date for Game 7 of the Western 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.
Draft lottery
Dallas had 1.8% odds to win the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery — but overcame those odds and now has the opportunity to draft Cooper Flagg. The Mavericks won the lottery on Monday night in Chicago.
— Rick Welts has seen this before
Stories of note
— Preview of Tuesday's games: Cavaliers-Pacers, Thunder-Nuggets
— Timberwolves say fan was ejected for conduct toward Draymond Green.
— Pat Riley speaks: On Heat future, on Jimmy Butler, on being 80
— Tyrese Haliburton was willing to pay a fine. The NBA warned him instead.
— These are the playoffs of the big comeback, where no 20-point lead is safe.
— Gregg Popovich's new job: 'El Jefe'
— 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
Comeback season
There have been five wins by teams that trailed by 20 points or more so far in these playoffs. That's the most in any postseason during the play-by-play era, which started with the 1997 playoffs.
The biggest deficits that were successfully overcome:
29 — Oklahoma City at Memphis, April 24 (Thunder won 114-108)
20 — Indiana vs. Milwaukee, April 29 (Pacers won 119-118)
20 — New York at Boston, May 5 (Knicks won 108-105)
20 — Indiana at Cleveland, May 6 (Pacers won 120-119)
20 — New York at Boston, May 7 (Knicks won 91-90)
Stats of the day
— Jayson Tatum had 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocked shots before getting hurt in Game 4 at New York. Since all those stats started being tracked, nobody in Celtics history finished any game with all those numbers.
— The Knicks had four players (Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby) score at least 20 points in a playoff game for the second time this season. From 1973 through 2024, the Knicks never had that happen once.
— Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle both reached 30 points in Minnesota's Game 4 win over Golden State. The last time two Timberwolves scored 30 in a playoff game, before Monday, was 2004.
Quote of the day
“It’s just very tough for us. But more importantly, it’s just really tough for him right now. ... It's just very tough for our group altogether.” — Celtics forward Al Horford, on Jayson Tatum's injury.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Credit: AP
Credit: AP