Every series in the NBA Playoffs has now played two games, and the first round is heating up. Already, both 8-seeds and one 7-seed have won upsets against the top teams in their conferences, and a bunch of series have juicy intrigue as they head into game 3.
During the Playoffs, Rooting Interests will move to every other day, breaking down each of the eight first-round series as the league completes batches of games.
Let’s take a loot at how game 2 went across the league, and how our predictions and key themes are faring as the first round is officially heating up:
Game 3s sorted by start time across Friday and Saturday; all times Pacific Time.
East 2. Toronto Raptors 2, 7. Brooklyn Nets 0
Game 3: Friday at 10:30am, NBATV
Game 2: Raptors beat Nets, 104-99
We’re rooting for: Brooklyn Nets
Lucas’ prediction: Raptors in 5
What we’re watching for: Toronto’s intensity
The Raptors had a rough shooting night, but were able to grind defensively to hold Brooklyn to just 99 points. Nick Nurse also played a tight rotation, with only 7 players reaching double-digit minutes and two others seeing spot minutes. Brooklyn’s competitiveness can only be looked at favorably, considering their entire starting lineup isn’t in the bubble.
Now that Joe Harris has left the bubble for personal reasons and will miss at least two games, Brooklyn’s just one more man down. Anything can happen in one game, so my 5-game prediction isn’t dead yet, but Toronto seems like the safest first-round team through two games.
West 3. Denver Nuggets 1, 6. Utah Jazz 1
Game 3: Friday at 1:00pm, TNT
Game 2: Jazz beat Nuggets, 124-105
We’re rooting for: Utah Jazz
Lucas’ prediction: Nuggets in 6
What we’re watching for: Denver’s wing rotation
It’s hard to knock Denver for how well Donovan Mitchell is playing–I’m not sure anyone in the league would be stopping him these last couple of games. But more broadly, it’s troubling for the Nuggets that they’ve allowed 249 points to the Utah Jazz through two games with Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley out of the lineup.
Winning this game was huge for Utah, as they were able to draw the series even with Conley potentially returning for game 3. Conley hasn’t been great this year, but he’s got 56 playoff starts under his belt and will be replacing Juwan Morgan and Emmanuel Mudiay in the rotation–that’s an upgrade.
Still, the Jazz have had two extremely unusual games to reach their offensive output: a historic 57-point opener from Mitchell and 20 made threes in game 2. Utah only averaged 13.4 made threes per game this season, and made 20 or more threes just 4 times in their 72 contests.
As far as the Nuggets’ wings, Michael Porter Jr has kept up his ballistic offensive production, but has been a problem defensively–and Paul Millsap has been a problem defensively without offensive production. Denver is solid nightly at point guard, with Jamal Murray backed up by Monte Morris, and center, where Nikola Jokic is backed up by Mason Plumlee. Across the 2, 3, and 4 positions, Porter will score, but everything else is a bigger question mark.
East 3. Boston Celtics 2, 6. Philadelphia 76ers 0
Game 3: Friday at 3:30pm, TNT
Game 2: Celtics beat Sixers, 128-101
Rooting for: Boston Celtics
Lucas’ prediction: Celtics in 6
What we’re watching for: Joel Embiid
Joel Embiid had 34 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes. They got blown out anyway. The Sixers shot just 5-21 from deep, the 300-million-dollar pairing of Tobias Harris and Al Horford combined for 17 points, and things aren’t looking good in Philly:
What happened on Wednesday night was a showcase of years of missteps and miscalculations: player personnel moves that didn’t work out in the Sixers’ favor, of commitments made to players they shouldn’t have, and of those commitments they didn’t make to the players they should.
Derek Bodner, The Athletic
Like, seriously, the local press is not having it:
If you are what your actions say you are, the Sixers stink from the top down. They’re a bully-ball team that gets pushed around by teams filled with guards and wings, an analytics-heavy front office that forgot to keep shooters on the roster, led by a motivational coach who publicly demanded a three-per-game from his star player and couldn’t so much as get an attempt.
They are reaping what was sown.
Kyle Neubeck, PhillyVoice
Not feeling great about Philly taking this one to six games!
West 2. LA Clippers 1, 7. Dallas Mavericks 1
Game 3: Friday at 6:00pm, TNT
Game 2: Mavericks beat Clippers, 127-114
Rooting for: LA Clippers
Lucas’ original prediction: Clippers in 4
Lucas’ new prediction: Clippers in 6
What we’re watching for: Zubac’s minutes
For my full takeaways from this game, check out my game 2 column. Otherwise, I’ll just add two things here: first, I’m adjusting my pick from 4 to 6 because the Clippers gave Dallas hope and the Mavs haven’t had an explosive shooting game where they make 20+ threes. One of those is coming in the next 3 games, and they’ll be hard to beat that night. LAC needs to win the other two, and then close it out in 6.
