Santiago Leon and Hal Phillips recap the opening weekend of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Contributors
Santiago Leon – @sleon
Hal Phillips – @mandarinhal
SAT
ORL 83 CLE 97
Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, Jarrett Allen had 18 rebounds and the Cavs looked tougher — mentally and physically — than in last year’s first-round flop, beating the Orlando Magic 97-83 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series.
Evan Mobley added 16 points and Darius Garland had 14 for Cleveland, which got bullied and bounced in just five games by the New York Knicks in the 2023 postseason.
Orlando’s Paolo Banchero scored 24 points in his playoff debut, but had nine turnovers. The Magic shot just 33% from the field — some of it attributed to bad shooting, some because of Cleveland’s defense.
PHX 95 MIN 120
Anthony Edwards scored 18 of his 33 points in the third quarter and had nine rebounds to carry the Minnesota Timberwolves in a tone-setting 120-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns to start the first round of the NBA playoffs on Saturday.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 19 points, Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and Rudy Gobert locked down the lane with 14 points, 16 rebounds and constant shot-altering defense to lead the Wolves to their first Game 1 home win in the playoffs in 20 years.
The sixth-seeded Suns won all three regular-season matchups in which the third-seeded Wolves trailed by double digits for the entirety of the second halves.
PHI 104 NYK 111
Deuce McBride, Brunson’s backup, led a huge effort by New York’s reserves in a 111-104 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Brunson and Josh Hart each scored 22 points, but Brunson pointed the credit elsewhere when asked in his interview on the court what it took for the Knicks to pull out the victory.
McBride finished with 21 points and outscored the 76ers by himself with 13 in the second quarter, when Joel Embiid had to leave after appearing to reinjure his surgically repaired left knee on a dunk. Embiid returned and rallied the 76ers into the lead in the second half, but Hart hit a couple big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks pull it out.
Hart also had 13 rebounds for the No. 2-seeded Knicks, who had lost Game 1 the last three times they opened a series at home. They host Game 2 on Monday.
Embiid finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 33 points.
Embiid was limited to 39 games this season and missed nearly two months after having left meniscus surgery Feb. 6. He still appears to be limited – certainly not the dominant player who score a franchise-record 70 points just before his injury – but helped the 76ers past Miami in a play-in game to earn the No. 7 seed.
LAL 103 DEN 114
Nikola Jokic’s 32 points and 12 rebounds in the Western Conference playoff opener, their ninth consecutive triumph over the Lakers.
James finished with 27 points and Anthony Davis had 32.
The Nuggets had 15 offensive rebounds for 18 second-chance points, 10 more than the Lakers, who grabbed just six offensive boards. And the Nuggets committed just four turnovers — just one by their starters — while the Lakers turned the ball over a dozen times, including a whopping seven by James.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who scored all 12 of his points after halftime, made a trio of 3-pointers in a 13-0 run the Nuggets used to seize control in the third quarter at 89-74.
SUNDAY
MIA 94 BOS 114
Celtics star Jayson Tatum was a catalyst in more ways than one in Boston’s convincing 114-94 victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
He played smart, unselfish basketball against Miami’s double-teams, logging his first career playoff triple-double with 23 points, 10 boards and 10 assists.
The climb this time would be even steeper for Miami. Jimmy Butler, the team’s best wing player, injured his right MCL during the play-in round and is expected to miss several weeks. And Terry Rozier, who averaged nearly 20 points per game in the regular season, is out with a neck injury. Both are enormous blows for a Miami unit that already struggled to score at times.
DAL 97 LAC 109
Harden scored 28 points in his playoff debut for the Clippers, Zubac had a playoff-career high 20 points to go with 15 rebounds, and Los Angeles defeated Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks 109-97 Sunday.
Game 2 is Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Harden hit 6 of 11 3-pointers and had eight assists. George finished with 22 points after the Mavs slowed him in the first half. The Clippers outdid the Mavs at their own 3-point game, making 18 of 36 from long range to 10 of 33 for Dallas.
Doncic led the Mavs with 33 points and 13 rebounds. Irving had 31 points and seven rebounds, but the Mavs got little from their supporting cast.
IND 94 MIL 109
Damian Lillard scored all 35 of his points before halftime and the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Indiana Pacers 109-94 on Sunday while Antetokounmpo watched from the bench.
Pascal Siakam had 36 points and 13 rebounds for the Pacers, who hadn’t scored fewer than 99 points in the regular season while averaging a league-high 123.3 points per game. The Pacers shot 8 of 39 from 3-point range.
Khris Middleton had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Bucks, while Bobby Portis added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Lillard had 19 points in the opening period, the highest first-quarter point total by any player in a playoff opener since at least 1997. He had the highest first-half point total for any player in a postseason contest since Kevin Durant had 38 at the break for the Golden State Warriors in a 2019 first-round game with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Indiana closed the third quarter with nine straight points to get Milwaukee’s lead down to 83-71, but the Bucks regained control.
NO 92 OKC 94
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points, including the go-ahead basket in the final minute, and the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder edged the New Orleans Pelicans 94-92 in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Sunday night.
New Orleans’ CJ McCollum missed a leaning 3-pointer in the closing seconds and the Thunder held on to win their first home playoff game since 2019.
MAN UNITED ADVANCES TO FINAL after beating Coventry in pens
Orlando’s Paolo Banchero scored 24 points in his playoff debut, but had nine turnovers. The Magic shot just 33% from the field — some of it attributed to bad shooting, some because of Cleveland’s defense.
PREDICTIONS
ORL – CLE
HP: CLE
PHI – NYK
HP: PHI
LAL-DEN
HP: DEN
Santiago Leon is the Founder and CEO of the Sports Cast. He covers NFL, NBA, and world soccer. He’s also founder of sleon productions, which he specializes in technology and serves clients with solutions to make their business grow.
