NBA playoff guide: Who plays when, how to watch, what the odds are

The NBA final four is set: New York vs. Indiana in the Eastern Conference, Oklahoma City vs. Minnesota in the Western Conference.

Minnesota has never won an NBA title. Oklahoma City hasn't either — the franchise won the 1979 title when it played in Seattle. Indiana's only championships came in the ABA. And New York has not won the Larry O'Brien Trophy; the Knicks' last NBA title was in 1973 when the prize was the Walter A. Brown Trophy, a different one from the current version.

This much is certain: It'll be seven different champions — Toronto in 2019, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers, then Milwaukee, Golden State, Denver, Boston and TBA this year — in the last seven seasons, a run of parity never before seen in NBA history.

The West title series starts Tuesday. The East starts Wednesday.

Tuesday's national TV schedule

8:30 p.m. EDT — Minnesota at Oklahoma City (ESPN)

Wednesday's national TV schedule

Thursday's national TV schedule

8:30 p.m. EDT — Minnesota at Oklahoma City (ESPN)

Friday's national TV schedule

8 p.m. EDT — Indiana at New York (TNT)

Betting odds

Conference finals schedules

East (all 8 p.m. EDT) — Game 1 at New York on Wednesday, Game 2 at New York on Friday, Game 3 at Indiana on Sunday, Game 4 at Indiana on May 27, Game 5 at New York on May 29, Game 6 at Indiana on May 31, Game 7 at New York on June 2.

West (all 8:30 p.m. EDT) — Game 1 at Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Game 2 at Oklahoma City on Thursday, Game 3 at Minnesota on Saturday, Game 4 at Minnesota on May 26, Game 5 at Oklahoma City on May 28, Game 6 at Minnesota on May 30, Game 7 at Oklahoma City on June 1.

An Indy doubleheader

Mark your calendars, then start your engines.

It'll happen Sunday. The race starts the day, then Game 3 of the East finals is at 8 p.m.

Award season

The All-Rookie team will be revealed Tuesday afternoon.

There's still no word 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 and All-Defensive teams.

— 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 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

48 — Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland vs. Indiana, May 6

44 — Nikola Jokic, Denver at Oklahoma City, May 13

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 — 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

Wednesday — Game 1, Eastern Conference finals.

June 1 — Last possible date for Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.

June 2 — Last possible date for Game 7 of Eastern 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.

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.

— Flagg, just a kid from Maine, hasn't forgotten his roots

— From Rutgers to the lottery for Harper, Bailey

— A Chinese teen is a draft hopeful, and has big shoes to fill

— Rick Welts has seen this before

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 — 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

— From 2014-19, 21 of the 24 teams that made conference finals were either the 1 or 2 seed in their respective conference. From 2020-25, eight of the 24 teams that made conference finals were either the 1 or 2 seed.

— Indiana's Rick Carlisle and New York's Tom Thibodeau enter the Pacers-Knicks series with a combined 257 playoff games coached. Minnesota's Chris Finch and Oklahoma City's Mark Daigneault enter the Timberwolves-Thunder series with a combined 58 playoff games coached.

Quote of the day

''I need to decide that. I need to talk with the coaches and with some of the main players. And we will see. But from now, like next couple days, it's going to be a lot of beer, probably.'' — Denver's Nikola Jokic, on his plans for the offseason and if he'll play EuroBasket this summer for Serbia.

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