NBA Playoffs 2012: Teams That Flunked the First Week of the Playoffs

With the first round coming to an end for a majority of the eight series, we've reached a final conclusion on what we think of the playoffs thus far.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh, sorry, I think I might have dozed off there.

Well, there's been a lot of chances to catch up on your sleeping during the first week of the playoffs because they haven't been all that great. With the exception of the Memphis Grizzlies vs. Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers vs. Chicago Bulls series, probably all these matchups are going to end in five games or less.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have already advanced after a sweep of the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. The Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs are all within a game of moving on to the next round. The Los Angeles Lakers could be in the same crowd with a win Sunday night.

Overall, this has been a depressing start to the postseason because of the high rate of injuries that are piling up.

The Knicks, who were already playing without Jeremy Lin, have lost Iman Shumpert and Baron Davis for the rest of the series and were forced to play a game without Amar'e Stoudemire. The Clippers are now dealing with an ailing Caron Butler, and the Chicago Bulls now must play the rest of their first-round series without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.

Like I said, it hasn't been the best of competition. The road to the NBA Finals out West will probably be fun, but the Miami Heat are already predicted to be steamroll through an injury-depleted East.

However, we'll still take into consideration the five teams that have played the worst of any teams in the postseason thus far. These five teams don't have injuries to blame as they've all just played equally terrible due to their own faults.

Memphis Grizzlies

When it comes down to the NBA's postseason, you always need to stay vigilant, consistent and urgent.

This is the second part of the season. It's win or go home, and teams will go through hoops in a desperate attempt to possibly salvage a victory. If you're going to give it your all and play every single minute with intensity and heart, it needs to happen in the playoffs. This is the time where a complete effort from everyone on the floor is a necessity.

The Memphis Grizzlies failed to do that in Game 1, which explains why they're currently losing 2-1 in their first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. This is a series that could very well be 3-0 in the Grizzlies' direction had they stay committed to the game plan that enabled them to carry a gargantuan lead in Game 1.

At one point in Game 1, the Grizzlies found themselves up by 27 points near the end of the fourth quarter and by 23 points going into the final frame. They couldn't be stopped.

The size of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph was too much, as was the shooting of Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo. If those two are hitting their perimeter shots, usually the Grizzlies are in prime shape to win.

However, once the fourth quarter came, they started steering away from pounding it inside. Gasol and Randolph stopped getting the ball down low, so the Clippers defense was able to relax. When you're not forcing your opposition to work on defense, you're only allowing them to get their energy back so they can make some things work on offense.

The Grizzlies let their guard down and they paid for it. A 27-point lead turned into a one-point loss. Memphis would come back to win Game 2, but it lost Game 3 behind an absolutely horrific showing in the fourth quarter. Rudy Gay hit two three-pointers in the final seconds of the quarter. That was double the amount of field goals the Grizzlies had all quarter before then.

It's been an ugly showing thus far for the Grizzlies.

We expected this to be a grind-it-out series, but we didn't expect Memphis to play so horribly in the fourth quarter under circumstances where it probably should have secured a victory. Don't forget that this team was actually considered as a possibly championship contender.

It's sequences like that in Game 1 where you relax even though there's 12 minutes left in the game or in Game 3 when you score one field goal in over 11 minutes that come back to bite you. The Grizzlies will need to steal home court from the Clippers if they now expect to make a comeback in the series.

Utah Jazz

When I first saw the San Antonio Spurs draw the Utah Jazz as a first-round opponent, the first idea that crossed my mind was a possible upset.

It wasn't too far-fetched to think. After all, look at how much trouble the Spurs had with the Memphis Grizzlies and their frontcourt. Tim Duncan, DeJuan Blair and Tiago Splitter were no match for the trio of Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Darrel Arthur. Those three were relentless on the boards, as well as scoring in high percentage areas.

The Jazz had the potential to have similar results because of their frontcourt.

With scorers in Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap and imposing figures in Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, the Jazz had a legitimate shot to pull off an upset. The Spurs were playing on another level, but it was still highly plausible to believe that this series could go six or seven games because of the Jazz' size.

Then the series started and we quickly realized that the Jazz had no backcourt nor did they have a presence in the starting lineup on the defensive end. Jefferson is notorious as one of the league's worst post defenders and Millsap doesn't always hold his own, either. Throw in Kanter having no influence and you have a team with no answer.

