The NBA Playoffs began this Saturday with the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors tipping off. The Raptors let game one slip away from them at home with a disappointing loss to the Nets. Deron Williams and Joe Johnson led the Nets to victory despite one of the worst starts by Kevin Garnett, who only managed to score 5 points in 20 mins. It was a heart breaker for the Raptors to lose game one at home, 94-87, despite a very well played game by Kyle Lowry (22 Pts, 8 Ast and 7 Reb) and Jonas Valanciunas (17 Pts, 18 Reb and 2 Ast). The Raptors will try to bounce back Tuesday against the Nets when they see them for game two at the Air Canada Centre.
By far, the biggest surprise was the Atlanta Hawks hammering the Indiana Pacers and handing them a 101-93 loss at home. It was an amazing performance by the Hawks PG Jeff Teague, who scored an amazing 28 Pts and Paul Millsap who scored 25 Pts, despite suffering from plantar fasciitis in the early going of the second quarter. Pacer’s Roy Hibbert, who possibly gave the most disappointing performance this weekend, was only able to score 8 Pts. Paul George seemed to be the only Pacer keeping them in the game, scoring 24 Pts and grabbing 10 Reb, 5 Ast and getting 4 Stl’s. This will be one of the “must see games” as the Pacers have continued to put on poor performances since the All-Star break. We will see how the Pacers can regroup and perform on Tuesday when they take on the Hawks for game 2 at home before going on the road to Atlanta.
The Washington Wizards gave a stunning performance as they beat the Chicago Bulls 102-93. Wizard’s Nene led the way with 24 Pts and 8 Rebs. Kirk Hinrich and D.J. Augustin had a fair performance putting up 16 points each. This was a disappointing loss for the Bulls, who have had the best record in the NBA since the start of the year. They’ll continue the series at home Tuesday.
Strong performance by the Miami Heat as LeBron James and a healthy looking Dwyane Wade beat the Charlotte Bobcats, 99-88. The game featured LeBron dropping 27 and Wade putting up 23. The Bobcats look to put up an upset as they play game two on Wednesday.
Photo Courtesy of USATSI