2026 NBA Playoffs · Conference Semifinals

Playoff Predictions

Series win probabilities, projected length, and championship odds from a Monte Carlo simulation built on Predictium's B13 model. Game 1 spreads come from the same feature stack that drives the regular-season picks.

10,000 simulations · net_rating_fallback model · as of May 6, 2026

Championship & Advancement Odds

Championship & Round Odds

TeamRound 2Conf. FinalsFinalsTitle
Oklahoma City Thunder100.0%81.3%47.8%27.0%
New York Knicks100.0%78.5%43.4%22.3%
San Antonio Spurs100.0%70.1%36.0%20.3%
Detroit Pistons100.0%74.8%41.3%20.0%
Minnesota Timberwolves100.0%29.9%9.5%3.3%
Cleveland Cavaliers100.0%25.2%9.6%3.2%
Los Angeles Lakers100.0%18.7%6.7%2.4%
Philadelphia 76ers100.0%21.4%5.7%1.4%

Top 12 teams by title probability. Values update each time the simulation is re-run.

Conference Semifinals Predictions

Higher-seed series win probability, projected series length, and Game 1 spread/total from the B13 oracle. Injury notes reflect availability overrides baked into the simulation.

Eastern Conference

#1Detroit Pistons
75%-297
#4Cleveland Cavaliers
25%+297

Proj. Length

5.7 G

G2 Spread

G2 Total

Series Length Distribution

4G
5G
6G
7G

Series

Pistons leads 1–0
Game 1·Pistons homeFinal
Game 2· Pistons home
Prediction →
#3New York Knicks
79%-366
#7Philadelphia 76ers
21%+366

Proj. Length

5.6 G

G2 Spread

G2 Total

Series Length Distribution

4G
5G
6G
7G

Series

Knicks leads 1–0
Game 1·Knicks homeFinal
Game 2· Knicks home
Prediction →

Western Conference

#1Oklahoma City Thunder
81%-435
#4Los Angeles Lakers
19%+435

Proj. Length

5.6 G

G2 Spread

G2 Total

Series Length Distribution

4G
5G
6G
7G

Availability Notes

Luka Dončić (LAL) — Expected back Game 3 · Grade 2 left hamstring strain

Jalen Williams (OKC) — Expected back Game 2 · Grade 1 left hamstring strain

Series

Thunder leads 1–0
Game 1·Thunder homeFinal
Game 2· Thunder home
Prediction →
#2San Antonio Spurs
70%-235
#6Minnesota Timberwolves
30%+235

Proj. Length

5.7 G

G2 Spread

G2 Total

Series Length Distribution

4G
5G
6G
7G

Series

Timberwolves leads 1–0
Game 1·Spurs homeFinal
Game 2· Spurs home
Prediction →

Availability Overrides Applied

Manual overrides injected into the simulation to reflect confirmed playoff absences. The model adjusts per-game spreads within the specified series rather than altering the season-long priors.

PlayerTeamSeriesReturnImpact

Luka Dončić

Grade 2 left hamstring strain

LALOKC-LALGame 30.0 pts

Jalen Williams

Grade 1 left hamstring strain

OKCOKC-LALGame 20.0 pts

How We Model Playoff Games

Regular season and playoff games use the same B13 model core — 204 features, RAPM player impact, split spread/total heads. The playoff simulator runs a Monte Carlo over the full bracket, drawing per-team strength perturbations each iteration to propagate true-strength uncertainty. Each simulated game is an oracle lookup into pre-computed B13 predictions plus a travel-fatigue term for lower-seed road games.

Series win probabilities come from the share of simulations in which each team wins their best-of-seven. Projected length averages the actual number of games played across all sims. Availability overrides shift a team's per-game offset within a specific series for the games the player is projected to miss — rather than haircutting the season-long priors.

Backtest: 55.3% ATS overall across 5 regular seasons, 59.1% at ≥3pt model edge. Playoff-specific backtest will publish alongside the first full round of results.