Less than 20 seconds into the series Rudy Gobert ended up on the floor and had to be taken to the locker room. He would not return for the rest of the game. Having averaged a double-double this season, this loss was enormous for the Utah Jazz.
Despite all of this, they were able to come out with a win against the Clippers in Game 1 with the score of 97-95. Joe Johnson and Gordon Hayward really stepped up with Gobert being out and helped the Jazz get on track for the series. Joe Johnson had 21 points including the buzzer beater that saved them from having to play in overtime. Not having Gobert really evens this series up though so it will be interesting to see how things pan out and when he will be able to come back.
The Chicago Bulls have pulled a major upset in the first game of what looks to be a very long series. They win a close one away in Boston. I am not saying that this was far fetched by any means. I honestly thought there was a chance they could upset the Cavaliers in the first round if given the opportunity given their track record during the regular season. Taking the first game was not really something I thought they would be capable of but they managed to do it. Bulls end up taking Game 1 by the score of 106-102.
LeBron James led all scorers in Game 1 with 32 points shooting 60% from the field and 67% from three point range. This was great for the Cavaliers because it offset the less than average shooting night from Kyrie Irving who shot 27 times making just 11 of his shots. What’s even worse is that he only shot just 11% from behind the three point line. Paul George had an excellent night for the Pacers hitting 75% of his three pointers but it was not enough to get past the Cavs. He ended up with 29 points and Lance Stephenson came off the bench to score 16 points. The Cavaliers took game 1 with a score of 109-108. The Pacers mounted a great comeback in the fourth quarter but ended up falling short.
John Wall bested his playoff career-high with 32 points last night and looked like a man on a mission. It’s really more like he looked like a man possessed as he was finding the open man left and right. He ended up with 14 assists along with 4 rebounds. With the Hawks they were really unable to get anything going. Kent Bazemore and Tim Hardaway Jr. both had off nights shooting a combined 6 for 21 from the field and 2 for 11 from three point range. That is not going to secure a win for any team. The first half of this game was quite competitive but in the second half the Wizards really took over. After being up 48-45 at halftime the Hawks could not seem to pull it closer than 7 points during the second half and ironically ended up losing 114-107 in the end.
Chants of “MVP” could be heard by the end of this game as Kawhi Leonard (The guy from San Diego State who couldn’t make a basket to save his life when he came into the NBA) dropped 32 points against the Grizzlies. The San Antonio Spurs got their playoff run started off right routing the Memphis Grizzlies 111-82. Marc Gasol had 32 points but the rest of his squad didn’t show up.
The difference in this game was LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker. Even though Parker is usually just a role player at this point he really stepped it up this night. When one of the teams in a game shoots more than 50% from the field and from three point land it’s going to be damn near impossible to overcome that kind of offense. If this game is any indication, this series will probably be over in less than 6 games.
In what would go down as one of the biggest surprises thus far in the NBA Playoffs the Milwaukee Bucks who came into the playoffs as the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference (a conference which is regarded as weak) have stolen game 1 from the 3rd seeded Toronto Raptors. The Raptors shot just 22% from three point land hitting just 5 out of 23 shots. Kyle Lowry who is known for his ability to make big shots made basically no shots the entire game. He went 0-6 from three, 2-11 overall. A total of 4 points is no where near enough to take on any NBA team much less in the playoffs. He will need to get it together as they battle it out over the next few games. Demar Derozan did his job and had 27 points of 21 shots hitting 13 of 14 free throws. The Raptors would lose the first game of the series 97-83.
The NBA regular season has finally come to a close and we can get onto the NBA Playoffs now. At the beginning of the season everyone was talking about how we should just be able to fast forward to the NBA Finals because we all knew who was going to be playing. It was going to be the defending NBA champs (Cleveland Cavaliers) vs. the Golden State Warriors…essentially a rematch of last season. As Lee Korso would say, “Not so fast, my friend!”
The final standings looked something like this:
Eastern Conference
Rank
Team
Wins
Losses
Games Behind
1
Boston Celtics
53
29
0
2
Cleveland Cavaliers
51
31
2
3
Toronto Raptors
51
31
2
4
Washington Wizards
49
33
4
5
Atlanta Hawks
43
39
10
6
Milwaukee Bucks
42
40
11
7
Indiana Pacers
42
40
11
8
Chicago Bulls
41
41
12
Western Conference
Rank
Team
Wins
Losses
Games Back
1
GS Warriors
67
15
0
2
SA Spurs
61
21
6
3
Houston Rockets
55
27
12
4
LA Clippers
51
31
16
5
Utah Jazz
51
31
16
6
OKC Thunder
47
35
20
7
Memphis Grizzlies
43
39
24
8
Portland Trail Blazers
41
41
26
If you can see the Cleveland Cavaliers collapsed at the end of the season and actually ended up in second place behind the Boston Celtics. You can also see that there is basically two real legit teams in the Eastern Conference while you can make the case for pretty much every since team on the Western Conference side. If I was not such a Golden State fan I would totally cheer for the Thunder or the Grizz to make it to the finals against whoever comes out of the Eastern Conference because I think they would still win.
Today marks the start of the NBA Playoffs and here is what is on tabs for today:
Indiana Pacers @ Cleveland Cavaliers on ABC at 3:00PM ET – Look for this game to be pretty decisive as I would have rather seen the Bulls take on the Cavs in the first round because they are 4-0 against the Cavs so far this season. It almost makes you wonder if there was actually some logic in the Cavs tanking the end of their season.
Milwaukee Bucks @ Toronto Raptors on ESPN at 5:30PM ET – This is another one sided game although they both finished second in their respective conferences. The Raptors are 13-2 against the Bucks in the past four seasons. Kind of puts things into perspective. I think that the Bucks need to take this first game if they want to have a chance of taking this series.
Memphis Grizzlies @ San Antonio Spurs on ESPN at 8:00PM ET – All of the Western Conference games should be pretty competitive and I am excited to see this series in particular because both teams have been playing poorly over the past few weeks with San Antonio being 5-5 in the past 10 games and the Memphis 3-7. Neither team has a ton of star talent but they play “real” basketball which should give us a great match-up.
Utah Jazz @ LA Clippers on ESPN at 10:30PM ET – The late game tonight is going to be a fairly competitive one with the Los Angeles Clippers hosting the Utah Jazz. With Griffin, Redick, Paul, and others look for the Clippers to take this game pretty handily. It would not surprise me to see them go down to the Jazz but I seriously doubt that happens the way they have been playing as of late.
Adam Schefter is reporting that the Oakland Raiders are considering acquiring ex-Seahawks and currently retired Running Back Marshawn Lynch. “Beast Mode” as he used to be called would be a great pick up if they can some how swing it. Since retiring on Super Bowl Sunday back in 2016, he has been doing all kinds of fun things with his time off. He has been on the scout team for the Cal Bears and was spotted in Australia helping the team out before their opener against Hawaii in Sydney last season. He also went on the TV Show “Running Wild With Bear Grylls” which gave you insight into his personality outside of football. It was a really good episode, check it out for yourself:
What he will always be known for though is his hard style of running. I will never get over seeing him push players out of the way and how he would punish anyone who got in his way. I can’t wait to see this guy play again (if he does) and I don’t even care what uniform it’s in.
Raiders strongly considering acquiring RB Marshawn Lynch, either through trade or by his release, sources tell @JosinaAnderson and me.
So it seems like every season there is a 12 seed upsetting a 5 seed. When picking my bracket this season, I chose to pick against the Big Ten in most cases. The Big Ten is weak this season and I really felt like Middle Tennessee State was on a roll coming into the game on a 10 game win streak. Sure, their competition was nothing compared to what Minnesota saw this season but it’s not like Minnesota has a strong history in the NCAA tournament having only made one Final Four in it’s school history. We all remember last season when Middle Tennessee upset the two seeded Michigan State by 9 points so it’s not like they are scrubs. They came into this game feeling confident and it showed throughout the entire game. They ended up finishing the game in the same fashion beating Minnesota by 9 points when the final buzzer rang out.
Teams
First Half
Second Half
Totals
Middle Tennessee State
37
44
81
Minnesota
31
41
72
This game was honestly over by halftime with no answers to be found for the rebounding machine that are Upshaw, Williams, and Walters. Minnesota got out rebounded 37 to 24 and Middle Tennessee had one more three pointer despite shooting eight less times. Those we the two stark differences in the teams today. Middle Tennessee State looks primed to give the 4 seeded Butler Bulldogs a great game come Saturday.
