The NBA and NHL will have a chaotic schedule with arenas during the opening weekend of the playoffs in two major cities.
There will also be broadcast confusion in the process of the NBA and NHL playoff madness.
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The New York Knicks and New York Rangers had impressive 2023-24 seasons.
Both regular season campaigns ended this week.
Point guard Jalen Brunson’s Knicks finished with a 50-32 record, good for second in the Eastern Conference.
And Artemi Panarin’s Rangers boasted a 55-23-4 record, the best in the NHL.
They were awarded the Presidents’ Trophy, awarded to the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season.
However, the home arena for the Knicks and Rangers is Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks will play the first two games of each Eastern Conference series at home unless it is the No. 1 seed Boston Celtics and the Rangers have home-field advantage during the playoffs.
Thus, the Knicks will play the first round at home against the number 7 play-in team on Saturday, at an undetermined time.
The Rangers, meanwhile, will likely play their first home game on Sunday and that too at an unspecified time.
Both teams are expected to play their home playoff games on alternating days throughout the two leagues’ postseasons.
Meanwhile, the Celtics and Boston Bruins will also have a chaotic schedule.
Both teams play at TD Garden as Jayson Tatum’s 64-18 No. 1 seed Celtics have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and are set for a home playoff game on Sunday.
However, the location of the 47-19-15 Bruins’ first-round matchup will be decided in Game 82 on Tuesday.
If they win the game against the Ottawa Senators, and other factors occur, Brad Marchand and the Bruins will win the Atlantic Division and host Game 1 of their first round, which will likely be on Saturday.
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Otherwise, the Bruins could be the road team on Saturday or Saturday, as they won’t have scheduling conflicts with the Celtics in the first round of either league’s playoffs.
The NBA and NHL will have to adjust schedules accordingly if the two sports teams of New York and Boston advance to the second round of their respective playoff series and so on.
ESPN also owns the rights to the NBA and NHL.
The major network broadcasts both league games on ABC and ESPN.
The Celtics and Bruins are no strangers to playoff scheduling conflicts, as they have both reached the postseason the past eight years.
The Rangers and Knicks will be in the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Both reached the championship of their respective leagues in 1994, when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in seven games, while the Knicks lost in seven games to the Houston Rockets.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
