NBA Playoffs schedule: LeBron takes center stage.

The 2009 NBA Playoffs begin in Boston for what may be a short-lived title defense.

The NBA Playoff schedule was released early Thursday morning. The postseason tips off with the Bulls taking on the defending-champion Celtics in Game 1 of their series at 12:30 PM Saturday on ESPN. The Celtics will be without Kevin Garnett, who may miss the entire postseason due to injury.

ABC begins its playoff slate later Saturday, when LeBron James and the Cavaliers host the Pistons at 3 PM ET. The network follows that up with Jazz/Lakers Game 1 on Sunday.

The Cavaliers seem to be ABC’s pick as the marquee team of the postseason. Cavaliers/Pistons Game 4 will air in the network’s prime 3:30 PM timeslot on Sunday, April 26, and a potential Game 7 in the series is scheduled for the following Sunday, presumably also on ABC. By contrast, ABC will air only one game involving the Lakers or Celtics in the first round.

TNT begins its coverage with a Sunday evening tripleheader featuring 76ers/Magic Game 1, Heat/Hawks Game 1 and Nuggets/Hornets Game 1. As usual, the network will air the majority of NBA Playoff games, with eleven games set to air on the network in the first six days alone.

Sister network NBA TV gets into the playoff action on Tuesday with Rockets/Blazers Game 2. The network will air two other games during the first week of the playoffs — 76ers/Magic Game 2 and Spurs/Mavericks Game 3.

2009 NBA Playoffs schedule.
Thru the first round