Raptors VS Heat (Game 1)

Heat Lead Series 1-0

Kyle Lowry stunned not only the whole US, but the whole Gorgui Dieng country of Canada. He nearly lost the ball as the Raptors were down by 3. Running out of time, Lowry had to force up a halfcourt over Justice Winslow. Before that halfcourt, Lowry had shot 0-6 from 3-point range. He of course finished the night 1-7.

Despite hitting that half-court, the Raptors lost in overtime. But it wasn't OT that really lost them the game. I want to first talk about their defense. They defended Dragic horribly. He was left open all the time whether he had the ball or not. I was very disappointed with the defense that was played on Dragic. And this was a player coming off of a really good game too. The defensive effort was just very, very poor on him.

Something I noticed last night was Wade's decision making. I think that he is probably the best decision maker in the league when it comes to offense. I noticed towards the end of the game, he went into pick and roll with Whiteside all the time. He did a great job of just putting the defense on edge, and he was not only able to score and dishing it to Whiteside, but he also did a great job at kicking it out. He found Dragic in the corner for 3 and I thought for sure he was going to pass it to Whiteside. Wade even faked me out.

When you don't score in overtime til the last minute, you probably won't have the best chances to win. I was very confused with the Raptors offense in overtime. Instead of really trying to get into a pick and roll situation with Valanciunas, they were trying to force up shots. Valanciunas has just 2 shot attempts in overtime. He wasn't involved the in the offense like he should've been after regulation. I was disappoint when the didn't go to him. Hassan Whiteside to me, is an overrated defender, especially when it comes to defending his own man in the pick and roll. He does a great job with help defense but lost Valanciunas a lot in the pick and roll in the game. They really should've gone to Jonas more.

I was very disappointed with the will and want to score from Lowry. He didn't cut or make any movements to get the ball. He isn't looking to score at all and he's making it easy for the defense to guard him. One play I noticed in particular was when Lowry went to set a screen for his teammate and the defense just switched it. Instead of Lowry slipping the screen, which is what you are supposed to do when the defense switches it, Lowry just stood there setting the screen, which did absolutely nothing since the defense switched it. He didn't look to score. This is something that is taught at the high-school level. Lowry just doesn't look like himself out there, and this play was towards the end of the game as well.

I really enjoyed this game and I think everyone can agree when I say this was probably the best game of the playoffs so far and I am really hoping for more of these games. Of course, both teams have a job to do and these are the things that they should take away from this game.

Cavaliers VS Hawks (Game 1)

Cavaliers Lead Series 1-0

The Cavs played good overall, but this was not what the Hawks can do. They had a very poor performance. I really was surprised on just how poorly the Hawks played.

The Hawks shot just 37.9% from the field. Not something that they are known for at all. Some people might argue that the Cavs defense was great, but I have to disagree. The Hawks shot more uncontested shots than contested shots. The problem was, they weren't hitting their open shots. In fact, they hit just 37.5 of their uncontested shots. They shot 48 of them! It seemed like Horford and Millsap just couldn't hit a post shot. They did a great job; they just couldn't get the shots to fall.

Dennis Schroder kept the Hawks in the game. He finished with 27 points in the game, leading points for both teams. They could really use another good performance from him in game 2. The Hawks need their starters to produce more though. Teague finished with just 8 points. Korver had 3 points in 37 minutes. Horford had 10. The Hawks just need to hit more shots.

The Cavs were very tough to defend in the game. Everyone was hitting 3's with really spaced the floor. J.R. Smith, Kyrie, Richard Jefferson, and Kevin Love were all hitting 3's. This really opened up the paint for LeBron. It really helped that LeBron was hitting outside shots as well. This forced the defense to guard him at the 3-point line which enabled him to get into the paint easily.

The Hawks really just need to hit shots. They didn't in this game. I expect them to heat up and the Cavs to cool down. If this happens, we will have some close games that might make this the series we've been waiting for.

