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When do the NBA playoffs start? Playoff brackets, how to watch, championship odds

The NBA starts its two-month quest to determine a champion as the first round of the playoffs tip off with four games Saturday. The field went from 20 to 16 teams through the play-in tournament, as the four survivors join the eight-game first round. All four rounds of the playoffs are best of 7. Oklahoma […]

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When do the NBA playoffs start? Playoff brackets, how to watch, championship odds


The NBA starts its two-month quest to determine a champion as the first round of the playoffs tip off with four games Saturday.

The field went from 20 to 16 teams through the play-in tournament, as the four survivors join the eight-game first round. All four rounds of the playoffs are best of 7.

Oklahoma City and Cleveland are the top seeds in the Western Conference and Eastern Conference respectively, though defending champion Boston is one of the favorites. The Los Angles Lakers, another favorite, open Saturday against Minnesota.

Apr 11, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) moves the ball against the Houston Rockets during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

When do the NBA playoffs start?

The best-of-seven first rounds begin Saturday, April 19.

Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

NBA playoff format

Eight teams from each conference go into a seeded bracket to produce the two conference champions. Each round is a best-of-seven with the NBA finals set to begin on June 5.

Los Angeles Lakers are a No. 3 seed and will host the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Mountain/7:30 p.m. Central. That is the first game of a seven-game series.

Who are the top seeds?

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers are the top seeds.

from ESPN BET:

Oklahoma City Thunder +180

Boston Celtics +190

Cleveland Cavaliers +575

Dallas Mavericks +100000

Miami Heat +100000

OKC Thunder

The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the betting favorite to win the NBA title.

NBA games tonight

Saturday’s NBA schedule

Milwaukee Bucks at Indiana Pacers, 11 a.m. MT/noon CT, ESPN

Los Angeles Clippers at Denver Nuggets, 1:30 p.m. MT/2:30 p.m., ESPN

Detroit Pistons at New York Knicks, 4 p.m. MT/5 p.m. CT, ESPN

Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angles Lakers, 6:30 p.m. MT/7:30 p.m. CT, ABC

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.

College Sports

Dunn Named Scholar Athlete of the Year; Joined by Karp and Magovern on the Academic …

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell senior Tyler Dunn was named the Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year as announced by the league office on Thursday. Dunn is joined by seniors Brady Karp and Ben Magovern with Academic All-Patriot League selections. Dunn is the first Bison to be named Scholar Athlete of the Year since Tyler […]

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Dunn Named Scholar Athlete of the Year; Joined by Karp and Magovern on the Academic ...

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell senior Tyler Dunn was named the Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year as announced by the league office on Thursday. Dunn is joined by seniors Brady Karp and Ben Magovern with Academic All-Patriot League selections.

Dunn is the first Bison to be named Scholar Athlete of the Year since Tyler Wincig in 2019. Karp received an Academic All-PL selection for the second consecutive year, and this is Magovern’s first Academic All-PL honor.

Dunn, a four-year starter at first base, was named First Team All-Patriot League on Wednesday. On top of an incredible year, he carried an impressive 3.57 GPA.

He slashed .325/.492/.503, leading the team in all categories. He was second on the team with 41 hits and 10 doubles. He hit three home runs and had 30 RBIs.

Dunn drew a league-leading 41 walks to tie Bucknell’s single-season record. His .503 on-base percentage led the league and his .985 OPS ranked third. Among Division I programs, Dunn’s 41 walks ranked 45th, his 1.08 walks per game ranked sixth, and his on-base percentage ranked 39th.

Dunn was excellent at first base, sporting a .993 fielding percentage with only two errors. He finished his career with an impressive .992 fielding percentage.

Dunn finished his career with his name plastered on Bucknell’s career records. He ranks seventh in games played (178), seventh in games started (169), seventh in at-bats (626), 15th in hits (173), 13th in RBIs (112), second in walks (100), sixth in hit-by-pitches (25), 15th in doubles (33), and fourth in sacrifice flies (10).

Karp produced a strong season after missing a chunk of games early in the season with an injury. Karp hit .202 in in 31 games and produced a .405 on-base percentage. Karp mostly hit out of the nine-spot in the order, until moving to the lead off spot in Bucknell’s final two series.

