Last Night In The NBA: The Start To The 2019 Playoffs Was AWESOME
Good morning everybody happy Sunday and welcome to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you up to speed on everything that went down from the night before in the Association. As you know, the 2019 Playoffs kicked off yesterday with 4 games, and holy shit what a start it was. To me it was the perfect way to kick things off, I mean this season has been so crazy and teams not named GS have been so even all year it only makes sense that 3 out of the 4 lower seeds came out on top. It really looks as if the majority of the series we saw last night are going to be awesome and not just cakewalks for the higher seeds, which at this time of year is really all you want. Saturday gave us everything from upsets, to huge late game winners, to even a little history. We have a lot to cover until games tip off later today, so let’s drive right in. If you were out and missed any of the action, here’s what happened.
(3) Philadelphia 76ers 102 vs (6) Brooklyn Nets 111
The big question heading into this game was whether or not Embiid was going to be healthy enough to play. Without him, at least in theory things became a whole lot more interesting for the Nets. The is one of the series that people have on upset watch, and to me it was all supposed to revolve around whether Embiid plays. Well, he did play last night, in fact he was fairly unstoppable, and it made no difference. The Nets went into that arena and completely outplayed, out hustled, and out executed the Sixers and set the tone for the rest of the day
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What’s crazy is for like 90% of this game, D’Angelo Russell couldn’t buy a bucket. He shot just 10-25 for the game, but when things for late and the Nets needed someone to step up, he had a huge third quarter and exposed the one flaw we all knew going in. The Sixers are HORRENDOUS at stopping scoring guards. We also saw BKN expose another common flaw, in that as long as JJ Redick is going to be on the floor, you spread things out and attack with your wings. That helps take his legs out from under him, and his 2-7 shooting certainly confirms that. Now I’m not ready to say the Nets are going to win this series, it was just Game 1, but all they had to do was steal one of the first two in Philly. Now all the pressure is on the Sixers, and the Nets proved that they can definitely make this a competitive series.
For PHI, every single thing we saw plague them last postseason showed up again to start this postseason. The lack of outside shooting was brutal (3-25), and the hope is that in Game 2 that comes a little bit back to average, but that’s certainly no guarantee. Once again Ben Simmons was a non factor on both ends,
especially offensively, and that’s a major problem that they show no signs of being able to fix. What you know is that Embiid and Jimmy Butler are going to show up, they’re studs through and through
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but where is the help? Did Tobias Harris even show up in this game? This is why the Sixers made that move I thought, to have a legit scoring weapon in the playoffs, and he was horrendous. The concerning part is the Sixers took 42 FTA and still couldn’t pull this out, mostly because they couldn’t shoot and couldn’t defend. Add in all the drama around Embiid and the cell phone and you can’t sit here and say this was an ideal start for the Sixers. They shouldn’t lose this series, but they fall down 0-2 heading to BKN, everything changes.
(7) Orlando Magic 104 vs (2) Toronto Raptors 101
2-14 all time, that’s the Raptors record in Game 1s in the postseason. Maybe it wasn’t DeMar DeRozan’s fault? Every year Raptors fans want to convince us that this is the year things will be different, and every year it’s the same old story. Anyone who had watched the Magic during the year knew that they would at least make this a competitive game, they are in a sense giant killers that had a ton of regular season wins against really good teams, including this TOR team in their own building. They may be young and raw, but hold shit is there talent on this roster. It has to be tough for Raptors fans to realize they don’t even have the best PG in the series
but they got this win through a balanced offensive attack. Seven total players in double figures they shot a ridiculous 48% from three with 14 3PM, and it was their defense that truly put them over the top. That shouldn’t be surprising to anyone paying attention, the Magic have had like a top 5 defense over the last few months, and it’s their length that makes them so tough.
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Again, I find it hard to truly declare Magic will win this series, but if they make TOR have to work and this goes something like 6 games, well that’s important.