Warriors VS Trailblazers (Game 1)

Warriors Lead Series 1-0

I enjoyed watching this game. However, I had a weird dream last night, it was that Shaun Livingston went for 50 points in this game. I seriously thought this actually happened for a little while. However, I do like watching Shaun Livingston on the court. I loved watching him on the Nets and I'm glad he has this opportunity with the Warriors.

I thought that the Trailblazers did a great job with a lot of things. When Damian Lillard wasn't producing, they moved the ball really well. They had 26 assists on the night. However, 3 key guys played very insufficiently. Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and Mason Plumlee shot just 13-50 from the field combined! These are the guys that need to be leading the team. That is why they lost.

The Warriors played great. Klay Thompson had 37 points on the night. Draymond Green also added 23 points to that total. They were not lacking on offense. They rebounded very well. Draymond, Bogut, and Harrison Barnes had a total of 37 rebounds on the night. The Warriors got out and ran the court as well. They had 19 fastbreak points. Shaun Livingston seemed to always be pushing the tempo, leaving Portland in the dust. He was a great floor general.

All I can really say is that the Warriors played great while the Trailblazers had a lack of offense from their star players. They need more production. The Warriors are doing great and they are looking great without Curry. They are putting doubts to rest it seems like. And when Curry comes back.... you could only imagine.

Spurs VS Thunder (Game 1)

Spurs Lead Series 1-0

The Spurs took down the Thunder like they took down the Grizzlies. They not only dominated them on the offensive end but the defensive end as well. Let's take a quick look at this game.

Now, a great offensive team is tough to beat. But when you throw in great defense as well, that team is almost impossible to beat. They held the Thunder, which happens to be one of the best offensive teams in the league, to just 92 points. The Spurs had 124 points. That dominating offensively and defensively. OKC never lead in the game. The Spurs got off running and never looked back. At one point they lead by as much as 42 points. The Spurs killed them with their great ball movement and amazing defense. If you looked at the Spurs, they ran tons of pick and roll plays with LaMarcus Aldridge as the roll man. Plenty of times, he would pop out. The defense would either leave him open or leave Danny Green open from 3. Either way it was a no win situation. To add on to this, the Thunder had horrible defensive rotations and were almost always a couple steps too slow. But it was tough. The Spurs had 39 assists in the game. They were moving the ball so much that it wore out the Thunder. If they are to win, they need to see a much better effort from Russell Westbrook as well.

One thing that most people thought was going to be a problem was Tony Parker guarding Russell Westbrook. The defended him really well in the paint and made him force up tough angles on shots. This seemed to really get in Westbrook's head. He shot just 26.3% from the field. You can see his shot chart below.

Russell Westbrook - Shot Chart - www.nba.com/stats

 The Spurs walked through this game with no problems. The Thunder's defensive effort was very poor and they are going to have to play much better defensively for them to put up a fight to win. You aren't going to outscore the Spurs, you need to play defense and get this Spurs team to quiet down with their ball movement. That's how they are going to have to win.

Spurs VS Grizzlies (Game 1)

Spurs lead 1-0

Grizzlies fans, I feel so bad for how all of you probably feel. You made it to the post season and now you have no Marc Gasol or Mike Conley. You are matched up with the Spurs and they are looking like they could sweep your team. However, this Grizzlies team continues to fight, and you guys should be proud of that.

Now, let's just push this out of the way, if the Grizzlies are to win a game, they are going to need probably at least a  20 point game from Zach Randolph. They can't be having him scoring 6 points, shooting 3-13 from the field and expect a win. It just isn't going to happen. Matt Barnes is going to have a tough time as he is being guarded by Kawhi Leonard. They need Z-Bo to score.

Next, Tony Parker and Patty Mills killed this team. It was these 2 guys that Jordan Farmar had a lot of problems with. He can't guard them. The frontcourt is killing this Grizzlies team and they really miss Mike Conley for his defensive skill. They could really use him right now.

