NBA Playoffs Game One Round-Up

The best NBA teams to bet on can be gruelling at times, but this round-up of the first playoff games could help make things easier. We were treated to some spectacular games that showed us once again why we love playoff basketball.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points and 12 rebounds, helping the Nets towards a win of 104-93 over the Celtics during the opening game of the first-round series for the Eastern Conference. Kyrie Irving scored 29 points with James Harden scoring 21 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and four steals for the Nets, who were in the No. 2 seed. This is only the ninth game in which Harden, Irving and Durant played together. 

The trio shot 0 from 11 in the first half, then entering into the third quarter, they came out a different side, going on a 18-4 run, which saw the Nets take a comfortable lead for the rest of the game.  

Jayson Tatum scored 22 points for Boston, who was in the No.7 seed and scored 6 from 20. Marcus Smart scored 17 points, and Kemba Walker scored 15 points. Robert Williams III added 11 points, 9 blocked shots, 9 rebounds. 

Joe Harris scored 10 points for the Nets, who scored 41% from the field and eight of 34 from the three-point range. Evan Fournier scored 10 points for the Celtics, making 36.9% of their shots and scoring 11 from 30 from behind the arc.

The Celtics had the lead with 53-47 at halftime. After two free throws by Jabari Parker, they were within 82-79 with 7:27 left before the Nets scored 9 points. Irving shot five in a row, and Durant scored a dunk to get to a 10 point margin with just less than six minutes left. Irving then scored two free throws, scoring 91-79 with 5:08 left on the clock. With 3:37 minutes left, Irving boosted the score to 94-81, and by the end of the game, the Celtics won by 17 points.

Khris Middleton scored a jumper with 0.5 seconds left in overtime, which pushed the Milwaukee Bucks to win 109-107 against the Miami Heat during Game 1. Middleton led the Bucks, scoring with 27 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 26 points, 18  rebounds, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. 

Jimmy Butler took the inbound pass from Goran Dragic but struggled to get his shot through the tight defence by Jrue Holiday. Holiday was a key player for the Bucks, who are looking for revenge against Heat to make up for last year's playoff loss in five games. He finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. At the same time, Brook Lopez scored 18 points with eight rebounds. He also scored a free throw which broke the 104-104 tie, with only 1:04 left in extra time. 

The Heat's most efficient shooter on the night was Dragic, who scored 25 points on 10 from 17 shooting while hitting a clutch three-pointer to tie the game when there was only 20.6 seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately for the Heat, their star man Butler struggled all night, only shooting 4 of 22 despite scoring a game-tying shot which saw the game go into overtime. However, Miami was extremely reliant on Butler, and it showed because despite his lack of efficiency, he still ended the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Game one of the NBA playoffs between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers lived up to the hype. The game was led by The Mavericks 22 year old Luka Doncic, who put on a captivating performance. The young star became the youngest player ever to record a triple-double on the road surpassing the legendary Abdul Kareem-Jabbar. 

The Mavs took home-court advantage away from the Clippers after an impressive 111-103 win at the Staples Center. Dallas started the game like a house on fire when they jumped to a quick 12 point lead. This was a clear indication that Doncic was going to dominate the game as he had a double-digit score within the first twelve minutes. The Clippers recognised this and even began to double team the Slovenian, but to no avail, because when this occurred, he moved the ball well to the likes of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis, who kept finding open buckets.

Luka ended the game with a triple-double which consisted of 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. This was already his third triple-double in just seven career playoff games, which highlights how good he is. The Mavs will now return to the Staples Center, looking to take a 2-0 series lead and return home in complete control.

The playoffs have once again proved that regular-season records mean nothing. This was evident when the Portland Trail Blazers absolutely blew the Denver Nuggets out of the water. The onslaught from the Blazers was led by Damian Lillard, who dropped three-pointers at will. 

Lillard dropped 34 points and 13 assists which saw the Blazers defeat the Nuggets 123-109. But that was not what got Dame Time so excited; the star was more impressed with the BLazers ability to keep Nuggets big man and MVP finalist Nikola Jokic to just a single assist on the night, which no one was able to achieve all year. This was extraordinary as Jokic averaged a career-best 8.3 assists per game this season.

The Blazers displayed elite shooting efficiency by hitting an incredible 19 of 40 shots from behind the arc. This was key to the Blazers success because they led Denver by 24 points from three-point range. The Nuggets were clearly missing their superstar Jamal Murray who is out with injury; this has meant that they look for Jokic with the ball more often. Jokic managed 34 points, and 16 rebounds, but the Nuggets bench only 20 points which proved to be their downfall.