Now that’s how you kick off the NBA playoffs.
After a delicious four days of play-in tournament appetizers, the main course finally got underway over the weekend with all 16 teams in action. Just about every game played was a fantastic, tightly-played affair with drama coming down to the wire.
As a fan, that’s all you can hope for.
It’s obviously a very small sample size right now as each playoff team has only played one game each, but despite that, there’s some information we can glean from the weekend’s kickoff.
Keep in mind, however, that this list can and almost certainly will change as we get deeper into games, but for now here’s a look at the first NBA Playoff Power Rankings for 2021.
1. Brooklyn Nets
It only took one half of basketball before the storyline of whether the Nets’ superstar trio would be able to figure out how to play with each other after playing just eight games together during the regular season.
All three were brilliant in the second half of their series opening win over the Celtics and, perhaps more importantly, the 93 points Brooklyn held Boston to is a very encouraging sign that this is a team that might able to put the clamps down when needed.
2. Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers had the most impressive win over the weekend, torching the No. 3-seeded Nuggets, 123-109, thanks in large part to Damian Lillard’s 34 points and 13 assists.
Given his clutch play over the course of his career, that Lillard would have a performance like that isn’t really surprising. What was, however, was how effective Portland’s strategy of letting MVP finalist Nikola Jokic become a scorer and shut down his ability to facilitate his teammates. It worked in Game 1, but can Portland keep it up the rest of the series?
3. Phoenix Suns
In the most heated game of the weekend, the Suns took Game 1 over the Lakers for their first playoff victory in 11 years.
As expected, Chris Paul effectively got under the the skin (and literally under LeBron James as he was in the air) of the Lakers and Phoenix’s young stars Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton both had excellent post-season debuts, thoroughly outplaying James and Anthony Davis.
Perhaps because of their relative inexperience, but there weren’t many who were picking the Suns to knock off the defending champs, but Phoenix has been just as good or better than the Lakers all season long and Sunday’s game was a small glimpse why.
4. Dallas Mavericks
Luka Doncic flashed some of his signature Luka Magic as he led his Mavericks to a big Game 1 win thanks to a 31-point, 11-assist, 10-rebound triple double.
Granted, the Clippers did finally manage to slow him down in the fourth quarter, but by that point the damage had already been done and Doncic’s often forgotten teammates picked up the slack while all the attention was on Doncic.
There’s likely an adjustment to be made from the Clippers’ part, but that first game looked like a good winning blueprint for Dallas to follow to take the series.
5. Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers got dominant performances out of their three best players Sunday as Tobias Harris went off for 37 points, Joel Embiid had 30 and went 12-for-13 from the free-throw line and Ben Simmons had 15 rebounds and 15 assists.
By contrast, even though Bradley Beal went off for 33 points and 10 assists, Russell Westbrook wasn’t nearly as effective as he had been down the stretch of the regular season, and this felt like the difference between the two clubs in Game 1.
This series is nothing like a normal No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup, but it’s a little concerning that Philly could have such outstanding games from its three main guys but still end up in a dogfight with Washington.
6. Memphis Grizzlies
If you’re a Canadian hoops fan and want a team to cheer for during the playoffs, then the Grizzlies might be your best bet because of Dillon Brooks.
The 25-year-old is introducing himself to the world in a big way right now, first by locking up DeMar DeRozan coming up big in the fourth quarter of the Grizzlies’ first play-in game against the San Antonio Spurs and then, during Sunday’s Game 1 against the top-seeded Jazz, he erupted for 31 points, hitting key shot after key shot to lead Memphis to a surprising 112-109 win.
7. Atlanta Hawks
“It got real quiet in there.”
That was Trae Young on his game-winning floater against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
All of a sudden a new-age bona fide Knicks villain has been born.
8. Milwaukee Bucks
Khris Middleton’s jumper with 0.5 seconds left in overtime saved the Bucks from yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of the Heat.
There’s little doubt it was a rough game for the Bucks, but outside of the win, of course, there’s certainly encouragement to be found as Milwaukee managed to pull out a victory despite getting badly out-gunned from three-point range. Miami shot 20-of-50 (40 per cent) from three-point range, while the Bucks were a dismal 5-of-31 (16.1 per cent).
9. Miami Heat
Despite dropping Game 1 even though they shot lights out from deep, the Heat can’t really hang their heads at their performance.
They did enough to win and lost on a great shot from a really good player.
This series between Miami and Milwaukee figures to be a tight, competitive one all the way through, so keeping positive mentally after a loss will be key.
10. Utah Jazz
A big reason why the Jazz fell to Memphis in Game 1 is because the team opted to sit star guard Donovan Mitchell just before tip-off, despite him saying he’d be good to go in Game 1 earlier.
Mitchell has been trying to recover from a right ankle sprain and is reportedly upset with the decision to scratch him late.
There’s hope he’ll be able to play in Wednesday’s Game 2, but now Utah may have to deal with a situation of a disgruntled star on its hands as well.
11. New York Knicks
Young got the last laugh in Game 1, but there’s a good chance the Knicks will ultimately win the war because they were right there up until the bitter end despite their best player struggling mightily.
Julius Randle was held to 15 points on 6-of-23 shooting in Game 1, something you have to think won’t happen again during the series. And if Randle can get himself going then the Knicks’ chances of taking the series look really good.
12. Los Angeles Lakers
Is James still feeling the effects of that right ankle sprain? He wasn’t going downhill very much against Phoenix in Game 1 and his lack of aggression was to the Suns’ benefit.
More concerning for the Lakers, though, was how ineffective Davis was in Game 1. He finished with just 13 points and seven rebounds, shooting 5-for-16 from the floor. Ayton is a talented, athletic young big man, but he shouldn’t be able to bother Davis this much. The Lakers centre has to establish his dominance in Game 2. If he can do that, the Lakers should be able to get right back into this series.
13. Washington Wizards
There isn’t much of an adjustment the Wizards can make to better their chances against the Sixers other than Westbrook needs to play better.
One idea the team may want to flirt with, however, is inserting Davis Bertans into the starting lineup or, at the very least, just getting his minutes up. He’s a deadly three-point threat (he was 4-for-8 from deep in Game 1) and his ability to stretch the floor when he’s on it opens up so many more driving and passing lanes for Westbrook to work with.
14. Los Angeles Clippers
As has been well documented, the Clippers don’t respond to adversity very well and even though dropping one game doesn’t seem like that big a deal, when it comes to this team, however, it feels much larger.
The Clippers can’t afford to go down 0-2 to the Mavericks and in order to prevent that, what they need to do is put Kawhi Leonard on Doncic to slow him down. It’s playoff time and that means load management is out the window. It’s time to ride their horse.
15. Boston Celtics
If the Celtics are going to have a chance against Brooklyn, they can’t be held to just 93 points on 36.9 per cent shooting from the field.
And in particular, Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker can’t go 6-for-20 and 5-of-16, respectively, from the field.
The key to beating the Nets is to take advantage of what has been a bad defence during the regular season and simply out-gun them. Boston didn’t do that in Game 1.
16. Denver Nuggets
Jokic was held to just one assist in Game 1 against the Blazers, the first time all season he hasn’t notched at least two dimes in a game.
A major part of Jokic’s MVP candidacy is the fact he can distribute the ball better than most point guards in the league as a five man, but Portland made a concerted effort to shut down his passing lanes and make him a scorer only.
So much of the Nuggets’ offence relies on Jokic setting his teammates up as he finds them cutting to the basket or relocating for a three-pointer. It’s now up to Nuggets coach Michael Malone to make the adjustment and find ways for Jokic to make best use of his best ability.