The Spur also made some tough contested shots. This was tough because the Grizzlies played some great defense. The Spurs shot 59.1% on contest field goals. But credit the Spurs, they moved the ball around really well and they got everyone involved. Everyone got off some good looks on their team and they had the ball moving around real good.

The Spurs could improve more too. They let the Grizzlies shoot 44% from three. They also let Lance Stephenson keep the Grizzlies in the game during the first half. They had some defensive mishaps here and there and while they might fly here against the Grizzlies, every possession will count against the Warriors and Thunder.

Cavaliers VS Pistons (Game 1)

Cavs Lead Series 1-0

Stan Van Gundy and his team fought. They fought hard. For a good amount of the 4th quarter, it looked like they had the game, then the pressure got to them. They just couldn't close it out. Reggie Jackson lost his composure, they just couldn't finish it. But they sure put up a fight and made this series interesting for sure.

The Pistons really fought hard. The Cavs were very focused on stopping the Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond pick and roll. However, they left Detroit's shooters wide open. The Pistons took advantage of these kick-outs as they made 15 threes and shot 51.7% from deep. Their efficiency from the 3-point line really kept them in the game.

I was very impressed with Cleveland. They finished the night with only 4 turnovers. All of those turnovers were off of steals too. You could tell just how disciplined this Cavs team was on offense. I was also shocked with their ability to move the ball. They rarely went into isolation and LeBron seemed to always make the extra pass. This ball movement and so little turnovers is really what kept them in this game. However, the Cavs really need to step up their defense on getting out on the shooters if they are to really pull away in this series.

The Cavs did a great job on the boards. They limited Drummond to 11 boards which is well below his average and they actually won the rebounding battle against a team that is well known for its rebounding.

The Pistons had a big lift from their bench. Stanly Johnson and Steve Blake played a big part in this game. They did a great job defending and Steve Blake always found the open guy. Those guys were great defensively. However, all of the Cavs big 3 had over 20 points. They dominated on the floor together.

I am concerned for the Cavs on how LeBron is going to hold up through this. He was the only player in this game to have at least 40 minutes and he was getting tired. You could tell too. He had the worst speed average, worse than Aron Baynes speed. He isn't keeping up with the other players and it's from fatigue. As the playoffs go on, can he keep this up? 40 minutes on the court is a long time. I don't if he can keep logging that many minutes a night.

Thunder VS Mavericks (Game 1)

Thunder Lead Series 1-0

Last game of the night, and the Thunder were full of energy. You could tell that they were so excited to be back in the mix after they didn't make the playoffs last year. On the other hand, the poor Mavericks are having a very tough time matching up with this Thunder team. They were blown out by a total of 38 points. So here is really why the Mavs had such a tough game.

The Mavericks couldn't guard Westbrook in the paint. The main fault lies on Dirk. If Westbrook was in there, you could almost always mark it down as 2 points, Dirk was just too slow. Also, Wesley Matthews can not guard Kevin Durant. KD is way too tall and really took it at Matthews all night long. And that is the problem, they have no one to guard KD and Westbrook. The best defender they have to guard Westbrook is Raymond Felton. Westbrook would just blow by Deron Williams.

A big thing that limited Dallas's scoring was OKC's defense. Their pick and roll defense was amazing! Steven Adams did a great job in it whether he was guarding the roll man or he was help side. All of the rotations were on time. Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook also did a great job and so did Roberson. They all were on the same page defensively. Dallas was forced to take a ton of tough shots in the paint and from mid-range. The team only shot 29.8% from the field, 22.2% from 3, and 61.5% from the FT line.

What Dallas really needs is more guard play. It was really limited from them. J.J. Barea, who is now injured, only had 2 points, he shot 1-6 from the field. Deron Williams finished the game with 2 points, he shot 1-9. Raymond Felton shot 2-10 from the field, however, he did have 7 points. As you can see, these guy need to produce. Dallas can not win without them.

