10 Apps to Make You an Expert on the NBA Playoffs

Image via Complex Original

Platform: Android, iOS; Free
Good For: Scores, stats, watching live games

As you would expect, the NBA's official Game Time app allows you to customize it to track the scores, stats, and schedules of your favorite NBA teams. But we bet you didn't expect features like Excitement Notifications which alerts you when a game gets down to the wire; or Threshold Notifications, which alerts you when a player of your choosing passes a certain stat. Want to know if Steph Curry breaks another record? This app will tell you. 

Platform: Android, iOS; Free
Good For: Scores, news

ESPN's ScoreCenter app does just what its name entails: keeps you up to date on the scores of each and every game being played in every sport. You can choose to follow a certain league and pick favorite teams to keep an eye on. 

Platform: iOS ; Free
Good For: News, scores, rumors, stats

In addition to giving up updates on scores, this app will give you access to all the stories written on SI.com. If that can't keep you informed, nothing will. 

Platform: iOS; Free
Good For: News, rumors

Ball is Life is an excellent website the covers, as it says, "everything basketball." You can be kept up-to-date on high school, college, and even street ball. But, more importantly, it can also keep you informed about what's going on in the NBA. The biggest reason to download this app, in our opinion, are the dunk videos. Trust us. If anyone gets Brandon Knight-ed in the playoffs, it'll be here. 

Platform: Windows Phone; Free
Good For: Scores, stats

Unfortunately, a good number of the best sports apps are not yet available for Windows Phone. Fortunately, there's Basketball Live. Similar to ESPN's ScoreCenter app, Live gives you up-to-date scores and stats on players and games. In addition, you can also peep tweets from the NBA, videos from ESPN, and great game summaries in the event that you miss a match. 

Platform: Android; Free
Good For: Stats

The makers of this app claim to have a "database of over two billion statistics to give you unique insights and proprietary metrics, including team power rankings." The app also pulls news stories from local blogs and papers to give the best news for every team in the NBA. 

Platform: Android, iOS; Free
Good For: News, scores

Those of you who are fans of The Bleacher Report should download the sites app which delivers scores and corresponding news stories. Pick which teams you want to follow and stay informed with real-time alerts and the best videos and photos from around the web. 

Platform: iOS; $1
Good For: Research

In order to understand what's happening today, it's good to know what happened yesterday. That's where Pro Basketball Pocket Reference comes in. Acting as a basketball encyclopedia, the iOS app lets you look up a multitude of statistics from back in the day and lets you compare them to those of the players currently in the league. Is LeBron really the next Jordan? This app will help you answer that question. 

Platform: Android, iOS, Free
Good For: Watching live games

There's a good chance that you're not going to be able to catch all of the playoff games. Sure, you can DVR them, but why not just watch 'em live? With the WatchESPN app you can do just that. For the games that are on TNT, well, you may want to try rocking with a Slingbox. 

Platform: Android; Free
Good For: News, rumors

If you're looking for a less mainstream take on the news surrounding the playoffs, you can do much worse than The Hardwood Nation app. Based on the website of the same name, the app delivers news and rumors from all corners of the league.