Second, Ivica Zubac only played 18 minutes, and just the first 6 of the second half before checking out for good. Montrezl Harrell, who played 22 minutes at center, had a fairly horrid night, and was eaten alive by Boban Marjanovic. Zubac needs to play more.
East 1. Milwaukee Bucks 1, 8. Orlando Magic 1
Game 3: Saturday at 10:00am, TNT
Game 2: Bucks beat Magic, 111-96
Rooting for: Orlando Magic
Lucas’ original prediction: Bucks in 4
Lucas’ new prediction: Bucks in 5
What we’re watching for: Milwaukee’s rotation
You can credit the Bucks for some things here: they came out after a game 1 loss and absolutely smothered Orlando in the first quarter of game 2, only allowing 13 points. They extended their already-double-digit lead in the second quarter, and then sat on it in the second half. They dominated the Magic on the glass, 57-42.
But they still left a little to be desired. Orlando’s low-scoring performance wasn’t just dominant Milwaukee defense, but an outlier poor shooting night (7-33 from deep). The Bucks turned the ball over 20 times. And the rotation still doesn’t seem to match the moment, with 11 players playing more than 10 minutes. Sure, it’s good to keep Giannis’ minutes down around 32 in a game where you’re holding on to a lead. But aside from the opening dominance, it still feels like we haven’t seen the Bucks’ final form.
East 4. Indiana Pacers 0, 5. Miami Heat 2
Game 3: Saturday at 12:30pm, TNT
Game 2: Heat beat Pacers, 109-100
Rooting for: Miami Heat
Lucas’ prediction: Heat in 6
What we’re watching for: Miami’s firepower
It’s a shame that the Pacers aren’t whole and a little better, but as it is, we’re 2 games into the post-season and I’m convinced that the Heat got an easier draw in the 4-5 than every single Western Conference team.
Miami showed a little bit of the firepower we were looking for in this game, Making 18 threes as Duncan Robinson caught fire (7-8 from deep) and hitting 89 points before the end of the third quarter. Then in the fourth, they slowed it down and were able to maintain their lead and grind out a win. As with a couple of other series, I don’t feel great about this one going to six, but I’ll wait for game 3 to adjust my pick.
West 4. Houston Rockets 2, 5. Oklahoma City Thunder 0
Game 3: Saturday at 3:00pm, ESPN
Game 2: Rockets beat Thunder, 111-98
Rooting for: Houston Rockets
Lucas’ prediction: Rockets in 6
What we’re watching for: can Houston play Steven Adams off the floor?
Adams played 30 minutes, and backup center Nerlens Noel played 18, so the Thunder played big the entire game. And James Harden and Eric Gordon combined to shoot 11-36 from the field. And Russell Westbrook is still out.
And the Rockets won by double digits. Not great for OKC!
West 1. Los Angeles Lakers 1, 8. Portland Trail Blazers 1
Game 3: Saturday at 5:30pm, ABC
Game 2: Lakers beat Trail Blazers, 111-88
Rooting for: Portland Trail Blazers
Lucas’ original prediction: Lakers in 5
Lucas’ new prediction: Lakers in 6
What we’re watching for: LA’s guard rotation–and defense
The Lakers didn’t just win game 2–they positively beat the Trail Blazers down, leading by more than 30 points for much of the second half.
It was a dominant showing for the Lakers, who came in and absolutely stifled Portland’s offense. You don’t hold these Blazers to 39 points in the first half without playing some grade-A defense. Sure, Portland shot poorly, but they also didn’t get good looks. The Lakers were everywhere, playing higher containment on ball screens and recovering on the back end to keep the Blazers out of their comfort zones.
I still feel good about Portland taking another game, since I’m fairly confident that there will be a Dame/CJ (and to a lesser extent Melo and Gary Trent Jr.) explosion in one of the next three games. I don’t know if the Lakers can keep up with that kind of scoring with how they’re playing offensively right now, as I still don’t trust the shooting of their supporting cast or the ability of Anthony Davis and LeBron James (who has only scored once from outside the paint in this series) to score consistently and efficiently when they can’t get to the rim.
Hopefully Houston will be resting, recovering, and waiting while the Lakers are still slogging in the later games of this series.
That’ll do it for our rundown of the NBA Playoffs first round game 3s, upcoming Friday and Saturday this week. It should be a fun batch of games, as a handful of favorites face crucial game 3s tied 1-1, while several teams with high hopes have must-win games after falling to 0-2 deficits.
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