And last, Dallas got out rebounded badly. The Mavs had a total of 33 rebounds. OKC had 56. Dallas also had 0 blocks in the game. You can tell what that says about their big. I think, if you are Dallas, you have to have JaVale McGee out there to protect the rim and grab board. That is all he has to really do. That and be open for lobs to open up the floor. Mejri did not work out and you a guy who can protect the paint because Dirk can't. Not to mention, JaVale was the only player on the Mavs to have a positive +/- advantage. He needs to be a part of the rotation.

Hawks VS Celtics (Game 1)

Hawks Lead Series 1-0

This game was a tale of 2 halves. Boston lost the first half, Atlanta lost the second. After watching this whole game, I realized that this was going to be an interesting series.

If you take a look at the first half, the Celtics played very poorly. Jae Crowder shot just 1-10 from the floor and Isaiah Thomas shot just 2-8. The team shot just 23.1% from the field, 12.5% from 3, and ended the half with just 34 points. They also had no fastbreak points! Defensively, the Celtics seemed late on every defensive rotation, the help side was always late, and they gave up 26 points in the paint.

Boston's 1st half - shot chart - www.nba.com/stats

As for the Hawks, their big men dominated. Horford, Millsap, and Bazemore had a combined 31 points. Boston's big men were just too slow to react to the guards and the bigs of the Hawks. Jeff Teague was doing a wonderful job of making the extra pass to find the big man off the high pick and roll that Millsap and Horford thrive in. The Hawks were doing great.

The second half came around and the Celtics did a great job of defending the pick and roll. Everyone was on the same page. Crowder and Thomas stepped up their game and the Celtics picked up their percentages. They shot 50% from the field and 47.4% from deep in the second half. The big thing that brought them back into the game was transition. The Celtics went from having no fastbreak points in the 1st half to having 15 in the 2nd.

As for the Hawks, their bench couldn't convert in the second half and Korver was just brutal. He has 0-7 from 3 on the game. They were well defended, but the Hawks just didn't get back in transition. What won the Hawks the game was their late game defense. They made sure that every shot was contested and defended the ball handler really well. They executed in the last few minutes which got them the win.

While the Celtics lost, if they had a different 1st half, it could've been a much different game. I am very excited for this series as it continues and I think this could come down down to an amazing game 7. It will really depend on who wins, Atlanta's frontcourt or Boston's backcourt.

The Finals Have Started!

The Warriors have won the first game of the Finals. It was a close game as it went into overtime. I have to admit, it was a little rough for both teams though. 

When I first started watching the game I saw LeBron miss a fade-away shot pretty badly and then the next time down the floor, J.R. Smith bricked a three off the backboard. The game wasn't too great to start off. However, by the end of the 1st, Cleveland had a 10 point lead.

One thing that was really surprising to me is that the Warriors didn't have a player who had over 7 rebounds but they still won the rebounding battle. Everyone on the Warriors had at least 3 rebounds. They all crashed the glass.

If you take a look at the Cavs scoring, It was really just LeBron and Kyrie with Timofey Mozgov giving some offense. Kyrie and LeBron combined had a total of 65 points. Besides Mozgov, LeBron, and Kyrie, the rest of the team only scored 17 points. For the Warriors, that's what you want. You want this to be a 3 on 5 kind of game. The Warriors love that. I think that you have to be happy with only 3 people really coming out and scoring points. 

I really think Bogut could do a better job on Mozgov and he didn't look that great on defense. He just wasn't filling up the paint like he usually does.

If you the Warriors, you have Klay Thompson back and he is looking good as ever. He played great basketball. If your the Cavs, you have to be really disappointed. Kyrie just went down and you could be missing 2 of the big 3 now. They need Kyrie. He is the next best offensive player after LeBron on the team. They need him. They really need him.

