The Cavaliers, Lakers and Celtics will be the featured attractions during the first round of the NBA Playoffs on ABC.
ABC will begin its playoff coverage with LeBron James and the Cavaliers hosting the Bulls on Saturday and Kobe Bryant and the Lakers facing the Thunder on Sunday. Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy will call both games.
A week later, the network will resume its coverage with a Sunday doubleheader of Heat/Celtics Game 4 and Cavaliers/Bulls Game 4.
This is the third straight year ABC has skipped out on scheduling the Lakers on the second weekend of the playoffs. In 2008, Lakers/Nuggets Game 3 aired on a Saturday afternoon on TNT (ABC aired Cavaliers/Wizards and Spurs/Suns the next day), and in 2009, Lakers/Jazz Game 4 aired on a Saturday night on ESPN (ABC aired Bulls/Celtics and Cavaliers/Pistons the next day).
Other NBA Playoff Notes
- TNT will air Cavaliers/Bulls Game 3 and Lakers/Thunder Game 3 on Thursday, April 22, directly opposite first round coverage of the NFL Draft on ESPN. Last year, TNT countered the NFL Draft with lower-profile fare — Spurs/Mavericks Game 4 and Hawks/Heat Game 3.
- For the first time since 2004, the NBA has scheduled a three-day break between games for some first round series. Both the Hawks/Bucks (Game 2 Tuesday, Game 3 Saturday) and Blazers/Suns (Game 2 Monday, Game 3 Friday) series will have three-day breaks between Games 2 and 3. In the case of the Blazers/Suns series, Game 2 was originally scheduled for a Tuesday night, but had to be moved to Monday to avoid a conflict with the Avalanche.
- Game 5s in the Celtics/Heat, Cavaliers/Bulls and Lakers/Thunder series are all scheduled for Tuesday, April 27 — meaning that if all three high-profile series go to a Game 5, at least one of the games would air on NBA TV.
- Game 7s in the Celtics/Heat and Cavaliers/Bulls series would air on TNT. If both series end prior to Game 7, Game 1 of the second round (presumably Cavaliers/Celtics or Cavaliers/Heat) would also air on the cable network.
2010 NBA Playoffs Schedule (Through First Round)
|
Date
|
Time | Game | Gm # | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sat., 4/17/10
|
3:00 PM | Bulls/Cavaliers |
1
|
ABC |
| 5:30 PM | Bucks/Hawks |
1
|
ESPN | |
| 8:00 PM | Heat/Celtics |
1
|
ESPN | |
| 10:30 PM | Jazz/Nuggets |
1
|
ESPN | |
|
Sun., 4/18/10
|
3:00 PM | Thunder/Lakers |
1
|
ABC |
| 5:30 PM | Bobcats/Magic |
1
|
TNT | |
| 8:00 PM | Spurs/Mavericks |
1
|
TNT | |
| 10:30 PM | Trail Blazers/Suns |
1
|
TNT | |
|
Mon., 4/19/10
|
8:00 PM | Bulls/Cavaliers |
2
|
TNT |
| 10:30 PM | Jazz/Nuggets |
2
|
TNT | |
|
Tue., 4/20/10
|
7:00 PM | Bucks/Hawks |
2
|
NBA TV |
| 8:00 PM | Heat/Celtics |
2
|
TNT | |
| 10:00 PM | Trail Blazers/Suns |
2
|
NBA TV | |
| 10:30 PM | Thunder/Lakers |
2
|
TNT | |
| Wed., 4/21/10 | 7:00 PM | Bobcats/Magic |
2
|
TNT |
| 9:30 PM | Spurs/Mavericks |
2
|
TNT | |
|
Thu., 4/22/10
|
7:00 PM | Cavaliers/Bulls |
3
|
TNT |
| 9:30 PM | Lakers/Thunder |
3
|
TNT | |
| 10:00 PM | Suns/Trail Blazers |
3
|
NBA TV | |
|
Fri., 4/23/10
|
7:00 PM | Celtics/Heat |
3
|
ESPN |
| 9:30 PM | Mavericks/Spurs |
3
|
ESPN | |
| 10:30 PM | Nuggets/Jazz |
3
|
ESPN2 | |
|
Sat., 4/24/10
|
2:00 PM | Magic/Bobcats |
3
|
TNT |
| 4:30 PM | Suns/Trail Blazers |
4
|
TNT | |
| 7:00 PM | Hawks/Bucks |
3
|
ESPN | |
| 9:30 PM | Lakers/Thunder |
4
|
ESPN | |
|
Sun., 4/25/10
|
1:00 PM | Celtics/Heat |
4
|
ABC |
| 3:30 PM | Cavaliers/Bulls |
4
|
ABC | |
| 7:00 PM | Mavericks/Spurs |
4
|
TNT | |
| 9:30 PM | Nuggets/Jazz |
4
|
TNT | |
|
Mon., 4/26/10
|
TBD | Hawks/Bucks |
4
|
TNT or NBA TV |
| TBD | Magic/Bobcats |
4
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
| TBD | Trail Blazers/Suns |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
|
Tue., 4/27/10
|
TBD | Heat/Celtics |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV |
| TBD | Bulls/Cavaliers |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
| TBD | Spurs/Mavericks |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
| TBD | Thunder/Lakers |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
|
Wed., 4/28/10
|
TBD | Bucks/Hawks |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV |
| TBD | Bobcats/Magic |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
| TBD | Jazz/Nuggets |
5*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
|
Thu., 4/29/10
|
TBD | Cavaliers/Bulls |
6*
|
TNT or NBA TV |
| TBD | Celtics/Heat |
6*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
| TBD | Mavericks/Spurs |
6*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
| TBD | Suns/Trail Blazers |
6*
|
TNT or NBA TV | |
|
Fri., 4/30/10
|
TBD | Hawks/Bucks |
6*
|
ESPN or ESPN2 |
| TBD | Magic/Bobcats |
6*
|
ESPN or ESPN2 | |
| TBD | Lakers/Thunder |
6*
|
ESPN or ESPN2 | |
| TBD | Nuggets/Jazz |
6*
|
ESPN or ESPN2 | |
|
Sat., 5/1/10
|
TBD | Heat/Celtics |
7*
|
TNT |
| TBD | Bulls/Cavaliers |
7*
|
TNT | |
| TBD | Trail Blazers/Suns |
7*
|
TNT | |
| TBD | Spurs/Mavericks |
7*
|
TNT | |
|
Sun., 5/2/10
|
TBD | Bucks/Hawks |
7*
|
ABC or TNT |
| TBD | Thunder/Lakers |
7*
|
ABC or TNT | |
| TBD | Bobcats/Magic |
7*
|
ABC or TNT | |
| TBD | Jazz/Nuggets |
7*
|
ABC or TNT |
