The 2019 NBA Playoffs schedule has been released. The Portland Trail Blazers will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference matchup on Sunday, April 14th at 12:30, Pacific on ABC. The full schedule: Game 1— Sunday, April 14th, 12:30 Pacific, ABC Game 2— Tuesday, April 16th, 7:30 Pacific, TNT Game 3— Friday, April 19th, 6:30 Pacific, ESPN Game 4— Sunday, April 21st, 6:30 Pacific, TNT Game 5— Tuesday, April 23rd, TBA Game 6— Thursday, April 25th, TBA Game 7— Saturday, April 27th, TBA, TNT Portland has home court advantage, playing at home in games 1, 2, 5, and 7.<doc-sep>What a shocker. In a period of 15 minutes, the Blazers and Nuggets both made late comebacks. And suddenly all the scores tipped. Portland won, 136-131, and Denver held off Minnesota. With the surprising wins, the Blazers elevated into the third seed, and will play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Oklahoma City won all 4 regular-season games between the two teams, prior to Jusuf Nurkic suffering a season-ending compound fracture. Let’s recap how we got here. In pregame, they made the announcement: Stats board has the Blazers starting Simons, Trent Jr, Layman, Labissiere and Leonard. — Casey Holdahl (@CHold) April 11, 2019 Portland only played 6 players. Yep, seriously. The starters listed above, plus Zach Collins. The Blazers broke a record. Not a good one. Portland gave up 87 points in the first half to the Kings, breaking the previous record of 86. But it didn’t matter. Sacramento didn’t play their starters in the second half, and Portland promptly went on an amazing run. The Kings’ shots stopped falling, the crowd was always lively, and suddenly Portland had the lead. It was the Simons and Skal show. They lit up the scoring and kept the crowd alive all night. Simons scored 37, including some late heroics, and Labissiere added 29. All 6 Blazers scored in double-figures. The Blazers will open the playoffs Saturday or Sunday. We’ll post the schedule when released. Box Score<doc-sep>After a few hours of waiting, the Oklahoma City Thunder finally learned late Wednesday night that they will face the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. By defeating the Milwaukee Bucks earlier Wednesday night, the Thunder clinched the sixth seed in the Western Conference but still had to wait just a few hours longer to reach a verdict. As the sixth seed, the Thunder will open the playoffs on the road with Games 1 and 2 set to take place in Portland. The series will shift to Oklahoma City for Games 3 and 4 with the remaining games alternating between cities if necessary. Game 1 will be Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT. The Thunder swept the season series against the Trail Blazers 4-0. The two teams had some heated battles throughout the season as division rivals and that figures to be the case once again during the playoffs. As it once looked promising the Thunder would have homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the team hit a bit of a rough patch and quickly fell down the Western Conference standings. The Thunder were in third place at the All-Star break with a 37-20 record but went 12-13 to close out the season. They fell to eighth at one point but turned things around a bit and ended the season on a five-game winning streak. After struggling for much of the past two months, the Thunder appeared to play well over the last five games of the season and they figure to have some momentum heading into the playoffs. The Thunder have not won a playoff series since 2016.<doc-sep>The Portland Trail Blazers are in the NBA playoffs for the sixth year in a row and for the second consecutive postseason they’ll have home-court advantage in the first round. The Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night — needing all 48 minutes to do so — to assure they’ll begin the postseason at home, but who they’ll play is still to be determined. At 52-29, Portland currently sits fourth in the Western Conference standings with one game remaining. As it stands, the Blazers would face the Utah Jazz (50-31) in the first round but could still jump up into the No. 3 spot with a win over the Sacramento Kings in Wednesday’s regular-season finale and a win by the Denver Nuggets (53-28) over the Minnesota Timberwolves (36-45). By topping the Lakers Tuesday — thanks to a game-winning corner three-pointer from Moe Harkless — and the Oklahoma City Thunder (48-33) rallying to beat the Houston Rockets (53-29), Portland keeps the 3 seed in its sights. The Blazers own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Rockets after taking two of the three regular-season matchups. A loss to Sacramento would mean a fourth-place finish in the West for Portland and set up a first-round matchup with fifth-place Utah. The Blazers and Jazz split their four regular-season meetings this year. If Portland and Denver both win, the Nuggets would finish second and the Blazers third, setting up a first-round matchup with the No. 6 seed — either Oklahoma City or the San Antonio Spurs (47-34). The Blazers were swept by the Thunder 4-0 this season while splitting the season series with the Spurs 2-2, with each team winning on their home floors. Both the Thunder and San Antonio close out the season on Wednesday. Portland earned home-court advantage as the No. 3 seed after a 49-win campaign last season, drawing the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round before eventually being swept 4-0 in the first round. Regardless, the Blazers have made securing home-court advantage again in the first round a goal despite last year’s disappointing result. “We had it last year and we lost it, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was to our advantage,” assessed All-Star guard Damian Lillard. “We started on our home floor and I think a lot of teams want that. "What we learned last year is that doesn’t guarantee you’re going to win the games at home, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to fight for that position.” Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox<doc-sep>
Here's a look at where Portland could finish in the playoff seeding and which opponent the Blazers will face in the first round, depending on how Wednesday's games play out. PORTLAND, Ore. — After beating the Lakers on Tuesday night in the penultimate game of the regular season, the Trail Blazers secured no worse than the 4 seed in the Western Conference, giving them homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. "That was the goal going into this week, to clinch home court. We did that. It's good to know that we start at home," Portland head coach Terry Stotts said after Tuesday's game. The third-place Rockets lost to the Thunder on Tuesday night, which gives the Blazers an opportunity to secure the 3 seed for the second season in a row. If Portland beats the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night and Denver beats Minnesota, the Blazers will be the 3 seed. If Denver loses, the result of the Blazers game won't matter. In that scenario, Portland would be the 4 seed. The Blazers will rest their best players against the Kings. The team announced Wednesday morning that Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum won't play against Sacramento. Portland's first-round opponent has yet to be decided, but the field has been narrowed to three teams: the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs. There are four games on the schedule Wednesday that could impact the Blazers' playoff positioning and opponent. Thunder at Bucks, 5 p.m. Mavericks at Spurs, 5 p.m. Kings at Trail Blazers, 7:30 p.m. Timberwolves at Nuggets, 7:30 p.m. Here's a look at where Portland could finish in the playoff seeding and which opponent the Blazers will face in the first round, depending on how Wednesday's games play out. Blazers get 3 seed, Spurs as first-round opponent Blazers beat Kings; Spurs beat Mavericks; Thunder lose to Bucks; Nuggets beat Timberwolves Blazers get 3 seed, Thunder as first-round opponent Blazers beat Kings; Thunder beat Bucks; Nuggets beat Timberwolves Blazers get 4 seed, Jazz as first-round opponent Blazers lose to Kings OR Blazers beat Kings; Nuggets lose to Timberwolves Listen to the most recent edition of the 3-on-3 Blazers podcast: