The Perspective

Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray exchanged shots back and forth down the stretch, but ultimately Murray's play in overtime carried the Nuggets to a 135-125 win and a 1-0 lead in the series.

You look at the final score to the game and it screams blowout. While Toronto did get up by 33 at one point of the game, but the Nets did not fold as they fought back to get the game within 8. As I mentioned in the NBA Playoff Preview: EC episode, this is who the Nets are and what they are going to do throughout the series even if they are at a complete disadvantage. 

The common theme is that when Tatum has a big night then Boston usually wins. He ended the night with 32 PTS/13 REB/3 BLK. Boston is now 36-7 when Tatum scores 20 or more and 13-3 when he scores 30 or more. He was not the only Celtic with a big night as Jaylen Brown poured in 29 PTS. The Celtics are now 14-0 when he scores 25 or more. Tatum was the driving force throughout the first three quarters as Brown turned it on In the 4th to put Philly away. 

While the Mavericks were not able to steal Game 1 of the series, they put themselves in quite the position to win a couple of games in this series. Unfortunately, this game will be overshadowed by the unnecessary ejection of Kristaps Porzingis with two technical fouls. Both them were not deserving and each situation is bound to take place during a playoff series. The emotion are running high. The Clippers looked to put Dallas away early as they jumped out to an 18-2 lead, but the tide quickly turned as the Mavericks took an 14 point lead during the 2Q. As phenomenal of night that Luka Doncic had (42 points - a playoff record for a debut). It wasn’t enough as the Clippers depth and the 56 points scored between Kawhi and PG were too much to overcome.

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The Magic were swept in the season series vs. MIL & are dealing with mult injuries. Signs point to Giannis as he looks to make his 1st Finals appearance. He’s done everything else up to this point, so that’s the only thing he is missing from the cabinet. He is going to be on a mission to bring the Bucks’ their 1st championship since Kareem was a member of the team. This team is out for vengeance as they were a couple of plays away from going up 3-0 on TOR before losing 4 straight. The Magic were one of the few teams who had players who could make things difficult for Giannis in Isaac and AG. ORL is without Isaac and Gordon is recovering from an injury. What I’m going to keep an eye on is how well Eric Bledsoe plays as he struggled in the playoffs last season. While they are not known to be prolific 3PT shooting team, if there’s an area where you can exploit the Bucks it is on the perimeter as they pack the paint. 

Main storyline in the series will be between Butler and Warren. Crushing for the Pacers is that it does not seem likely for Sabonis to return during this series. Maybe we see Oladipo return to form, but looks to be getting in shape. This will be the 1st time in some time that we see a relatively healthy Miami team who has still looked the part. Speaking of Butler & Warren, this potential 7 game series could provide us with the fireworks we have been waiting for between the two. We will need to see Oladipo take another step forward in returning to himself if the Pacers have a shot at winning this series. For what will be their 1st playoffs, it will be interesting to see how Herro & Robinson react.

Philly won 3 of the 4 games in the season series. Neither team was fully healthy in any of those games. This will be the first time they face off where one of them is at full strength. The Boston Celtics are the beneficiary in this regard while the 76ers will be without Ben Simmons. Not only Simmons, but Al Horford is dealing with knee soreness as well. There are a few aspects of this series that I will be keeping my eyes on. First off, the play of Kemba Walker. While he's avg 22 PPG vs. Philly, he’s only shooting 40% from the field. He has struggled with the size that Philadelphia possess. The most compelling matchup will be between Brown/Tatum vs Richardson/Harris. Honestly, I think between these two duos is where this series will be determined. But a huge problem for the Celtics will be how they are going to guard Embiid? He'll likely see a lot of double teams to force passes out of the post where there will be open 3s but will the Sixers hit them? 

A series I don’t think this will be as the Nets are w/o a majority of their team due to COVID/injuries, plus the Raptors are the defending champs & playing the best basketball out of all the title contenders. BKN won't go w/o putting up a fight. They did win 5 of their 8 seeding games to give them 7th seed in the East. The matchup w/ the Nets is a blessing as this is an opportunity for Siakam to find his groove and feast on the depleted Nets’ front court. Toronto should look to utilize him in the post. One of the best things the Nets do is the 2 man game ran between Joe Harris & Jarrett Allen. You really have to pick your poison between one of the best shooters in the NBA & a lob finishing big. Don’t let that be the only thing that makes this dangerous! Allen is a great passer who can find teammates w/o turning it over. Primary scorer for the Nets is LeVert & TOR needs to take him away by placing Anunoby on him. Raptors’ fans can get the brooms out because this'll be a sweep.

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Players to look at for the D1 level in Oklahoma:

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Trailblazers/Grizzlies:

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Clippers/Trailblazers

Nuggets/Jazz

Pacers/Lakers

Suns/Heat

Mavericks/Bucks

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Kings/Pelicans 

Bucks/Heat 

Pacers/Suns 

Clippers/Mavericks 

Trailblazers/Nuggets 

Rockets/Lakers

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