4/23--- Check updated records at the bottom of article
They don't call it home court advantage for no reason and the as the results showed, the hosts didn't want to disappoint their home crowd as all eight home teams won Game 1 of their series. Some games weren't even close at the end of the final buzzer and suddenly, the NBA Playoffs look lopsided where even fourth and fifth seeded matchups weren't as close as expected.
The Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers were two teams entering Game 1 with a history. They went seven games in 2012 and headlined the first round of the playoffs with their scrappy play and close ball games. Many were calling this matchup a rivalry. However, after the conclusion of this Game 1, there was no sign of a rivalry as the Clippers demolished the Grizzlies 112-91.
The biggest victory margin was put up by the Oklahoma City Thunder as they pounded their former product James Harden and his Houston Rockets 120-91. This game was pretty close at first. The Rockets were battling with the Thunder and came just points from even taking a lead, but Serge Ibaka put on a show adding 17 points, seven rebound and three mammoth blocks in the game.
The Brooklyn Nets made the Chicago Bulls look horrible. It's bad enough they are heavily injured, but the Nets put away any questions of the Bulls walking out of the first round after a dominating performance that finished 106-89 in their favor. With Deron Williams and Brook Lopez playing dominant basketball, this one could be over in four, unless the Bulls can get some fire from their home crowd and muster up a victory.
The Indiana Pacers also put away the Atlanta Hawks by a large margin as the home team won 107-90 behind a strong performance from Paul George, who had a game-high 23 points in this meeting. He also added 11 rebounds and 12 assists for the triple-double.
The defending champions, Miami Heat aren't falling for any of Brandon Jennings' "Milwaukee Bucks winning in six" predictions. The Heat took Game 1 by the final score of 110-87. Though LeBron James threatened with a triple-double scoring 27 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing eight dimes, Chris Andersen snatched a bit of the spotlight as he dropped 10 points and had seven rebounds, four of which were offensive boards. At the end of the game, James said Andersen was one of the more electrifying bench players in the league.
In the other playoff games, the action was a bit closer and one could only wonder if an upset was going to be pulled. The San Antonio Spurs eventually put away the Los Angeles Lakers 91-79 as Manu Ginobili came off the bench shooting threes. The New York Knicks were able to use their defense to put away the Boston Celtics 85-78 while the Denver Nuggets barely got past the Golden State Warriors 97-95.
Here are what the playoff series look like so far:
WEST
(1) Oklahoma City Thunder 1-0 (8) Houston Rockets
(2) San Antonio Spurs 1-0 (7) L.A. Lakers
(3) Denver Nuggets 1-0 (6) Golden State Warriors
(4) L.A. Clippers 2-0 (5) Memphis Grizzlies
EAST
(1) Miami Heat 2-0 (8) Milwaukee Bucks
(2) New York Knicks 2-0 Boston Celtics
(3) Indiana Pacers 1-0 (6) Atlanta Hawks
(4) Brooklyn Nets 1-1 (5) Chicago Bulls