Karp smashed four home runs on the year, including a home run in each of Bucknell’s final two games at Lafayette. Karp was great over the final few weeks of the season, racking up 12 hits and 12 RBIs in his last 12 games. Karp drew 17 walks, 13 hit-by-pitches, and only struck out 17 times.

Karp has maintained a 4.00 GPA during his career at Bucknell and was an Academic All-Patriot League last season. Karp is already a three-time member of the PL Academic Honor Roll.

Magovern had an excellent senior campaign after missing all of 2024 due to injury. Magovern was Bucknell’s No. 2 starter all season, producing a 5.13 ERA that ranked eighth in the PL.

The left-hander tossed 52.2 innings over 11 starts for the Bison. In six of his 11 starts, he has allowed two earned runs or less.

Magovern posted a 3.10 ERA over his final five appearances, giving quality starts in four of those games. He finished the season with a career-high 40 strikeouts and a 4-3 record.

Magovern had an impressive 3.77 GPA and is already three-time member of the PL Academic Honor Roll.

Bucknell holds the co-league-lead with Holy Cross and Lafayette with three selections on the Academic All-PL teams. Bucknell has three selections for the second consecutive year, and have had multiple selections in each of the previous four seasons.

Bucknell finished the season with an 18-27 record, finishing in fifth in the Patriot League with a 10-15 record.

2025 Patriot League Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Tyler Dunn, Bucknell, Sr., IF
 
Academic All-Patriot League Baseball Team
Tyler Dunn, Bucknell, Sr., 1B
Ethan Ellis, Army West Point, Sr., OF
Thomas Schreck, Army West Point, Sr., SS
Brady Karp, Bucknell, Sr., SS
Ben Magovern, Bucknell, Sr., LHP
Danny Macchiarola, Holy Cross, Sr., RHP
Jimmy King, Holy Cross Sr., SS
Gianni Royer, Holy Cross, So., CF
Easton Brenner, Lafayette, Sr., OF
Ethan Swidler, Lafayette, Jr., C
Michael Zarrillo, Lafayette, Sr., IF
Owen Walewander, Lehigh, Jr., C
Landon Kruer, Navy, Sr., RHP
 

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College Sports

Heights Hotline | Beer Leagues, Random Athlete NFL Teams and Air Travel Complaints

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Heights Hotline | Beer Leagues, Random Athlete NFL Teams and Air Travel Complaints

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College Sports

UT Athletics announces 2025 Spring Commencement participants

Name Sport Major Meredith Adams Women’s Track & Field Exercise Science, Pre-Health Professions Certificate Abby Allen Soccer (former) Applied Movement Science, Social Studies track Ellie Andrews Women’s Swimming & Diving Human Dimensions of Organizations, minor in Educational Psychology Abby Arens Women’s Swimming & Diving Strategic Communication, Graduate Certificate Pierre-Yves Bailly Men’s Tennis Economics (BA), minor […]

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UT Athletics announces 2025 Spring Commencement participants

Name

Sport

Major

Meredith Adams

Women’s Track & Field

Exercise Science, Pre-Health Professions Certificate

Abby Allen

Soccer (former)

Applied Movement Science, Social Studies track

Ellie Andrews

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Human Dimensions of Organizations, minor in Educational Psychology

Abby Arens

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Strategic Communication, Graduate Certificate

Pierre-Yves Bailly

Men’s Tennis

Economics (BA), minor in Business

Reece Beauchamp*

Football

Corporate Communication

Dorian Black

Football (former)

Health Behavior & Health Education (MS)

Connor Boenig

Men’s Track & Field

Advertising, minor in Professional Sales and Business Development

Manuel Borowski*

Men’s Swimming & Diving

Physical Culture & Sports, Education track

Jackson Braddock

Men’s Track & Field

Textiles & Apparel

Michael Cantu

Baseball (former)

Sport Management, minor in Business

Tiffany Cao

Women’s Golf

Management Information Systems, minor in Finance

Katie Cimusz

Softball

Finance

Preston Clark*

Men’s Basketball

Management

Ava Collinge

Women’s Swimming & Diving (former)

Human Ecology (BSA), Pre-Health Professions Certificate

Grace Cooper

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Strategic Communication, Graduate Certificate

Riley Courtney

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Human Ecology (BSA), minor in Spanish