The number one seeds are out and Duke did not get one of them. Did they really deserve one though? They are coming off four wins in four days in the hardest conference in the entire country (not to mention actually winning that conference tournament with some “injured” players). One might argue that they had some help from the referees, a little bit of luck with their schedule, and have gotten healthy at the right time. That’s probably the bitter and insane Tarheels fan inside me screaming though. Let’s take a look at the odds for each of the top teams (which essentially is just how Vegas and the sports betters feel about it):
Duke 5/1
North Carolina 6/1
Kentucky 8/1
Villanova 8/1
Kansas 8/1
Gonzaga 10/1
Louisville 12/1
Arizona 12/1
UCLA 12/1
It’s interesting to me that the top 4 (out of the top 5) schools with the best odds are coming out of two brackets. Let’s compare all of the top seeds in the tournament and see where Duke should have fallen. All of the rankings that you will see in the Wins/Losses are RPI rankings since none of the major polls have come out with new rankings since the regular season ended.
#11 Baylor, #18 Virginia (2 Times), #23 Notre Dame, #13 Florida State, #6 Duke, #5 North Carolina, #40 Wake Forest
What stands out to you when you compare all of these teams? What stands out to me for the Duke Blue Devils is two games (both losses). Those two games are against Syracuse and North Carolina State. NC State has one of the best players in the nation in Dennis Smith Jr. when he is on his game. Outside of Smith there is basically no one. They lost Kat Barber to the NBA last season and the rest of the top players transferred out. We are talking about losing to a team that had only three wins the entire season against the top 150 teams in the nation. If you compare this to North Carolina’s worst loss which was to #106 ranked Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets went 4-4 against top 25 teams beating not only UNC but also, VCU, Florida State, and Notre Dame. Not only did NC State go 1-6 against top 25 teams (their one win was against Duke), but they also lost to Boston College which is by far the worst team in the ACC managing just two conference wins all season.
One thing I will say is that Gonzaga is most definitely overrated and don’t let their record fool you. The draw they got will not be very kind to them. If they end up meeting West Virginia or Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 you can bet they will be going home early. North Carolina looks to have the hardest path to a championship with several teams in the top 50 RPI:
South Bracket
Average RPI: 42
Seed
School
RPI
1
North Carolina
5
2
Kentucky
4
3
UCLA
15
4
Butler
14
5
Minnesota
20
6
Cincinnati
12
7
Dayton
28
8
Arkansas
25
9
Seton Hall
44
10
Wichita State
31
11
Wake Forest
39
11
Kansas State
55
12
Middle Tennessee State
35
13
Winthrop
68
14
Kent State
143
15
Northern Kentucky
85
16
Texas Southern
103
East Bracket
Average RPI: 46
Seed
School
RPI
1
Villanova
1
2
Duke
6
3
Baylor
11
4
Florida
10
5
Virginia
22
6
SMU
15
7
South Carolina
41
8
Wisconsin
32
9
Virginia Tech
47
10
Marquette
61
11
USC
41
11
Providence
55
12
UNC-Wilmington
27
13
ETSU
53
14
NMSU
59
15
Troy
150
16
Mount St. Mary’s
150
16
New Orleans
153
Midwest Bracket
Average RPI: 49
Seed
School
RPI
1
Kansas
3
2
Louisville
7
3
Oregon
9
4
Purdue
19
5
Iowa State
21
6
Creighton
26
7
Michigan
30
8
Rhode Island
36
9
Michigan State
51
10
Oklahoma State
40
11
Rhode Island
36
12
Nevada
29
13
Vermont
46
14
Iona
89
15
Jacksonville State
149
16
North Carolina Central
203
16
UC-Davis
171
West Bracket
Average RPI: 44
Seed
School
RPI
1
Gonzaga
8
2
Arizona
2
3
Florida State
13
4
West Virginia
24
5
Notre Dame
23
6
Maryland
32
7
Saint Mary’s
17
8
Northwestern
48
9
Vanderbilt
38
10
VCU
18
11
Xavier
36
12
Princeton
48
13
Bucknell
63
14
FGCU
85
15
North Dakota
143
16
San Diego State
99
In summary North Carolina has the hardest road of all the #1 seeds. Duke did not get snubbed as they got placed in the second easiest bracket with essentially home court advantage for the first two rounds. Had they been a #1 seed they would have most likely taken Gonzaga’s spot which would have honestly put them in a greater disadvantage having to deal with teams of higher caliber far away from their home court.
