We know on when the Cavaliers will be playing, but don’t yet know who it would be.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will have to wait until Friday night to figure out who their first-round opponent will be in the NBA Playoffs. The three teams that it could be are the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, or Chicago Bulls. We do, however, know when they will be playing.
Here’s the first-round schedule:
- Game 1: Sun. April 20, in Cleveland, at 7 PM on TNT
- Game 2: Wed. April 23, in Cleveland, at 7:30 PM on NBA TV
- Game 3: Sat. April 26, at 8th seed, at 1 PM on TNT
- Game 4: Mon. April 28, at 8th seed, time and TV network TBD
- Game 5 (if necessary): Wed. April 30, in Cleveland, time and TV network TBD
- Game 6 (if necessary): Fri. May 2, at 8th seed, time and TV network TBD
- Game 7 (if necessary): Sun. May 4, in Cleveland, time and TV network TBD
There aren’t too many surprises with the schedule other than Sunday’s game being at 7 PM. The schedule makers are having the Oklahoma City Thunder and whoever they play as the eight seed fill that time slot instead.
Other than that, this is pretty standard stuff for the first-round series, where games are more spaced out due to trying to find ways to fit as many games as possible into exclusive TV windows. As such, there are two off days between Games 1 through 3. After Game 3, it switches to an every-other-day scheduling format as there will undoubtedly be series (including possibly the Cavs series) wrapped up in four or five games.
The Hawks remain the most likely opponent for the Cavs to face. They have to win one Play-In Tournament game on Friday to clinch the eighth seed after losing to the Orlando Magic on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Bulls and Heat have to win two games to make it into the playoffs.
The Cavs finished with a 64-18 record. That included going 1-2 against the Hawks, 2-1 against the Heat, and 4-0 against the Bulls this season.