Kenondra Davis

Women’s Track & Field

Physical Culture & Sports, Education track

Hailey Easterly

Rowing

Sport Communication, Graduate Certificate

Amity Ebarb

Women’s Track & Field

Social Work

Jack Garey

Men’s Track & Field

Finance, minor in Wealth Management

Anna Garrison

Rowing

Mechanical Engineering

Edwin Gomez

Men’s Track & Field (former)

Applied Learning & Development, Social Studies track

Jaylon Guilbeau**

Football

Physical Culture & Sports, Education track

Channing Hanley

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Advertising, minor in Business

Luke Harrison

Baseball

Sport Management, minor in Business

Hailey Hernandez

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Exercise Science, minor in Health Communication

Chrystal Herpin

Women’s Track & Field

African & African Diaspora Studies,

minors in Educational Psychology and Philosophy of Law

Luke Hobson

Men’s Swimming & Diving

Advertising, minor in Business

Sue Holderness

Rowing

Management, minor in Marketing

Shay Holle

Women’s Basketball

Strategic Communication (MA)

Olivia Howell

Women’s Track & Field (former)

Strategic Communication (MA)

Daniel Howells

Men’s Track & Field

Strategic Communication, Graduate Certificate

Jackson Huckabay

Men’s Swimming & Diving

Management

Cole Hutson

Football

Management

Jessica Jamieson

Rowing

Neuroscience (BSA), minor in Business

Savvy Jerome*

Rowing

Government, minor in Business

Eva Jess

Women’s Track & Field

Nutrition (BSA), Food and Society Certificate

Jayson Kent

Men’s Basketball

Communication & Leadership, Graduate Certificate

Nigusom Knight

Men’s Track & Field

African & African Diaspora Studies,

minor in Social & Behavioral Sciences                   

Taryn Kooyers

Rowing

Marketing

Marshall Landwehr

Football

Marketing

Allyson Little

Women’s Track & Field

Biology (BSA), Pre-Health Professions Certificate

Cole Lourd

Football

Communication & Leadership

Shanya Luna

Women’s Track & Field

Sport Management (MEd)

Ashton Maloney

Softball

Management, minor in Kinesiology

Kelly McCloskey*

Beach Volleyball (former)

Human Dimensions of Organizations, minor in Business

Olivia McMurray

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Management Information Systems, minor in Marketing

Thatcher Milton

Football

Mechanical Engineering

Joley Mitchell

Softball

Strategic Communication (MA)

Mac Morgan

Softball

Sport Management, Education track

Elijah Mosley

Men’s Track & Field

Physical Culture & Sports, Education track

Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda

Women’s Basketball

Psychology (BA), Spanish for Medical Professionals Certificate

Ze’Rik Onyema

Men’s Basketball

Physical Culture & Sports, Education track

Vivian Ovrootsky*

Women’s Tennis

Sport Management, minor in Communication Studies

Bohyun Park

Women’s Golf

Communication & Leadership

Maddison Parmelly

Beach Volleyball

Strategic Communication (MA)

Logan Patete

Men’s Track & Field

Applied Movement Science, minor in Communication Studies

Kyra Pretre

Women’s Track & Field

Strategic Communication, Graduate Certificate

Nathan Quarterman

Men’s Swimming & Diving

Management, minor in Business Analytics

Vanessa Quiroga

Softball

Sport Management, minor in Entrepreneurship

Rodger Rivera

Men’s Track & Field

Design focused on Health (MA)

Christian Rizzi*

Football

Sport Management, Education track

Phoebe Robinson*

Rowing

Physical Culture & Sports, Education track

Sadie Runeman

Women’s Swimming & Diving (former)

Sociology, minor in Philosophy

EJ Rush

Men’s Track & Field

Communication & Leadership, Graduate Certificate

Mia Scott

Softball

Applied Learning & Development, minor in Educational Psychology

Kadin Shedrick

Men’s Basketball

Strategic Communication (MA)

Sophia Simpson

Softball

Communication & Leadership

Emma Sticklen

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Sport Communication, Graduate Certificate

Elizabeth Stockman*

Women’s Track & Field

Nutritional Sciences (MS)

Erica Sullivan

Women’s Swimming & Diving (former)

Radio-Television-Film, Creative Writing Certificate

Michael Taaffe**

Football

Sport Management, Education track

Mette Taber

Rowing (former)