The last 32 seconds of regulation wasn't the best last 32 seconds that I've seen before. Stephen Curry had the ball but couldn't make the layup as he somehow got his layup blocked by Kyrie Irving. Then LeBron gets the ball and puts up a really dumb shot that he was going to miss. Really poor shot selection. Shumpert got the rebound and put it up last second and somehow almost won the game. But he missed and the game went into OT. The Warriors ended up making their free throws and played great defense as they limited the Cavs to 2 points that were scored in the last 24 seconds as the Warriors just kind of LeBron get a wide open layup. They were like "who cares, we won". It was a great game. But the series isn't over. We have 3 more games at the least and 6 at the most. It will be a great finals series, I can already tell.

Hawks VS Cavaliers (game 1)

Final Score: Cavs win 97-89



Cavaliers lead series 1-0

This was a really weird game. The Hawks build up a lead. Then the Cavs catch up. J.R. Smith knocks down a bunch of shots. The Hawks fall way behind. DaMarre Carroll gets injured. Then the Hawks fall behind a lot but catch up a little. The Cavs ended up winning in the end. Really odd game and a lot happened. Let's take a look.

• 1st Quarter: The Hawks played great in the first quarter. They had a 26-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. They limited LeBron to just 1-3 shooting and he had just 2 points. At that point though, the Cavs lead the rebound advantage 15-6. Jeff Teague had 9 points in the quarter. Kyrie Irving had 2 threes and Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov had a combined total of 11 rebounds.
• 2nd Quarter: This quarter was a little different. By the end of the quarter the game was tied and the Cavs had scored 31 points in the quarter. LeBron shot 7-9 in that quarter and had 14 points. J.R. Smith had 3 threes in the quarter and shot only 4. Only 4 Cavs players scored in this quarter. Matthew Dellavedova missed all 4 shots he took including 3 three pointers. Jeff Teague had 8 points in the quarter. Kyle Korver didn't even take a shot as he was the only one that didn't score on the Hawks that quarter. The Hawks had a total of 5 turnovers in that quarter.
• 3rd Quarter: In this quarter, the Hawks only made 4 shots. 4 shots! They shot 23% from the floor. What saved them? Paul Millsap's free throws of course. He was 5-6 from the free throw line. The team was 7-8. The Hawks were outscored 23-16 in that quarter. The Hawks also had 5 turnover in the quarter again. They did do a better job on LeBron as he had shot just 1-5 in the quarter but LeBron shot 4-4 from the free throw line. J.R. Smith had 8 points in that quarter.
• 4th Quarter: Now this was just a disaster for the Hawks. DeMarre Carroll ended up getting injured. Then Paul Millsap was just getting sick of LeBron and could not guard him. Millsap ended up getting a technical for arguing. The Hawks only made 1-8 from the 3 point line in the quarter. And J.R. Smith hit 3 threes in the quarter. Again, only 4 Cavs players scored in that quarter. LeBron had 9 points. The Hawks ended up loosing the game.

The Hawks just have to play LeBron better. I think the main thing is just that they have to get Kyle Korver involved in the game more. Also, they can't have 10 turnovers in 2 consecutive quarters. That kills them. They also just need to shoot better. They need Korver to just take shots. The Hawks can't be shooting 4-23 from 3 point range. Hopefully Carroll recovers fast and the Hawks can have a better game.

Warriors VS Rockets (game 1)

Final Score: Warriors win 110-106



Warriors lead 1-0

The Warriors had an 11 point lead with about 2 minutes remaining. The Rockets didn't care. Trevor Ariza didn't care. He just couldn't win the game. Stephen Curry said no. You will not win the game Trevor Ariza. He nailed the dagger 3. Let's take a look at how the Warriors won this game.

The Warriors played the fast pace game that they wanted to. They had 28 fast break points. They also had 50 points in the paint. Really great game for the Warriors. Now I know that Stephen Curry had a great game as he had 34 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds, and shot 6-11 from 3 point range, but Draymond Green played really great. He had 13 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. That is a solid game. He was really the key to the Warriors ball movement. This kid had a total of 70 passes. Shawn Livingston played wonderful. He had playoff winning experience with the Nets last year and he is crucial to the Warriors bench. He had 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. I do want to see David Lee match-up with Josh Smith, but the Warriors seem reluctant to play him. So far the Warriors are doing great. Though they could shoot a little better from 3 point range. Everybody besides Curry shot 4-18 from deep. Klay Thompson only shot 1-7. They could improve that.

