3:10 a.m.
The NBA has released the first-round playoff schedule, and the reigning NBA champs will host the postseason opener.
Game 1 between Golden State and San Antonio opens the slate on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern — a somewhat unusual noon local time tip-off for the Warriors.
The Warriors-Spurs game will followed Saturday by three other openers — Washington-Toronto, Miami-Philadelphia and New Orleans-Portland.
On Sunday, the games are Milwaukee-Boston, Indiana-Cleveland, Utah-Oklahoma City and Minnesota-Houston.
Game 2s will be held Monday through Wednesday.
Game 3s start Thursday, and all Game 7s — if necessary — would be on April 28 and 29.
For those planning way ahead, the NBA Finals are set to begin on May 31.
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1:00 a.m.
The NBA playoff bracket is complete.
Portland beat Utah to grab the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, and that allowed the rest of the bracket to be filled in — finally. The Trail Blazers will play No. 6 New Orleans in the first round, and No. 4 Oklahoma City will have home-court advantage against the fifth-seeded Jazz.
The Jazz-Blazers game was the 1,230th and final regular-season matchup of the season. Every other game on Wednesday’s schedule was over before the final buzzer in Portland, meaning it took the entire schedule to determine the last two matchups in the West.
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11:55 p.m.
The first two of the four Western Conference first-round matchups have been set.
No. 1 Houston will play No. 8 Minnesota, and No. 2 Golden State (probably with no Stephen Curry) will play No. 7 San Antonio (probably with no Kawhi Leonard).
The Rockets swept four games from the Timberwolves, and the Warriors went 3-1 against the Spurs in the regular season.
The rest of the West bracket will be set based on the outcome of the Utah-Portland game. New Orleans will start on the road, regardless of the winner, and Oklahoma City — thanks to its wild 137-123 win over Memphis — could still get a top-four seed.
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