The opening weekend of the 2024 NBA playoffs is in the books, with one Game 1 for every series.
And what a weekend it was for the home teams!
Home sides protected their home-court advantage, and it's the first time since 2013 that every home team won Game 1 to start the playoffs. That was an upset, though, in the case of the Timberwolves, Clippers, and Bucks.
Playoffs are different than regular season ball, and that means there's always plenty to learn in Game 1 of a new series. How do the teams matchup? What carries over from what we expected coming into the playoffs and what new wrinkles are already popping up?
Below is a reaction to each Game 1, plus one key takeaway you need to know before betting Game 2.
Cavaliers 97, Magic 83
I worried about the Magic scoring in this series, but woof. Garry Harris, Cole Anthony, Markelle Fultz and Joe Ingles shot 0-for-19 combined in 72 minutes. Jalen Suggs was 4-of-16. Non-Moritz Wagner non-Paolo Banchero Magic combined to shoot 17%. Banchero scored, but was inefficient with nine turnovers in his playoff debut. He's now at 4.8 TOs per game against Cleveland this season, so keep playing his turnovers over.
Orlando's half-court offense was absolutely miserable. The Magic got a heap of free throws, but may get some of that grifting sniffed out over the course of a series, and they got a bunch of pick-six turnover points for free that may not always be there.
Donovan Mitchell looked as healthy as he has in a month or two. The Magic just have no one anywhere near that talented offensively. Orlando needs to shorten its rotation and find some scoring answers. The Cavaliers didn't score all too well after a hot start either. This might just be an unders series until proven otherwise.
KEY TAKEAWAY: The Magic can't score. Can anyone in this series?
Timberwolves 120, Suns 95
This is by far the Game 1 outcome that most impacts my handicap and outlook on the series going forward.
This is the third Game 1 win in Minnesota's franchise history and only the sixth series in which the Wolves have led at any point — ever. After getting swept by the Suns in the season series, Minnesota badly needed to win this one and get the playoffs started on the right foot.
The Timberwolves just played with more force and intensity. The defense was locked in, and it felt like Minnesota got to every 50-50 ball, snagged every rebound (52 to 28 in the Wolves' favor) and outworked the Suns.
Credit Chris Finch for having Minnesota focused and ready. He put Jaden McDaniels on Devin Booker, not Kevin Durant, and that let Durant get his with ease, but Booker had a miserable day. Booker, not Durant, is the best and most impactful player on the Suns, and Phoenix needs to find a way to get him going.
The Suns also need more from Bradley Beal. Minnesota has enough perimeter defenders to handle two Phoenix stars at a time, but not all three. When all three of Durant, Booker and Beal are out there, that means one of Mike Conley, Karl-Anthony Towns or Rudy Gobert is defending one of them. Phoenix needs to find that matchup and make Minnesota pay. Conley quietly had a pretty rough game and Towns is suspect, though he had a superb first half.
Game 1 was the perfect script for Minnesota. It got a favorable whistle that allowed physical play, Towns had one of his best halves ever, Anthony Edwards set the franchise playoff record with 18 third-quarter points, and McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were real pests defending the perimeter. The Wolves dominated fast-break points, dominated second-chance points and got all the energy buckets.
They also got pretty good shot variance, and the Suns were a miserable 44% at the rim, much of it self-inflicted, not necessarily because of Minnesota's elite rim protection. Even those things back out and we likely get a much more competitive Game 2.
I was on the Suns before the series, and I'm still not off yet, but this is the exact script Minnesota needs to win. The Suns need to find out if Eric Gordon or Grayson Allen have anything to give and how much Jusuf Nurkic can play so Drew Eubanks doesn't have to, and if there are any other options on the bench.
KEY TAKEAWAY: Game 1 was exactly how the Wolves win this series, with toughness and physicality. Will the Suns match Minnesota's intensity in Game 2?
Knicks 111, 76ers 104
For much of the first half, Joel Embiid and the 76ers looked awesome. Embiid scored the first nine Philadelphia points, Tyrese Maxey sliced to the rim at will, and the Sixers looked themselves.
