• Nba Teams Fighting For Playoff Spot Game
• Nba Teams Fighting For Playoff Spot Chart

Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Four teams will battle for two spots in the NBA Finals this weekend in Orlando, Fla., while golfers hit the course for the 2020 U.S. Open, two NHL teams fight for the Stanley Cup and MLB teams compete for playoff spots.

NASCAR's playoff format also continues with the round of 16 Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. A gauntlet of college football and NFL games fill the remaining space on the weekend sports slate.

So the NBA's inviting 22 teams to Orlando: 13 Western Conference, 9 Eastern Conference. Eight-regular season games per team. Play-in for the 8th seeds. HoopsHype predicts how all 15 Eastern Conference teams will finish the upcoming 2020-21 NBA. To make much of a push for a playoff spot in the East. Those teams fighting for the No. Four teams will battle for two spots in the NBA Finals this weekend in Orlando, Fla., while golfers hit the course for the 2020 U.S. Open, two NHL teams fight for the Stanley Cup and MLB teams. Over the next 10 days, the Pistons will match up against Eastern Conference teams fighting for playoff positioning, including the (5-5) Atlanta Hawks, (4-5) Miami Heat and (8-4) Philadelphia 76ers. That means that of the six teams fighting for a playoff spot, five will come from the Western Conference. As per the standings from when the season was suspended, the 22 teams are: The tentative.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets face off in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Friday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex inside Walt Disney World Resort.

'We are just playing good basketball at the right time,' Lakers forward LeBron James told reporters this week. 'We want to continue that. All we have is each other in the bubble.'

The Boston Celtics battle the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night in Orlando. Miami owns a 2-0 lead in that series. The Lakers and Nuggets return to the court for Game 2 of that series Sunday.

The Heat-Celtics game will air on ESPN. The Lakers-Nuggets games will air Friday and Sunday on TNT.

The Eastern Conference and Western Conference champions will play in Game 1 of the 2020 NBA Finals at the end of September.

U.S. Open

The first golf major of the 2020-2021 PGA Tour season is underway this week at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson opened as the betting favorite to capture the U.S. Open Trophy and is fresh off his 2020 FedEx Cup championship.

No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 3 Justin Thomas, No. 7 Xander Schauffele, No. 4 Rory McIlroy and No. 5 Collin Morikawa are among the other favorites to win at Winged Foot.

The 144-player field teed off Thursday. Thomas shot a 5-under par 65 to earn a first-round lead ahead of Friday's second round.

McIlroy was two shots behind Thomas at 3-under par. Johnson, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth each shot 3-over par 73s to open the tournament.

The third round airs from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday on NBC. The final round airs from 10 a.m. to noon EDT Sunday on the Golf Channel and from noon to 6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

Gary Woodland is the defending champion and was paired with Andy Ogletree and Shane Lowry for the first two rounds. Woods is grouped with Thomas and Morikawa early on. Johnson is grouped with Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau.

Stanley Cup Final

The Dallas Stars will meet the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final after both teams advanced out of their respective conferences this week at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The Stars and Lighting remain in the same arena for Game 1 of the title series, which starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday and airs on NBC.

Game 2 will air Monday on NBC Sports Network. The series continues with Game 3 on Wednesday on NBC Sports Network. Game 4 will be Sept. 25 on NBC. Games 5, 6 and 7 will air Sept. 26, 28 and 30, if they are necessary.

Tampa Bay is the betting favorite to win the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.

Saturday

College football

Tulsa at Oklahoma State at noon EDT on ESPN

Austin Peay at No. 13 Cincinnati at noon EDT on ESPN+

Syracuse at Pittsburgh at noon EDT on ACC Network

Louisiana at Georgia State at noon EDT on ESPN2

South Florida at Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. EDT on USA

UCF at Georgia Tech at 3:30 p.m. EDT on ABC

Appalachian State at Marshall at 3:30 p.m. EDT on CBS

The Citadel at Clemson at 4 p.m. EDT on ACC Network

Miami at Louisville at 7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC

Golf -- U.S. Open

Nba Teams Fighting For Playoff Spot Game

Third round from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC

Hockey -- Stanley Cup Final

Stars vs. Lightning at 7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC

Baseball

Braves at Mets at 7:07 p.m. EDT on Fox

White Sox at Reds at 7:07 p.m. EDT on Fox

Rays at Orioles at 7:35 p.m. EDT on FS1

NASCAR

Cup Series: Bass Pro Shops Night Race at 7:30 p.m. EDT on NBCSN

Basketball -- NBA playoffs

Game 3: Celtics vs. Heat at 8:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN

