The teams play 82 games, to earn the right to have home court advantage in as many of their playoff series as possible, and if you had any question as to why that is important, this weekend showed you why. All 8 games were won by the home team. 5 of them were decided by at least 17 points.
The New York Knicks actually trailed by 3 after 3 quarters, but held the Celtics to only 8 points in the final quarter to take Game 1 by a score of 85-78. Carmelo Anthony scored 36 for the Knicks, as Jeff Green led the Celtics with 26 points.
The best game of the weekend was the Denver Nuggets against the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry of the Warriors hit a 3 pointer with 14 seconds left, to tie the game. However, 37 year old Andre Miller got loose in the paint, and won the game with a lay-up with 1.2 seconds left. The Warriors also took a major hit, with David Lee tearing his right hip flexor, which will obviously put him out for the rest of the playoffs.
The Brooklyn Nets made the most of their first ever playoff game in Brooklyn, easily beating the Chicago Bulls, 106-89. The Nets actually had a 27 point lead after 3 quarters. Deron Williams led the Nets with 22 points, while Carlos Boozer scored 25 for the Bulls. Do you think the Bulls would have fared better if Derrick Rose would start playing again, a month after being cleared by doctors? I wonder how much his teammates have silently questioned his toughness over his year long ACL injury.
In the final game on Saturday, the Memphis Grizzlies played tough against the Los Angeles Clippers, until being hammered in the 4th quarter. The Clippers outscored the Grizzlies 37-21 in the final quarter, to win going away, 112-91. Chris Paul led the Clippers with 23 points, but the real story was rebounds. The Grizzlies, who led the league in rebounding during the regular season, lost that battle 47-23.
On Sunday, none of the games were close. The Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks 107-90. The Pacers’ Paul George had a triple double in this game, with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.
The steady San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 91-79, although no one on the Spurs scored more than 18 points, and they shot under 38% as a team. But that’s enough, when your opponent only scores 79 points.
It’s difficult to beat the defending champion Miami Heat when they shoot 56% from the field, and your team shoots under 42%. That’s enough right there to explain why the Milwaukee Bucks lost 110-87 to the Heat. The Bucks will have to win 4 of the next 5 games now for the Bucks’ Brandon Jennings to be right on his prediction of the Bucks winning the series in 6 games.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, who lost to the Heat in the NBA Finals last year, hammered the Houston Rockets 120-91. This game was pretty much over by the end of the third quarter also, with the Thunder leading by 23. I guess the Thunder wanted to show former teammate James Harden that they didn’t miss him very much. Harden scored 20 points, going 6 for 19 from the field.
Just because the games on the first weekend were mostly blowouts, doesn’t mean that some of these match-ups won’t end up getting better. I expect the Celtics, Grizzlies and Warriors to all put up a good fight before the first round ends.
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