Global Policy Studies (MA)

Harriet Wallace

Rowing

Asian Cultures and Languages, minor in History

Solomon Washington

Men’s Track & Field

Supply Chain Management

Seth Werchan

Baseball (former)

Energy and Earth Resources (MA)

Ace Whitehead*

Baseball

Human Dimensions of Organizations,

minor in Communication Studies

Kylie Wickley

Beach Volleyball

Physical Culture & Sports, Social Studies track

Nadja Yaroschuk

Rowing

Biology (BS),

minor in Evolutionary & Functional Anatomy Anthropology

Jeffrey Zatorski

Men’s Golf (former)

Human Dimensions of Organizations, minor in Business

Sabina Zeynalova

Women’s Tennis

Psychology (BA), minor in Communication Studies

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Professional Sports

You Got Served

Do you think you’ve got some super-human skills with a ping pong racket? You may have dominated the lunchtime matches at work, or the weekend tournaments with your buddies, but you would have no chance against MIT’s robotic table tennis champ that can chop like a Ginsu knife fresh off the sharpening stone. This robotic […]

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You Got Served

Do you think you’ve got some super-human skills with a ping pong racket? You may have dominated the lunchtime matches at work, or the weekend tournaments with your buddies, but you would have no chance against MIT’s robotic table tennis champ that can chop like a Ginsu knife fresh off the sharpening stone. This robotic player uses computer vision to analyze and respond to your best shots with a crushing return.

This high-speed table tennis bot is a combination of lightweight, high-power mechanics and advanced control algorithms, designed to mimic and rival human athleticism at the ping pong table. Fixed at one end of a regulation-sized table is a five-degree-of-freedom robotic arm wielding a standard paddle. This robotic arm reacts to incoming shots in milliseconds, analyzing trajectory and spin with the help of high-speed cameras and a custom predictive control system.

Three computers power the system — one processes visual inputs from a camera, another predicts the ball’s trajectory, and the third calculates the optimal paddle swing. All communicate via high-speed networking protocols to deliver a lightning-fast reaction time of just 7.5 to 16 milliseconds from ball detection to paddle strike.

This new robot arm, weighing just 3 kg, is capable of acceleration between 180 and 300 m/s², thanks to torque-dense actuators and a minimal inertia design. This allows precise control of paddle position and angle, crucial for high-speed, spin-sensitive play. A motion capture system with six cameras tracks the ball, which is wrapped in retro-reflective tape, with sub-millimeter accuracy at 120 frames per second.

The system was put to the test with 150 consecutive shots, and it returned balls with an average success rate of nearly 88% across three swing types: the topspin-heavy loop, the aggressive flat drive, and the defensive backspin chop. The robot executes these moves with an average strike speed of 11 meters per second — fast enough to go toe-to-toe with intermediate human players. More recent tweaks have pushed that speed to an impressive 19 m/s, creeping into elite human territory.

While it currently returns balls only within a limited area of the table, the team plans to mount the robot on a wheeled platform or gantry system to extend its reach. Eventually, the bot could serve as an elite-level training partner, capable of simulating real-game conditions with human-like unpredictability.

And beyond table tennis, the underlying technology may contribute to future search-and-rescue robots, which need to perform fast, precise movements in unpredictable environments. For now, though, this robotic ace is serving notice to human competitors: the age of machine-powered ping pong dominance has arrived.

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Professional Sports

14th annual FiftyNorth Northfield Table Tennis Tournament draws nearly 100 competitors …

FiftyNorth sponsored the 14th Annual Northfield Table Tennis Tournament for players (men and women) of all ages on Saturday, May 3 at the Northfield Middle School. The tournament featured a choice of three singles events and three doubles events. In fourteen years, the tournament has grown to be one of the largest table tennis tournaments […]

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14th annual FiftyNorth Northfield Table Tennis Tournament draws nearly 100 competitors ...

FiftyNorth sponsored the 14th Annual Northfield Table Tennis Tournament for players (men and women) of all ages on Saturday, May 3 at the Northfield Middle School. The tournament featured a choice of three singles events and three doubles events.

