NBA Playoffs heat up with first round matchups
By: Hunter McIntyre
Sports Editor
The first round of the NBA playoffs was filled with great individual performances and multiple unexpected outcomes.
Going into the playoffs, the Oklahoma City Thunder were believed to take the series in a tough but predictable series with the Portland Trail Blazers. However this couldn’t be farther from the truth as OKC was defeated in five games.
The Thunder, led by point guard Russell Westbrook’s 33 points and 11 assists only managed to take game three from the Blazers.
In game five with the Blazers up 3-1 in the series, Damian Lillard made a deep three-point shot over Paul George with no time left on the clock to ice the series for the Blazers 118-115.
“That’s a bad, bad shot,” I don’t care what anybody says. That’s a bad shot. But hey, he made it. That story won’t be told that it was a bad shot. We live with that,” George said regarding the last second shot to win the game, according to ESPN.
The Golden State Warriors also had their hands full with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors were given a massive advantage over the Clippers before the series. The Clippers who really have no bona fide star pushed the star-studded Warriors to six games.
In game one the Clippers guard Patrick Beverley and Warriors forward Kevin Durant were ejected after getting in an alteration. The whole game had been scrappy with multiple players barking at each other after the whistle and other players pushing each other.
”You know what he’s going to bring to the table, just the physicality, mucking up the game a little bit with his physicality, his talking, everything. That’s what he brings to each team he plays on. That’s his identity. I know that coming into the series. I thought it was fun tonight.” Durant said, according to NBA.com.
In game three the clippers made the largest comeback in NBA history when Landry Shamet hit a go ahead three pointer with 16 seconds on the clock. They came back from a 31 point deficit to beat the Warriors 135-131.
However, Durant’s 50 point performance led the Warriors to defeat the Clippers by a score of 129-110.
Another upset, according to Vegas, was the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Denver Nuggets.
Denver was given the advantage in the matchup by a large margin but the Spurs managed to impressively push the Nuggets to seven games.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets to victory in game seven recording a triple-double with 21 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. The Nuggets emerged victorious by a score of 90-86 in a close and hard-fought game. The series was long and hard-fought to the end.
”I love the grit, the resiliency, the toughness we played with tonight, even late when they made their run … we never lost our composure.” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, according to Pat Graham NBA.com.
The first round was filled with surprises and performances that will be remembered for a long time. However, this is only the first round and there will be many more in the weeks to come.