The Rockets played great. They got Andrew Bogut in foul trouble to start off the game and he only played about 16 minutes. After that, they just got out in transition and got to the rim. They play just like the Warriors do, so it's not surprising that the Rockets had 28 fast break points and 52 points in the paint. They really need to play better defense. You could tell that there was a lot of confusion and lack of communication. The battle of the bench is going to be the deciding factor in this series. The Rockets could use a little more from their bench players. I don't think that 27 points will be enough from their bench. Corey Brewer just needs to be a little more aggressive and Terrance Jones just needs to sink some shots. This is going to be a tight series. It is probably going to be the more interesting one too. Let's see how it will play out.

Rockets VS Clippers (game 1)

Final Score: Clippers win 117-101



Clippers lead 1-0

Rockets looked like they had it. Then the Clippers woke up. The Rockets lost it. Then the Clippers won. Let's take a look at what the Rockets did wrong.

Dwight Howard did his job. He dominated over DeAndre Jordan. This was the worst game in terms of turnovers this year though. James Harden had 9 turnovers in the game. That can't happen. Josh Smith should not be putting up 5 threes. Corey Brewer can't put up 5 threes and miss all of them either. They both shot horrible from the floor. That needs to change. If you look at the Points off turnovers for the Clippers, it was bad. The Clippers had 34 points off of the Rockets turnovers. That needs to stop. One great thing was that the Clippers only had 40 points in the paint. They did give them 13-31 threes though. Obviously, there are a lot of problems for this Rockets team to fix.

Austin Rivers played great as he replaced Chris Paul. He had a good 17 points. Like the Rockets, the Clippers had way too many turnovers. Also, Glen Davis needs to pick it up on the defensive end. He had a defensive rating of 144.7. That's rough. One positive thing to look at was that they had more personal fouls drawn than the Rockets. Blake Griffin had a triple-double but he did have 5 turnovers. However, this Clippers team looks like they're in good shape. I think that if they keep it up, they will be looking into the conference finals.

Cavaliers VS Bulls (game 1)

Final Score: Bulls win 99-92



Bulls lead series 1-0

Bulls had full control in this game and the Cavaliers better step it up. Let's take a second on what the Cavaliers need to change for game 2.

Cavaliers will still not have J.R. Smith and Kevin Love for game 2, so they absolutely need to put Tristan Thompson into the lineup. They also should play Shawn Marion more. He is a skilled player. Why did they get him? Was it so they could have someone to play the nights they were resting LeBron? No, Marion is a great player. LeBron also needs to play better. He had 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 9 assists. Sure that looks good, but he only shot 9-22 from the field, 0-3 from 3 point range, and had a total of 6 turnovers. Let Kyrie handle the ball. He is a much better decision maker than LeBron. I hate it how this team has one of the best Point Guards in the league with the best handles and can pass and they don't even use him. They also need more from their bench. The bench only had 16 points. They didn't play well at all in this game. They need to play better.

The Bulls handled this game well. Joakim Noah needs to step up a little. He didn't have a single point and had 4 turnovers. Mike Dunleavy played really great. He shot 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from 3-point range. Pau Gasol played really well as he had 21 points, 10 rebounds and shot 10-16 from the field. Not to mention, Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler had great games as well. I really think that it is smart not to play Nikola Mirotic in this round. They do need their bench to play well though. This Bulls team will start to get tired through the round and they need to have a bench that can produce. They did look okay in this game though.

That's all from this game. This will be an interesting series. Let's see who will win game 2.

