Getty The Blazers will face either the Spurs or Nuggets in the second round.
The Portland Trail Blazers have punched their ticket to the second round of the NBA playoffs. The Blazers will play the winner of the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets. Portland’s playoff schedule for the next round will be announced once the matchup has been finalized.
Damian Lillard has been one of the best players in the NBA playoffs through the first round. Lillard believes the adversity the team has overcome played a big role in their play so far in the postseason.
“When we had our backs against the wall dealing with those injuries, we trusted each other, we leaned on each other more,” Lillard told NBA.com. “It just made us better in the long run, instead of us saying ‘We got some injuries, Dame you gotta average 35 and do all this extra stuff,’ instead of that the mentality was, ‘Let’s keep the ball moving, make the right plays defensively and let’s just be a better unit.’ Instead of turning to me or somebody else to score a bunch of points. We just made it a group thing and I think that was for our team.”
The Blazers went just 1-3 against the Nuggets during the regular season. Portland played better against San Antonio splitting the season series 2-2.
The Spurs-Nuggets series can end as soon as Thursday, April 25th. If a Game 7 is necessary, it would take place Saturday, April 27th. We expect to know the exact Blazers playoff schedule at the conclusion of the Spurs-Nuggets series.
Here’s a look at the potential second-round dates for the Blazers.
Blazers Playoff Schedule: Second Round
The Blazers’ first game of the second round will be no later than Tuesday, April 30th. The second round of the NBA playoffs is scheduled to start on April 29th, but could be moved up to April 27th depending on when the first round ends. Here is a look at the second round dates and times, per Sports Media Watch. We will update the Blazers schedule once it has been finalized.
Monday, April 29
- TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
- TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Tuesday, April 30
- TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
- TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Wednesday, May 1
- TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
- TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Thursday, May 2
- TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Friday, May 3
- TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Saturday, May 4
- TBD vs. TBD 5:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- TBD vs. TBD 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Sunday, May 5
- TBD vs. TBD 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
- TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Monday, May 6
- TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
- TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Tuesday, May 7
- *TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
- *TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Wednesday, May 8
- *TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
- *TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Thursday, May 9
- *TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- *TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Friday, May 10
- *TBD vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- *TBD vs. TBD 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Sunday, May 12
- *TBD vs. TBD 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
*If necessary
