After all the battles throughout the season and the playoffs there are only four teams remaining this season. The top two seeds in the Western Conference will face off as the Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the San Antonio Spurs in a highly anticipated Western Conference Finals while the New York Knicks will host the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Each team has taken on their own journey to get to where they are at now and with each team only four wins away from an NBA Finals appearance, the energy and intensity for these games will be through the roof. There will only be one day of rest between each game for both series so basketball fans will have a game to look forward to every night for as long as these go on.
Western Conference Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs
One of the most highly anticipated playoff series in recent memory takes place in the Western Conference Finals which kicks off Monday, May 18. The Thunder are the defending NBA champions looking for a repeat and are led by the recently crowned back-to-back MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They haven’t lost a game in the playoffs yet as they swept the Phoenix Suns in the first round and the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round.
The San Antonio Spurs will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, which will begin on Monday, May 18 at 8:30 PM ET on @NBAonNBC.
Series schedule ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Lee3eYChDJ
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 16, 2026
But one team has had their number all season long and that has been Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs who beat them four out of five times in the regular season and are in the conference finals for the first time since 2017. The Spurs lack postseason experience, but were still able to take down the Portland Trail Blazers in five games and the tough Minnesota Timberwolves in six.
This series features one of the budding rivalries in the NBA between Wembanyama and Thunder big man Chet Holmgren, but all eyes will be watching to see if the young Spurs perimeter stars in Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper can overcome the battle-tested Thunder wings led by Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and the rising Ajay Mitchell.
Eastern Conference Finals: New York Knicks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
The Eastern Conference Finals kicks off on Tuesday, May 19, with Game 1 and will feature the New York Knicks for the second consecutive year who are playing their best basketball of the season. After a slow start in the first round of the playoffs, the Knicks have won their last seven games against the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers by an average of 26.4 points per game, led by Jalen Brunson and the resurgent Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will face the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, which will begin on Tuesday, May 19 at 8 PM ET on ESPN.
Series schedule ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/18IFw276x0
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 18, 2026
The Cavaliers have taken the opposite approach, needing seven games to get out of each of their first playoff series. Despite some rough outings the Cavs have come through when it mattered most, with All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell leading the charge while big man Evan Mobley seems to have found his postseason footing as well.
The Knicks won two of three games in the regular season, though only one came after the trade deadline. The Knicks will be favored with how well they are playing, and haven’t made the NBA Finals since 1999 so the fans are clamoring for a return, but the Cavaliers have been fighting to get over the hump for the last couple seasons and will hope to finally do that.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