Then, Embiid crushed an awesome self-alley-oop slam, came down hard on his knee and left for the locker room. Embiid returned in the second half and Philadelphia made a big push, but he wasn't the same player. He was far less aggressive on both ends of the court and everything came up short by game's end.
On the one hand, plenty about Game 1 is not likely repeatable. Josh Hart made four 3s, his most all season. Deuce McBride turned into Clyde Frazier for one night and led all NBA players in Game 1 BPM. New York's bench hit 8-of-13 from 3. That stuff happens in playoff games, and it offset a subpar Jalen Brunson game and an ugly 36% night on 2s from the Knicks.
On the other hand, the Sixers got crushed in the non-Embiid minutes — +14 in 37 minutes with him, -21 in 11 minutes without — and got demolished on the glass for the game, 55-33. New York had 23 offensive rebounds, including 12 from Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein, and those problems will only exacerbate if Embiid is limited with injury in Game 2 as expected.
Game 2 is the only one of the first four games this series with just one day of rest, and it comes at the worst time possible with Embiid reaggravating that knee injury and then emptying the tank pushing for the comeback. Embiid is what makes everything work for Philadelphia. Without him, the Sixers offense is wildly inefficient, the defense craters and the rebounding crashes.
The Knicks didn't score well this game, and if Embiid is banged up, unders may be the way to play game to game.
But if New York beats Philadelphia in Game 2, the Sixers will either have to win four straight or take four of five, the last one a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. It could get dark very quickly for the Sixers.
I think this series may already be over. I'm playing the Knicks Game 2 + series double at -120.
KEY TAKEAWAY: It doesn't matter how fluky Game 1 was or how good Joel Embiid looked early — with a re-injured Embiid on short rest, the Sixers might already be cooked, both in Game 2 and in the series.
Nuggets 114, Lakers 103
I expected the Lakers to empty the tank in Game 1 coming off three days of rest, and LA went for it. The Lakers led by eight after a quarter and by as many as 12 in the middle of the second — and then Denver did the thing.
The Nuggets are just better than the Lakers. Way better. We know this. We saw it happen in the Western Conference Finals sweep. We saw it again on opening night, and again on Kobe night. Denver just doesn't fear the Lakers. It's a one-sided rivalry right now.
Denver dominated the offensive glass with 15 boards and turned it over only four times. That led to an outrageous 23 more field-goal attempts for the Nuggets. You're not going to win many games when you let Nikola Jokic's team have 23 extra already-efficient possessions.
All the better that it stayed "competitive" throughout. Anthony Davis played 45 minutes. LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell played 41 (Russell took about as many bad shots). The Lakers looked exhausted by the end of Game 1, and now play on short rest in the altitude in Game 2 against a team that's an elite home team and has dominated them. This looks like a Denver smash spot to me.
This series feels like when, not if. But hey, at least it's a competitive nine-game losing streak.
KEY TAKEAWAY: We've seen this movie before. Why were you expecting any other ending?
Celtics 114, Heat 94
I watched 0.00 seconds of this game and intend to keep it that way until Miami proves otherwise.
This one was 91-59 through three quarters. It's a big problem that Boston had 30 3-point attempts by halftime to just 14 for Miami. Eight Celtics played and each of them took at least four 3s, all but one making at least a pair.
Boston's only goal this series is to avoid goofy shooting variance and not get anyone hurt. If the Celtics lose more than one game in the first two rounds, it will be disappointing.
KEY TAKEAWAY: Make Wednesday dinner plans during the standalone Game 2 window.
Clippers 109, Mavericks 97
Kawhi Leonard was a late scratch, leaving us a depressing Sunday slate missing Jimmy Butler, Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Zion Williamson in consecutive games, but I'm not sure the Clippers are dead without Leonard, and they sure weren't in Game 1.
James Harden had a huge first half, scoring 20 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3. We've seen Harden have some big scoring Game 1s coming off long rest, only to shrivel up quickly after. Be prepared to fade his scoring if Leonard is out again in Game 2 and Harden's line moves too far.
