NBA tipoff: Only a Game 7 left in Round 2, with Cavaliers-Pistons on Sunday
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The story
2026-04-14T13:36:06Z
New York has to wait a bit longer to find out its Eastern Conference finals opponent. But in the Western Conference, the final is set — and it’ll be the teams that finished with the two best records in the NBA this season.
Oklahoma City and San Antonio will play for the West title, their series beginning Monday on the Thunder’s home floor.
Meanwhile, Detroit and Cleveland are headed to a Game 7 on Sunday for the right to play the Knicks for the East crown.
Also Sunday: The NBA’s Most Valuable Player will be announced shortly after 7:30 p.m. EDT.
Sunday’s schedule
— Game 7, Cleveland at Detroit, 8 p.m. EDT (Prime)
— Series: Tied, 3-3.
— Odds: Detroit by 4.5.
Cleveland has won five consecutive Game 7s, including two on the road. Detroit is 6-1 in its last seven Game 7s. Both teams won a Game 7 in Round 1 and the winner will be the 20th team in NBA history to prevail in multiple Game 7s in the same postseason.
Monday’s schedule
— Game 1, San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m. EDT (NBC, Peacock)
— Odds: Oklahoma City by 6.5.
The Spurs went 4-1 against the Thunder (the teams played five times because of the NBA Cup) during the regular season. If the series goes the full seven games, it’ll mark only the second instance in the last 30 years of two teams meeting 12 times in the same season (Golden State and Houston did it last season).
Friday’s recap
— Pistons 115, Cavaliers 94 to tie series 3-3.
— Spurs 139, Timberwolves 109 to win series 4-2.
Conference finals schedule
The NBA Finals will start on June 3. And — thanks to San Antonio closing out Minnesota on Friday night — it’s now certain that there will be at least two off days between the end of the conference finals and the title series.
— The Eastern Conference finals will start Tuesday, then have Game 2 Thursday, Game 3 on Saturday, Game 4 on May 25, Game 5 on May 27 (if necessary), Game 6 on May 29 (if necessary) and Game 7 on May 31 (if necessary). Detroit will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 if it reaches that series; otherwise, New York will play host to Cleveland in those four games.
— The Western Conference finals will start Monday in Oklahoma City, with Game 2 there on Wednesday. Game 3 is at San Antonio on Friday, Game 4 is at San Antonio on May 24, Game 5 is at Oklahoma City on May 26 (if necessary), Game 6 is at San Antonio on May 28 (if necessary) and Game 7 would be May 30 in Oklahoma City (if necessary).
— The Oklahoma City-San Antonio winner will have homecourt advantage in the NBA Finals.
Awards watch
Finally, a big update here — the MVP announcement is coming on Sunday night, with either Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama or Denver’s Nikola Jokic set to win the award.
Other awards handed out so far:
— Defensive Player of the Year: Wembanyama.
— Clutch Player of the Year: Gilgeous-Alexander.
— Sixth Man of the Year: Keldon Johnson, San Antonio.
— Sportsmanship Award: Derrick White, Boston.
— Most Improved Player: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta.
— Rookie of the Year: Cooper Flagg, Dallas.
— Executive of the Year: Brad Stevens, Boston.
— Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year: DeAndre Jordan, New Orleans.
— Hustle Award: Moussa Diabaté, Charlotte.
Among the announcements still to come:
— Coach of the Year: San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson, Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, or Boston’s Joe Mazzulla.
— Social Justice Champion Award: Miami’s Bam Adebayo San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Detroit’s Tobias Harris or Cleveland’s Larry Nance Jr.
— The All-NBA, All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams.
Betting odds
Defending champion Oklahoma City (-165) is favored to win the NBA title, according to oddsmakers.
The Thunder are followed by San Antonio (+300), New York (+600), Detroit (+3000) and Cleveland (+8000).
Key dates
— Monday: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.
— Tuesday: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.
— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).
— June 23: Round 1, NBA draft.
— June 24: Round 2, NBA draft.
Quote of the day
“We’ve got good guidance. We’ve got a good coaching staff — the best, actually. We can trust them.” — San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, on Spurs coach Mitch Johnson and his staff.
Stats of the day
— It’ll take 69 games to finish the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs. That ties for the fourth-most in playoff history (it took 72 games to get through Rounds 1 and 2 in 2003 and 2014, and 71 games in 2006).
— Cleveland’s James Harden will play in his ninth Game 7 on Sunday. He’ll be the 11th player in the last 60 years to play in at least nine Game 7s.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
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