The NBA second round opens Friday May 1 with the four conference semifinal matchups set after a brisk first round that saw three of eight series end in five games or fewer. The Western Conference bracket pairs the Oklahoma City Thunder with the winner of Lakers Rockets currently 3 to 1 Lakers ahead of Tuesday potential closeout, and the Denver Nuggets against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Eastern Conference bracket has the Cleveland Cavaliers facing the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics drawing the New York Knicks. Schedules tip Friday with the marquee Celtics Knicks Game 1 at 8 pm Eastern on TNT.
Oklahoma City enters the second round as the league most analytically dominant team and the betting favorite to reach the Finals. The Thunder finished the regular season at 67 wins with a plus 11.4 net rating, the second highest mark in the past 20 seasons. Shai Gilgeous Alexander averaged 31.4 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.1 rebounds during the regular season at a 64 true shooting percentage. The first round sweep of Memphis came largely without Ja Morant who left Game 1 with a hamstring strain. The most realistic concern for OKC entering the second round is Chet Holmgren foot soreness that limited him to 27 minutes per game in round one, down from his 31 minute regular season average.
The winner of Lakers Rockets faces the Thunder. Houston extended the series to a fifth game with a 115 to 96 win Sunday night and earned its first sustained look from national media this postseason. The Lakers three game sweep posture changed when Kevin Durant missed Game 4 with a calf strain that head coach JJ Redick called day to day. If Durant is unavailable for Game 5 Tuesday, Houston has a credible path to extend the series to seven games. Either way the Western semis is the matchup that pulls the most national attention with Reaves and Doncic both averaging more than 25 points per game in the round.
Denver versus the Clippers is the Western matchup most fans circled in the offseason. The Clippers acquired James Harden in a midseason trade and finished the regular season at 51 wins with a top eight defense. Nikola Jokic averaged 27.8 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 9.7 assists in the regular season at age 31, his fifth straight MVP caliber campaign. The Nuggets dispatched Memphis in five games, the Clippers needed seven to handle the Suns. The matchup that decides the series is Jokic against Ivica Zubac who held Jokic to 39 percent shooting in the three regular season meetings.
The Eastern Conference bracket starts with Cleveland Detroit. The Cavaliers were the No 1 seed at 64 wins behind a top three defense and Donovan Mitchell 28 point per game scoring. Detroit was the surprise of the East at 49 wins, the franchise best mark since the 2008 NBA Finals run. Cade Cunningham averaged 27.2 points, 7.9 assists, and 6.1 rebounds and the Pistons led the league in fast break scoring. The matchup hinges on Cleveland ability to keep Cunningham out of transition and force Detroit perimeter shooters to beat them. The Pistons shot 36.1 percent from three in the regular season versus the Cavaliers top three defense in transition.
Boston Knicks is the marquee East matchup and the second round series with the highest national interest. The Celtics finished the regular season at 60 wins despite a slow start, with Jayson Tatum averaging 28.1 points and Jaylen Brown 24.6. Brown calf injury that limited him in March returned in the first round but he played through Games 4 and 5. The Knicks finished at 56 wins behind Jalen Brunson 28.4 points and the addition of Mikal Bridges who provides Boston specific defense. The matchup most fans want to see is Tatum versus OG Anunoby in iso defense, a regular season matchup that Tatum lost in two of three meetings.
Network coverage shifts to a heavier ABC and ESPN load in round two. TNT carries the Eastern semis with a Wednesday night Game 4 doubleheader the most likely peak ratings night. ABC has the Sunday afternoon doubleheader format the league has used since 2018 with the Western Conference primary game at 3:30 pm Eastern and the Eastern Conference at 8 pm. Most series are expected to stretch into mid May with the conference finals beginning the week of May 18.
Betting odds at FanDuel and DraftKings open with Oklahoma City as the title favorite at plus 175 followed by Boston at plus 350 and Cleveland at plus 600. The longer shot Western pick is Denver at plus 700 with Lakers Rockets winner not yet priced. The under bet that has gained traction is total games for the Celtics Knicks series with the seven game line drawing the heaviest action through Sunday night. The series begins Friday with Game 1 at TD Garden, Boston first home playoff game since the second round series win against Indiana in 2024.
Local market viewership records are also at stake. The first round drew an average national audience of 5.2 million viewers, up 18 percent year over year. The conference semifinals historically pull a 14 to 22 percent additional bump and ABC is positioning the Celtics Knicks series as the centerpiece of its May 2026 sports lineup. Both teams sit in top five US media markets and the rivalry layer reaches back four decades to the Larry Bird era. ABC and ESPN production crews have built bench feature packages around Tatum, Brunson, Bridges, and the historical Boston New York lineage for the broadcast presentation.