NBA playoff preview

Half of the NBA's eight playoff series begin Saturday. Here's a playoff primer:

Drive for five: Golden State is trying to reach the NBA Finals for the fifth consecutive season. It would be the second franchise with such a streak, after Boston (10 consecutive, 1957-66).

Blowout Bucks: Milwaukee had 45 double-digit wins this season, most in the NBA. Only four teams have done better, and all of them won the NBA title: 1971-72 Lakers (50), 2016-17 Warriors (48), 1970-71 Bucks (47) and 1995-96 Bulls (46).

Mr. 3000? Houston's James Harden needs 182 points to reach 3,000 this season. He'd be the 10th player to reach that number, though one, Michael Jordan, reached it 10 times.

New team, same streak: Toronto's Kawhi Leonard's enters with a 32-game streak of double-digit postseason games, averaging 24.1 points in those.

Houston, a problem? Houston is the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and faces No. 5 seed Utah in the first round. In each of the past seven seasons, and nine of the past 10, the West's No. 5 beat the West's No. 4. Worse for the Rockets: The Jazz has won as No. 5 the past five times it got that seed.

Coming sooner: This season's NBA Finals start May 30. It'll be the earliest Game 1 of the title series since 1986, when Boston and Houston opened May 26.

5 Teams in the playoffs now that missed them last season: Brooklyn, Denver, Detroit, Orlando and the Los Angeles Clippers.

565 Regular-season games for the Warriors' DeMarcus Cousins without a playoff game, most in the league until Saturday.

• Philadelphia center Joel Embiid (left knee) is doubtful for Saturday's opener against Brooklyn.

• Toronto backup forward OG Anunoby had an emergency appendectomy Thursday and is expected to miss at least the first round.

• Oklahoma City leading scorer Paul George (right shoulder) will be a game-time decision Sunday at Portland.