Sunday

NFL

Jaguars at Titans at 1 p.m. EDT on CBS

Panthers at Buccaneers at 1 p.m. EDT on Fox

Broncos at Steelers at 1 p.m. EDT on CBS

Rams at Eagles at 1 p.m. EDT on Fox

49ers at Jets at 1 p.m. EDT on Fox

Nba Teams Fighting For Playoff Spot Chart

Bills at Dolphins at 1 p.m. EDT on CBS

Vikings at Colts at 1 p.m. EDT on Fox

Lions at Packers at 1 p.m. EDT on Fox

Falcons at Cowboys at 1 p.m. EDT on Fox

Giants at Bears at 1 p.m. EDT on CBS

Washington Football Team at Cardinals at 4:05 p.m. EDT on Fox

Chiefs at Chargers at 4:25 p.m. EDT on CBS

Ravens at Texans at 4:25 p.m. EDT on CBS

Patriots at Seahawks at 8:20 p.m. EDT on NBC

Baseball

Yankees at Red Sox at 1:07 p.m. EDT on TBS

Twins at Cubs at 7:08 p.m. EDT on ESPN

Golf -- U.S. Open

Fourth round from 10 a.m. to noon EDT on Golf Channel; Noon to 6 p.m. EDT on NBC

Basketball -- NBA playoffs

Game 2: Nuggets vs. Lakers at 7:30 p.m. EDT on TNT

The NBA will recall 22 teams to each play eight games in the NBA playoff schedule.

How will it work?

The new structure will reportedly be based on teams’ existing schedules, teams playing their next eight originally scheduled games against the continuing 22 teams. Of course, that doesn’t work cleanly. Some teams would reach eight games more quickly than other teams. So, whenever a team arrived at an opponent that already reached eight games, I just continued to that team’s next game.

With that assumption, here are the remaining opponents for each team:

• Boston Celtics: Bucks, Wizards, Raptors, Nets, Wizards, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Heat
• Brooklyn Nets: Clippers, Kings, Wizards, Celtics, Magic, Clippers, Magic, Trail Blazers
• Dallas Mavericks: Suns, Clippers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Suns, Rockets, Jazz, Bucks
• Denver Nuggets: Spurs, Lakers, Clippers, Thunder, Raptors, Heat, Spurs, Thunder
• Houston Rockets: Lakers, Trail Blazers, Kings, Bucks, Mavericks, Pacers, 76ers, Raptors
• Indiana Pacers: 76ers, Heat, Suns, Magic, Rockets, Kings, Clippers, Lakers
• L.A. Clippers: Nets, Pelicans, Mavericks, Nuggets, Suns, Nets, Pacers, Thunder
• Los Angeles Lakers: Rockets, Nuggets, Jazz, Jazz, Raptors, Pacers, Trail Blazers,* Heat or Magic*
• Memphis Grizzlies: Trail Blazers, Jazz, Spurs, Thunder, Bucks, Pelicans, Pelicans, Celtics
• Miami Heat: Bucks, Pacers, Thunder, Nuggets, Suns, Celtics, Raptors, Lakers or Trail Blazers*
• Milwaukee Bucks: Celtics, Heat, Grizzlies, Wizards, Rockets, Wizards, Mavericks, Raptors
• New Orleans Pelicans: Kings, Jazz, Clippers, Spurs, Grizzlies, Kings, Grizzlies, Magic
• Oklahoma City Thunder: Jazz, Wizards, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Heat, Nuggets, Suns, Clippers
• Orlando Magic: Pacers, Kings, Nets, Nets, Pelicans, 76ers, Raptors, Lakers or Trail Blazers*
• Philadelphia 76ers: Pacers, Wizards, Raptors, Trail Blazers, Suns, Rockets, Magic, Spurs
• Phoenix Suns: Mavericks, Pacers, Clippers, Mavericks, 76ers, Wizards, Heat, Thunder
• Portland Trail Blazers: Grizzlies, Rockets, Mavericks, 76ers, Celtics, Nets, Lakers,* Heat or Magic*
• Sacramento Kings: Pelicans, Nets, Mavericks, Rockets, Magic, Pelicans, Pacers, Spurs
• San Antonio Spurs: Nuggets, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Jazz, Jazz, Nuggets, Kings, 76ers
• Toronto Raptors: 76ers, Celtics, Nuggets, Lakers, Bucks, Rockets, Heat, Magic
• Utah Jazz: Thunder, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Lakers, Lakers, Spurs, Spurs, Mavericks
• Washington Wizards: Celtics, Thunder, 76ers, Nets, Bucks, Celtics, Suns, Bucks

*To reach eight games for each team, I had to create three games not on the schedule:

• Lakers vs. Trail Blazers
• Lakers vs. Heat or Magic
• Trail Blazers vs. Heat or Magic

Los Angeles would face whichever of Miami and Orlando that Portland doesn’t face (and vice versa).

The Lakers could also play the Trail Blazers twice, and the Heat could just play the Magic. But that’d mean five Lakers-Trail Blazers games and five Heat-Magic games this season. Generally, teams play each other four or fewer times.

I wouldn’t get too caught up in the order of the games. That almost certainly must be adjusted. Otherwise, teams would finish at significantly different times. For example, the Bucks’ eighth game in this format is against the Raptors. But that’s just Toronto’s fifth game.

The league might also use a different method altogether in the NBA playoff schedule. Again, the reported plan can’t work exactly as reported.

But want the best guess at each team’s remaining games? This is it.

*Thanks to Kevin Pelton of ESPN for providing a handy spreadsheet of originally scheduled games.