NBA releases revised Game 5 schedule for Rockets vs. Thunder

The revised schedule for the 2020 playoffs comes after NBA players went on strike for three days of games, owing to U.S. civil unrest.

On the third day of a player-led game boycott stemming from civil unrest in the United States, the NBA released a revised 2020 playoff schedule for weekend games. Players agreed on Thursday to resume the season.

The loss of days requires several games to be rescheduled, since the postponement of Game 5 (in the case of the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder) inherently delayed Game 6, as well.

The league announced Friday that Game 5 would be played at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, with a national broadcast on TNT and a regional version (with Houston announcers) on AT&T SportsNet Southwest. That’s the same tip-off time and TV networks that were in place for Wednesday.

The dates and game times for Game 6 and Game 7 (if necessary) have yet to be officially released. That said, considering that each playoff series at the NBA’s Disney World “bubble” has been played in an every other day format, it seems highly likely that Game 6 and Game 7 for the Rockets and Thunder would be on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. Those two games, if necessary, were originally slotted for Friday and Sunday.

The delay could be beneficial to the Rockets, since it allows extra time for Russell Westbrook (right quad strain) to get healthy. Westbrook, who has yet to play in the playoffs, was upgraded to questionable a few hours before Game 5 — though the game was not ultimately played.

On Friday, reports emerged that Westbrook would play in Saturday’s Game 5 and “looked as explosive as ever” in a scrimmage on Thursday.

When best-of-seven series are tied at two games apiece, as Houston and Oklahoma City currently are, the Game 5 winner has historically gone on to win the series more than 80% of the time.

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