The NBA playoffs are underway and there can be a lot to unpack in a series of intense games, to help out we will give you the three things you need to know from the last 24 hours in the NBA.
1) It was less Jennifer’s motivation and more Enes Kanter that got Portland Game 1 win. With Jusuf Nurkic out, a lot of pundits (myself included) picked Oklahoma City to knock off Portland in the West’s 3/6 first-round playoff matchup. Probably handily.
That’s not what happened in Game 1 Sunday, a 104-99 Trail Blazers win at home. That got Royce Young of ESPN and others talking about the preseason viral Tweet from Portland’s CJ McCollum about a playoff win. It all started when McCollum said wouldn’t do something like join the Warriors to chase rings.
Portland got that win Sunday. On Twitter, Jennifer took credit.
It was less Jennifer and more Enes Kanter — and some dreadful shooting from Paul George and the Thunder — that got Portland the victory at home.
Kanter — the former Thunder big man, about whom coach Billy Donovan was caught on video saying “can’t play Kanter” to an assistant during the playoffs two years ago — had 20 points and 18 rebounds in the Blazers win, filling Nurkic’s shoes well for a night. What Donovan was talking about two years ago was Kanter’s poor pick-and-roll defense, but the Thunder as a team did a poor job trying to exploit that. It allowed Terry Stotts to play Kanter all he wanted, and Kanter was fantastic on offense.
Portland also got 30 points from Damian Lillard — including a tone-setting three to start the game — and 24 from McCollum.
Defensively, Portland followed the book on the Thunder: Pack the paint, cut off drives for Russell Westbrook and Paul George as much as possible, and dare OKC to beat you from the perimeter with jumpers. The Thunder were 10-of-46 (21.7 percent) outside the paint and 5-of-33 from three. Oklahoma City relied on Paul George’s shooting and scoring to provide balance this season, but coming off of — or still bothered by — a sore shoulder, he was 4-of-15 from three and said after the game it was a rhythm thing. We’ll see if he has better rhythm in Game 2.
Westbrook had a triple-double of 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, but was 1-of-9 shooting outside three feet of the rim.
Game 1 does not decide a series, this is far from over for the Thunder. However, the Trail Blazers just got a boost of confidence. If Kanter can play this well, not get exposed on defense, and be out on the court for 30ish productive minutes a night, Portland’s chances in this series go way up. The Thunder also just need to hit some jumpers.
2) Houston wins Game 1 with physical defense against Utah. And some James Harden. Going into the 4/5 playoff series in the West, I had three questions about the Utah Jazz: Would they be able to slow James Harden and not let him take over games? Could they keep Chris Paul from carving them up like he did when these teams met in the playoffs a year ago? Could they score enough against Houston to keep up?
The answer to the third question is no, they could not score enough in Game 1, a 122-90 Houston win. It rendered the answers to the other two questions moot.
The Rockets were physical on defense, taking away the cuts and some of the drives the system-offense Jazz are used to getting. The result was a Jazz team that shot 39 percent overall and had an offensive rating of 89.1, well below a point per possession in this one. Donovan Mitchell, the primary (some would say only) elite shot creator on the Jazz saw multiple bodies every time he touched the ball and tried to make a play. Defenders collapsed on Mitchell (and Joe Ingles, Ricky Rubio, or anyone else driving the lane) and bet the Jazz could not find the open shooter and knock down the shot. Houston bet right in Game 1.
Defensively, Utah went to the defensive strategy Milwaukee used effectively on Harden — sit on his left shoulder, force him right, try to take away the step-back three and funnel his drives to the big man waiting in the paint (Rudy Gobert in this case). The problem wasn’t that Harden had 29 points (he needed 26 shots to get there), it was the 10-assists — given a free run to the basket Harden became a playmaker and set up teammates to get the Houston offense clicking.
Utah has some adjustments to make before Game 2, or they are going to head home for Game 3 in a big hole.
3) Giannis Antetokounmpo dunked almost from the free throw line… and that’s pretty much all you need to see from that game. With Blake Griffin sidelined (maybe for the series) with a sore knee, Detroit was completely overwhelmed by Milwaukee in Game 1. It was a 121-86 thrashing. Nothing to see here, just move along…
Well, except this: Giannis Antetokounmpo dunking from almost the free throw line.
The Greek Freak finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds.