Clippers VS Spurs (game 1)

Final Score: Clippers win 107-92



Clippers lead series 1-0

This was a game where the Spurs got a look at what the Clippers are capable of. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul were dominant over this Spurs team. Let's take a look at the Clippers first

Blake Griffin and Chris Paul had a combined total of 58 points. These two players alone had over half their team's points. They have to keep looking to them. You know that Greg Popovich will be looking to contain both of these players so Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are going to have to find some more ways to score in a best of 7 series. There is really nothing you can do with DeAndre Jordan's free throws. He shot 5-12 from the free throw line which is below 50%. My suggestion is to get DeAndre more touches in the post and get him to score. This will get him going and it will make the Spurs more hesitant to foul. Other than that, they just need to keep going with their offense and defense.

The obvious for the Spurs is that they need to stop Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. You can't let two players score over 50% of their scoring. They also need more scoring. The most points of a player was 18 by Leonard. The next player had only 11 who was Duncan. There was a lot of one v one in that game with the Spurs offense. They just didn't look like the Spurs. Last is that Diaw and Green need to make shots. Those players combined shot 4-23 from the field and 1-12 from the 3 point line. They need to produce well if this team is going to see them winning in this series.

Grizzlies VS Trailblazers (game 1)

Final Score: Grizzlies win 100-86



Grizzlies lead series 1-0

Trailblazers could not take the Grizzlies as the Grizzlies had a blow-out win. The Grizzlies had great production from the bench and played great inside defense. Let's take a look at the Trailblazers and what they need to change next game.

Damien Lillard is an inconsistent player. He will score 30 one night and 0 the next. This was a night where he just couldn't make anything. He was 0-6 from three point range and finished with 14 points. For them to even have a chance to win a game, they need Lillard to produce. Aldridge is doing his part. He had a total of 32 points and 14 rebounds. That is not enough though. Nicolas Batum just has to keep doing what he is doing, which is everything. This guy is doing everything out on the court. Keep it up Batum.

The Grizzlies are doing great. They are playing great defense, getting everyone involved, and their bench is producing. Udrih had 20 points off the bench. They can work on their spacing a little. Sometimes it seems like they are all cramped up on the court and they need to space out a little. The only other thing is for Conley to get better. He is a crucial part of their offense and defense. Other than that, just keep it up.

Hawks VS Nets (game 1)

Final Score: Hawks win 99-92



Hawks lead series 1-0

This was a great game. Both teams I thought played pretty good. It's hard to beat the Hawks though. They play good overall basketball. This was a game where so many players had great games. Let's take a look at the Hawks first.

The Hawks were great. Not to mention, they have just shown something that they had never shown before. Trying to get someone the ball. Now, I'm not talking about "give the ball to LeBron and watch what he does." I'm talking about, this guy is making shots, he will draw attention when we give him the ball, which will give us good shots. Lets give Korver the ball more. Korver ended the game with 21 points and 5-11 from 3-point range. That is really good. If they are to make it to the finals, they need someone they can give the ball to and count on to make a shot or play. That guy in this game was Korver. Now, it wasn't like Korver was the only one getting the ball. Everyone was scoring, that's Hawks basketball. They just seemed a little more apt to get it to a single person.

The Nets need to change a little bit. In this game, the scoring was even all around for their team. Which is what you want to see from the Nets. The biggest problem was turnovers. Young had 4 and Jack had 5. The whole team had 17. That needs to go down. The second thing is free throw percentage. The Hawks and Nets took the same amount of free throws but the Nets made 15-22 Free throws. The Hawks made 21-22. That is a 6 point difference. If the Nets made the same amount as the Hawks, the final score would be 99-98. But the outcome would be different. The Nets would have a chance to tie and play the foul game if it were that close. But it wasn't that close because the Nets didn't make their free throws and the Hawks did.

This is going to be though for the Nets. They don't play that well at home and I don't think they can win that much against the Hawks on the road. It's going to be tough for the Nets. I would like to see them prove me wrong though.