In fourteen years, the tournament has grown to be one of the largest table tennis tournaments held in Minnesota (with 87 participants this year)! Many of the highest rated players in Minnesota including from Rochester and the Twin Cities clubs participated in addition to players from Iowa, and North and South Dakota. Also playing were many local players some who are active in one or more of the five sessions of table tennis offered weekly at FiftyNorth. Six players from Carleton College and one student from St. Olaf participated in the tournament as well.

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College Sports

BIG NAMES DETERMINED TO REVIVE FORTUNES IN AVC BEACH TOUR PINGTAN …

Pingtan, China, May 8, 2025 – Beach volleyball stars Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan, fresh from winning the Doha Open in Qatar, and Kiwis Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald, who claimed gold medal at the recent Phu Yen Open in Vietnam, are among big names who will be out to prove their prowess at the AVC Beach Tour Pingtan […]

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BIG NAMES DETERMINED TO REVIVE FORTUNES IN AVC BEACH TOUR PINGTAN ...

Pingtan, China, May 8, 2025 – Beach volleyball stars Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan, fresh from winning the Doha Open in Qatar, and Kiwis Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald, who claimed gold medal at the recent Phu Yen Open in Vietnam, are among big names who will be out to prove their prowess at the AVC Beach Tour Pingtan Open between May 8 and 11, 2025.

A total of 40 teams comprising 20 men’s and 20 women’s pairs will strut their stuff in the double-gender event to vie for top honour, US$10,000 prize money and AVC ranking points. The participating countries consist of Qatar, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Iran, Japan, China, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong China, Malaysia, Vanuatu and Singapore.

Due to the presence of big names in the men’s event, action-packed four days of hard-fought battles are expected to unfold in the Pingtan Open.

Apart from Cherif/Ahmed, the former three-time Asian champions who have already captured back-to-back AVC Beach Tour titles in Samila Open in Songkhla, Thailand and AVC Beach Tour Doha Open on their home soil, those who are likely to pose strong challenge against the world No.12 Qataris include current Asian winners D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse from Australia, Paul Burnett/Luke Ryan, another Australian duo who snatched the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open in Philippines, Iran’s 2024 Asian Championship bronze medallists Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab and Kiwis Ben O’Dea/Bradley Fuller, silver medallists at the 2025 Samila Open and winners at the Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta.

In the women’s event, Kiwis Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald, fresh from winning the Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Futures in Philippines, are hungry for another victory and remain the strong title contender at the Pingtan Open.

However, their determination to reach a certain goal or win another title in Pingtan is not an easy mission as daunting tasks await them. Top teams from Australia including Nuvali Open champions Jasmine Fleming/Stefanie Fejes, Nuvali Open bronze medallists Elizabeth Alchin/Georgia Johnson as well as China’s Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli, who captured gold at the 2024 Wuhan Qingshan Futures, Thailand’s 2021 Asian champions Taravadee Naraphornapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee, who lost the championship match in the Phu Yen Open to the Kiwis, and Japan’s Ren Matsumoto/Non Matsumoto, who took gold medal at the 24th Samila Open are all ready to put the Kiwi duo in trouble and stop their good run in Pingtan Open.

 

Ahead of the main draw action on Thursday, General Technical Meeting was held on Wednesday at Banquet Hall, Argyle Resort Pingtan Hotel at 5pm local time, with Mr Liu Bing, CVA Beach Volleyball Director, presiding.

Also in attendance were AVC Technical Delegate Mr Thomas Chang from Hong Kong, China, AVC Referee Delegate Mr Wang Leijun from China, Ms Nattalida Sumdangdech from AVC Beach Volleyball Department and all participating teams.

During the meeting, Mr Thomas Chang informed teams of the technical issues, while Mr Wang Leijun explained about the match protocol and the rules of the game.

Teams in both men’s and women’s events were divided into 8 pools (Pools A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H) for pool round-robin preliminaries. After the pool play, only top two teams from each pool will make the cut for the elimination round starting with round of 16. As the losers will bow out of the tournament, the winners will next progress to quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

On Thursday, the very first day of the double-gender competition, the first serve is scheduled for 9.30am local time, with the opening ceremony being held at 7.30pm.

MATCH SCHEDULE

MEN

WOMEN

POOLS

MEN

WOMEN

QUICK LINKS

AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net

AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation

AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball

AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en

Mikasa Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/mikasasports_official

AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation

AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation

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