The 2026 NBA playoffs begin Saturday with a bracket that now stretches into the middle of June, and the first round is already taking shape after the final play-in games settled several key matchups. The NBA Finals start June 3 and will be shown on ABC.
The Oklahoma City Thunder finished with their third straight No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, while the Portland Trail Blazers clinched a playoff berth Tuesday with a win over the Phoenix Suns. Philadelphia followed Wednesday, when the 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 109-97 to lock up the No. 7 seed, setting up a first-round meeting with the No. 2 Boston Celtics.
By Friday night, the bracket was complete. Orlando beat Charlotte 121-90 to finalize the No. 1 Detroit Pistons' matchup, and Phoenix then beat Golden State 111-96 to advance into a first-round series with the Thunder. The Eastern and Western Conference fields now feature eight teams apiece in the opening round, with all four rounds best of seven and no reseeding after each round.
The postseason format rewards the better regular-season record with home-court advantage, and every series follows a 2-2-1-1-1 setup. That means the higher seed hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, a detail that can matter quickly in a series where travel and recovery become part of the game plan as much as shot making.
Detroit will open against Orlando on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET at home, with Game 2 set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET in Detroit. The series then shifts to Orlando for Game 3 on April 25 and Game 4 on April 27, before returning to Detroit for Game 5 on April 29 if needed. Game 6 would be in Orlando on May 1, and Game 7 in Detroit on May 3.
Boston gets Philadelphia first on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, also at home, with Game 2 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET in Boston. Game 3 is April 24 in Philadelphia and Game 4 follows on April 26 there as well. If the series goes longer, Game 5 is April 28 in Boston and Game 6 is April 30 in Philadelphia.
The rest of the first round is just as defined: the New York Knicks face the Atlanta Hawks, the Cleveland Cavaliers meet the Toronto Raptors, the Spurs draw Portland, the Denver Nuggets play the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Houston Rockets. In the West, the Thunder now wait for Phoenix, the team that survived Friday's elimination game against Golden State after the Warriors had already beaten the LA Clippers 126-121 in the play-in.
That is the part of the playoff scramble that can be overlooked in the rush to the bracket — the play-in tournament, which began Tuesday, determines the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds that get the chance to challenge the top two seeds in each conference. This year it delivered on the final night, with Phoenix, Orlando, Philadelphia and Portland all finishing the job before the real chase begins Saturday.