Cavaliers VS Celtics (game 1)

Final Score: Cavs won 113-100



Cavs lead series 1-0

It was close throughout the first half. The Cavs won the game in the 3rd quarter though. Although, it's hard to win against the Cavs with your best player coming off the bench. Take a look at the Cavs. Love, LeBron, and Irving had a combined total of 69 points, 13 assists, and 21 rebounds. That is 61% of their teams points, 68% of their teams assists, and 45.5% of their teams rebounds.

Kevin Love struggled in the first half but ended up with 19 points. Kyrie had a total of 30 and James had 20. The main thing that the Celtics have to do is take all three of these players out of the game. That is going to be hard to do and I don't think any team can do it. I would look for them to force the ball out of Irving's hands and into LeBron's hands. LeBron thinks he is the best ball handler on the floor. Lets be honest now, Irving is. LeBron had 5 turnovers in the game and Kyrie only had 1. If you have LeBron handle it he will turn the ball over. You really need to make sure Irving passes it off. Irving will take you one on one, while LeBron's iso is not nearly as good.

As for the Cavaliers, they need to get all three of the players involved like they were doing. I am okay with Kyrie in isolation because he can pass the ball and make shots for him so easily but LeBron isn't that great of a ball handler and I would not want him in Iso. Sure if there is a miss-match, post up or Iso. But other than that, just run through the plays. The most successful teams get everyone involved like the Spurs and Hawks for example. If you get everyone involved, you will win. It's that simple.     

Playoffs Day 1

April 18th

Raptors vs Wizards:Wizards 1-0



Warriors VS Pelicans: Warriors 1-0



Bulls VS Bucks: Bulls 1-0



Rockets VS Mavericks: Rockets 1-0




Games on April 19th:

• Cavs VS Celtics
• Hawks VS Nets
• Grizzlies VS Trailblazers
• Clippers VS Spurs

Rockets VS Mavericks (game 1)

Final Score: Rockets Win 118-108



Rockets lead series 1-0

Tough game for the Mavs. They did a great job with Howard and Harden. Who would have thought that Brewer would come out with 15 points and shooting 3-4 from 3-point range though. The Mavs just got to keep it up. The way I see it, the Rockets just got lucky this time. The Mavs played their best they had played all season really. Just the fact that Terry and Brewer were knocking down hard shots made it a tough game for the Mavs.

Playoff Rondo! It looks like he's here. He had 15 points, 5 assists, and only 5 turnovers! That is pretty good for Rondo. Everyone was in the game. Ellis was doing great. Dirk had an amazing night. The only thing is I want to see Parsons do a little better. He was 0-4 from 3-point range. Also, Dirk needs to limit some turnovers

The Rockets just need to keep doing what they were doing. The Mavs took out their main guys and the Rockets found a way to get everyone involved. They played great basketball. Passed the ball. If they keep this up, they could find themselves going on to the next round.

Bulls VS Bucks (game 1)

Final Score: Bulls win 103-91



Bulls lead series 1-0

This is tough. This Bucks team is going against a great offensive and defensive team. Not to mention that Derrick Rose is back and he is healthy. Him and Jimmy Butler had a combined total of 48 points. The other part the the Bucks lost badly in was rebounding. The Bulls had a total of 52 rebounds while the Bucks had 41.

One thing that the Bucks could do better is use Bayless a little more. He had 11 points and lead the team with assists with 5. That is pretty good. One thing the Bucks did great with though is getting steals. Kris Middleton got a total of 4 steals in the game. When I was watching the game, I saw both teams going after the ball all the time. If it was going out of bounds, someone would get it.

The Bulls really need to limit their turnovers. All their starters had 2 turnovers except for Rose who had 4. It might not be a problem right now, but it could be a problem later if they meet the Cavs in the second round. They need to make the easy passes. I saw Rose take a lot of gambles with his passes, throwing skip passes sideline to sideline.

The Bulls can't rest. Jason Kidd is going to try to find a way to beat this team and the Bulls need to be ready for that. They need to keep the momentum going. They can't stop.