For TOR, you’re confident, but probably very frustrated. If only because it really looks like Kyle Lowry might be the worst playoff point guard in history. Another 0-7 (0-6) performance,
he’s killing them and there’s really no way around that. Often times when someone has a bad game you think, “eh it’s OK, he won’t play like that again”, but with Lowry, this is it, this is how he plays and it’s a HUGE reason why the Raptors always come up short. The team committed to him and moved DeRozan in a trade we all would make, but maybe they should have flipped that because what have we seen from Lowry that tells us he’ll snap out of this funk?
When it came to Kawhi, yeah he was ready.
You know who’s also really good and completely terrifying as a player? Pascal Siakam. My vot for MIP, he had a pretty impressive playoff debut as well
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The only spinzone I can think of is that if you’re the Raptors, your performance is easier to replicate than the Magic’s. We didn’t really see anyone have this type of performance that came out of nowhere like DJ Augustine did. Their bench was still solid, their stars showed up and they shot good percentages. All that was missing was ANY production from Lowry, which in theory they should get. But given their history and dropping Game 1s, it’s certainly a frustrating place to be for a team many think should be going to the Finals.
(8) Los Angeles Clippers 104 vs (1) Golden State Warriors 121
Of course, the only home team that never broke a sweat was the Warriors. They handled their business like a contender should, got a nice lead early and never looked back. Not only that, we saw some history along the way
What a stupid performance from Curry in this one. Let me ask you something, is this good?
NEARLY HALF THE GAMES!! That just doesn’t make any goddamn sense. Best shooter we’re ever going to see lace em up and it’s not even close. And because this is the Warriors, of course they couldn’t have a game without a little drama, and that drama came from Kevin Durant
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This is what Patrick Beverly does, KD has to know that. The Clippers will gladly sacrifice Beverly if it gets them a game without KD, and this is something that’s going to continues alllllllll series long. When Beverly knows he can get under your skin, he’s like a pitbull. The bad news is it doesn’t really matter if this team doesn’t have KD, they shot 49/46%, made 14 3PM and are showing no signs of being even remotely concerned with the Clippers. That’s bad news for Doc & company.
For LAC, tough to win in that building when you don’t really shoot the ball well and turn it over 17 times. Their bench stars showed up and had nearly half their points
and SGA had a damn impressive debut for a rookie
but every other starter not named SGA had a rough go of it. For this team to even have a chance they are going to have to get flawless performances from guys like Gallo and and Shamet, and that was certainly not the case last night.
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(7) San Antonio Spurs 101 vs (2) Denver Nuggets 96
This was the fear of every Nuggets fan. The Spurs no matter how much you want to believe, are never going to die. On a night where their two best players couldn’t buy a bucket they still pulled it out because of course they did. Finishing with 48/46% splits, just 11 TOs and a balanced attack, this was about as Spursy a win as you’re going to see.
Derrick White coming up huge with the late game steal to seal the win, DeRozan hitting tough late jumpers, Rudy Gay doing things off the bench, this was a game where the Spurs veteran playoff experience showed and it’s why they have a shot in this series. When things get close and the pressure gets high they have the ability to take a deep breath, not panic, and execute at a high level. They are basketball robots, and that’s just never going to change.
For DEN, what plagued them last night is an issue they had all year. They struggle to make open threes. They ranked 15th in this category all year, and it killed them last night. Had they made just a few of those corner threes maybe everything changes, and I’m sorry but down the stretch when you’re in a one possession game there was WAY too much Jamal Murray and not enough Jokic. I don’t think Big Honey even took a shot. I’m yet to see Murray actually come through in those situations, so that’s a little frustrating for a Nuggets fan. Sure Jokic’s late turnover also hurts, but to me this was just their youth showing in a tough playoff situation that none of these guys have ever been in before.
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All that work for homecourt now gone, few teams may have more pressure on them for Game 2 than the Nuggets. They were always a team many thought could make the WCF or lose in the first round, and dropping a close one in the manner they did in Game 1 is tough to stomach. When you’re playing the Spurs you have to step on their throats immediately, because you give Pop a sliver of hope and it usually doesn’t end well for you.
And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that happened last night in the NBA. We’re back tonight with the other 4 games starting at 1pm, and if yesterday was any indication it’s going to be another wild day of basketball. I know Tiger is on, but please, make sure you have the second screen rolling because the playoffs so far are living up to the hype and there’s nothing like playoff basketball.