Peeling oneself off the sofa was no easy task after a day and night spent sinking deeper and deeper into the upholstery. But the more you watched, the more you learned Saturday on Day One of the NBA Playoffs.
Four lessons taken away:
You do not want to have Draymond Green as your primary on-the-ball defender on the biggest play of the game – especially against a guy who has been in the league since Green was in diapers.
You are in trouble if Jeff Green is your primary offensive threat.
One dunk is sometimes enough for the Clippers.
And …. Don’t dis Brooklyn, yo.
That, in a nutshell, was the takeaway from Saturday’s four Game 1s. Another four await us Sunday. And when all eight are over, we’ll see if somewhat of an NBA truism comes true – once in each postseason, usually, a series is decided for all intents and purposes in Game 1.
Last year, it was Derrick Rose going down in the waning, meaningless final two minutes against Philly. In 2007, it was Avery Johnson changing his starting lineup for the 67-win Dallas Mavericks for Game 1 against Golden State.
Will David Lee’s injury prove to be the defining moment for one of these 16 teams? Or will something happen today that supersedes it?
Let’s have a quick look at yesterday’s results, for those who had better things to do than turning their sofa into an imprint of the human body.
Nuggets 97, Warriors 95
Easily the best game of the day, miles ahead of the runner-up.
This one was decided after Stephen Curry, coming off a season in which he set an NBA record for most 3-pointers made, buried one from the corner to tie the game at 95 with just over 14 seconds left, silencing a raucous crowd in Denver.
After a timeout, Miller was the inbounder and Green was assigned to defend the inbounds pass. The Nuggets got the ball right back to Miller after he inbounded, watched as Green stayed on him as the defender, and then collectively moved to the sides to clear the court for their 14-year-old veteran.
Taking advantage of the mismatch, Miller dribbled down the clock, burst past Green into the lane, then used the rim for protection as he curled underneath and banked in what might be best a bastardized reverse layup with 1.2 seconds left. They were the final two of Miller’s 18 fourth-quarter points as he finished with 28 and made the first game-winner of his life, according to him.
”A very crafty guy,” Green said. ”I thought I was in front of him and he made one slithery move and just get a half a step on me and that’s all he needed to finish the shot.”
Lee, playing in his first career playoff game, went out in the second half with a strained hip flexor and was to undergo an MRI.
Knicks 85, Celtics 78
In the illustrious history of the Boston Celtic, there have been a total of 592 postseason games. In the first 591, they always managed to score at least 26 second-half points. In No. 592, the second-half total was just 25.
And in the fourth quarter, the Celtics committed as many turnovers (8) as their number of points in losing to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
“We played probably our best defense of the year during that second half,” said Jason Kidd, who was the energizer throughout a 35-minute performance that was not highlighted by Carmelo Anthony’s 36 points, but rather by the tenacity New York displayed in shutting down a Boston offense that featured very, very little from Kevivin Garnett (8 points).
Our Jeremy Bauman was at the game, and spoke to Kidd afterward:
“I think we all believe or understand that championships are won by playing defense,” Kidd said. “This is a perfect example. It wasn’t our best offensive night but we stayed the course and we got stops when we needed to as a team and that’s what helped us win this afternoon.”
Perhaps most importantly, the Knicks are treating this how it should be treated: as a single game on a journey to 16 wins.
“This is a veteran ballclub; we know we haven’t accomplished anything,” explained Kidd. “For us, Game 1 is over and we’ve got to find a way to protect home court in Game 2 because the swing games I’ve always felt are always the most important ones.”
Is that potato eating potato chips?