Mostly, this felt like little more than a brutal shooting half for Dallas. The Mavericks went 9-of-41 from the field in the first half, a ghastly 22%, including 2-of-18 on 3s and missed their final 12 shots into the break. Dallas scored eight in the second quarter and had 30 at the half.
Jason Kidd falls to 2-6 ATS as a coach in Game 1s, the worst of any active coach. But the entire second half felt like extended garbage time, and I'm not sure we should take a ton away from this one other than shot variance.
KEY TAKEAWAY: You won't win many games shooting 22% for an entire half. Dallas may need to try the ol' play better adjustment in Game 2.
Bucks 109, Pacers 94
The Pacers played the Bucks even for most of the first quarter, and then Damian Lillard detonated. He had six 3s and 35 points in the first half — and none in the second somehow — and that, combined with an 0-of-9 Indiana start from downtown, buried the Pacers. Milwaukee finished the half on a 49-23 run, and that was that. The Pacers made it respectable and found some comfort in the second half, but never threatened.
Indiana can't do much about Dame Time other than hope it was a one-time event, but the defense wasn't the problem on Sunday — the offense was.
Tyrese Haliburton barely left a mark on the game and posted a single-triple — nine points, seven boards, eight assists. He took only seven shots, and that's just not enough. Patrick Beverley bothered Haliburton all 94 feet, and Indiana got way too much Myles Turner and T.J. McConnell in Game 1. Indiana can't have those two guys take 30 shots and Haliburton take seven.
Indiana won't shoot sub-40% again, nor 21% on 3s, but the Pacers need to play Pacers ball. That means a more aggressive Haliburton and it means a more aggressive Indiana, attacking a poor Bucks 2-point defense instead of settling for jumpers, especially when the 3s aren't falling. This was the fewest points Indiana scored all season — by five. The Pacers let playoff jitters and the early missed 3s throw them off their game.
KEY TAKEAWAY: Indiana needs more Tyrese Haliburton, and it needs to get away from 3s and get back to the easy 2s this Bucks defense affords.
Thunder 94, Pelicans 92
Finally, after a long weekend without much fun basketball, we found a series to love late Sunday night. The Thunder and Pelicans were tied at the end of the first quarter, tied again at the half, and tied with a couple minutes left until MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit the game winning three-point play. This uber-competitive contest saw more lead changes (20) than the other seven Game 1s combined (19).
The Pelicans were in it all the way, though, and absolutely look live in this series, even without Zion Williamson.
New Orleans gives Oklahoma City all sorts of matchup problems, starting on the glass. The Pelicans grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, the majority of them by Jonas Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr., who combined to put up 18 points and grab 28 rebounds. That kept giving a fairly inefficient half-court offense chances, and the Pelicans needed it with Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum combining to shoot 14-of-39.
The Pelicans ended up with the same number of makes as the Thunder thanks to a poor shooting night, but got 11 more shots up. A team that normally ranks bottom 10 in 3-point attempts took 39, but saw shot after shot bounce out from capable shooters. New Orleans shot 38% on 3s this year, fourth in the NBA. It made just 28% Sunday night. One more make and this is the big upset of the weekend.
But that didn't happen, in part because Oklahoma City's young trio of stars stepped up when it had to.
Chet Holmgren got pushed around at times, but stretched out the Pelicans' defense with two 3s. He also had five blocks, including a key one late. Jalen Williams had a good all-around 19/7/4 game. And Gilgeous-Alexander overcame a brutal stretch of fourth-quarter turnovers to hit two shots down the stretch and carry his team to victory.
Make no mistake about it, though — the Thunder have a fight on their hands. While New Orleans shot poorly, Oklahoma City lucked into an 11-of-17 shooting night from its bench, where Mark Daigneault curiously ran 11 deep. He may need to find answers or a replacement for Josh Giddey, who scored just two points in 20 minutes and was MIA late.
The Pelicans can't match Oklahoma City's offense without Williamson, but New Orleans showed it was up for the fight, with matchups and edges it can exploit to give itself a chance. This looks like best series of round one.
KEY TAKEAWAY: The Pelicans are live to win any game and maybe even the series, but credit the young Oklahoma City stars for taking a punch and making the plays to win late.
