Cleveland Cavaliers First Round Playoff Schedule 2023 (Times, Dates and TV Channel for Knicks Series)

The Cleveland Cavaliers are officially headed to the NBA Playoffs for the first time without LeBron James on their roster since 1998. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff's team has its sights set on capturing the Larry O'Brien Trophy, but up first is an opening round series against the New York Knicks.

Here's everything you need to know about the Cavaliers-Knicks first round series.

What Seed Are the Cavaliers in the 2023 NBA Playoffs?

The Cavaliers ended the 2022-23 regular season with a 51-31 record, which was good enough to finish No. 4 in the Eastern Conference. As is tradition, the 4-seed faces the 5-seed in the first round of the playoffs. The Knicks concluded the campaign as the No. 5 team in the East with a 47-35 record.

Cleveland and New York have met three times in the playoffs with each matchup coming in the first round. The Knicks advanced in every showdown, winning eight of nine games (1978, 1995 & 1996).

Who Are the Cavaliers Playing in the 2023 Playoffs?

As the 4-seed, the Cavaliers play the 5-seed Knicks in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. This will be a typical best-of-seven series that follows the 2-2-1-1-1 format. That means the better seed (Cleveland) will host Games 1 and 2, plus Games 5 and 7 if those are necessary. The worse seed (New York) hosts Games 3 and 4, plus Game 6 if that is necessary.

Looking ahead, if the Cavaliers win this series and advance, they would face either the 1-seed Milwaukee Bucks or the to-be-determined 8-seed in the Eastern Conference semifinals, as the NBA playoff matchups do not re-seed in each round.

Cavaliers First Round Playoffs Schedule 2023

The Cavaliers' first round playoff schedule is not fully set yet. We'll update this space once Cleveland and New York's full series information is available.

Game	Date/Time	Location	TV Channel
1	Saturday, April 15 (6:00 p.m. ET)	Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse	ESPN
2	Tuesday, April 18 (7:30 p.m. ET)	Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse	TNT
3	Friday, April 21 (8:30 p.m. ET)	Madison Square Garden	ABC
4	Sunday, April 23 (1 p.m. ET)	Madison Square Garden	ABC
5* (if necessary)	TBD	Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse	TBD
6* (if necessary	TBD	Madison Square Garden	TBD
7* (if necessary)	TBD	Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse	TBD

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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