MAIN Sports Basketball NBA Playoffs & Finals

As the basketball season winds down, the excitement heats up as another NBA Playoff season kicks off in the battle to win the national championship.

This year, watch as the regular season ends in April, followed by the NBA Playoffs beginning on the 16th wrapping up with the finals in June.

Just up ahead, check out the preliminary schedule for the Play-In games, the Playoffs, FInals and Championship game as we fill in the blanks with complete game dates and times come April ....

2022 NBA Playoffs TV schedule

ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and NBA TV are the traditonal TV stations to watch in primetime on weeknights, while ABC takes on select games during the weekend. Online, games will also be livestreamed via WatchESPN and WatchTNT.

The NBA conference finals lead up to the ultimate showdown between the two top teams from each conference, followed by the big finale Championship Game 7 set to air on ABC no later than June 19,

also see in Sports -> 2022 NBA Draft

April 10, 2022: Regular season ends

April 12-15, 2022: Play-In Tournament

April 16, 2022: Playoffs begin

June 2, 2022: NBA Finals begin

June 19, 2022: Game 7 of NBA Finals (if necessary)

also see -> NBA playoff party ideas

DID YOU KNOW? NBA playoffs trivia & fun facts

1969: the Lakers, deflated.

• In 1969, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke though it was fate. He was so confident of the Lakers' win over the Celtics that he had the LA Forum rafters filled with thousands of balloons with "World Champion Lakers" printed on them to celebrate when they won. They didn't.

• Michael Jordan’s jump shot against Utah’s Byron Russell in Game 6 at the 1998 finals gave Chicago a razor thin 87-86 victory, and the championship. It was Jordan's last NBA finals of his career

• The Golden State Warriors were heavily favored to repeat as NBA champs in 2016, but they ultimately lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James. It was the first NBA title for the Cavs, and the first for LeBron James.

• The Unlucky 13 teams which still haven't won a championship? They include the Brooklyn Nets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the New Orleans Pelicans.

NBA playoffs & finals around the Web:

Around the Web, get complete reports on stats, scores, and who was in and who was out of the running leading up to the finals championship.

NBA Playoffs - SB Nation - Check out the complete TV schedule, the latest scores, stats, breaking news and photos.

Slam! Sports - Basketball - Want to know the latest scores? Also check out daily stats on assists, blocks, points, steals, blocks and rebounds.