Also, Gordon Hayward is shooting 23 percent from the field and nine percent from beyond the arc. Your starting small forward, ladies and gentlemen!

If it's any consolation for the Jazz, Derrick Favors is going to be a star.

The Spurs are just too good right now. They have an incredible balance that allows the big three in Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker to control the tempo, yet also keep the role players involved. It's incredible to see those three do what they always do, then see guys like Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Jackson and Tiago Splitter step up in other places.

Utah now finds itself in a 3-0 hole and will most likely end this series getting swept. Nobody on the team can make a stop on defense, nobody can hit a three-pointer (they're shooting 28 percent as a team) and they're second to last amongst playoff teams in field-goal percentage.

Give credit to the Jazz for making this improbable run in their first full year with Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan. However, this team isn't going anywhere with that pitiful backcourt and the lack of defensive stoppers outside of Favors.

Dallas Mavericks

We knew that the Dallas Mavericks weren't going to defend their title this year.

They gave up that dream months ago when they allowed Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and Caron Butler to walk with no resistance. Barea and Butler were tough losses, but Chandler hit where it hurts most. That was their defensive anchor and the main reason as to why Dallas managed to pull off an improbable upset over the Miami Heat.

It's crazy to think that he was once being considered a backup to Brendan Haywood.

Once the Mavericks allowed Chandler to walk, we knew that this team had other prospects on their mind.

The idea of potentially going after Dwight Howard, Deron Williams or Steve Nash next year overshadowed the idea of going after a second consecutive title. The Mavericks front office knew that this team wasn't getting any younger, so they planned on winning titles later on and not the coming year.

However, getting swept in the first round? Can't say I expected that.

There are probably a couple Oklahoma City Thunder fans who didn't expect that to happen, either. The Mavericks might have been without Chandler and a few other pieces from last year's title run, but it would be tough to predict that a team with the same three-man core of Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Shawn Marion would fall in a sweep.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of this sweep is whom they lost to.

They fell at the hands of a Thunder team they had just beaten in five games barely a year before. Oklahoma City held a lead in the fourth quarter of every game, but were no match for the hot shooting of Nowitzki and Terry. The fact that Russell Westbrook attempted to usurp the power of primary offensive threat helped the Mavericks' cause as well.

In the same situations the Mavericks were facing in last year's Western Conference final, they simply couldn't come through. Outside of their Game 3 blowout loss, the Mavericks lost Games 1, 2 and 4 by a combined 10 points.

The Mavericks became the first championship team to get swept in the first round since the 2007 Miami Heat.

Atlanta Hawks

When you are being gifted a win where the stakes are at their highest, in particular the playoffs, you had better accept that gift with a smile.

As I sit here and watch the Atlanta Hawks get pummeled by the Boston Celtics, I could only think what could have been if this team simply took advantage of the opportunity the team had in Game 2.

The Hawks have been short-handed all year.

Without Al Horford, this team lost one of the best mid-range shooters in the league, as well as its top rebounder and post threat. However, the team somehow managed to recover and finish the year as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Even without Horford, the team finished just as well as it did last year with Horford and former sixth man Jamal Crawford.

The Hawks were fortunate to draw the Boston Celtics. That sounds like a tall order, but it's actually one of the most favorable matchups the Hawks could have received.

The Celtics still had no definitive center to rely on, while Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass represented the team's presence down low. The Hawks had not much to rely on down low, but they could at least attack the paint and not get crushed down low and on the boards.

Atlanta took Game 1 by nine and was being handed a victory in Game 2. The Celtics, already playing without Ray Allen, lost starting point guard Rajon Rondo due to a suspension that came as a result of bumping a referee. Without Rondo, the Celtics would be even more short-handed and would have an entire starting backcourt made up of backups.

How did Atlanta respond to this fortunate situation? By giving up 36 points to Paul Pierce, losing the fourth quarter by 12 points, and ultimately losing the game and home-court advantage. Allen's replacement in Mickael Pietrus did little to nothing, while Rondo's replacement in Avery Bradley chipped in 14 points.

Atlanta shot 35 percent overall and 27 percent from beyond the arc.

Instead of having that comfortable 2-0 lead going into Boston, the Hawks now find themselves staring down the barrel of a 3-1 deficit.

Looks like another disappointing early exit for the $20 million man and co.

New York Knicks

It took 41 points from Carmelo Anthony, 20 points and 10 boards from an injured Amar'e Stoudemire, and some insane play-calling by Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra (seriously, what kind of play was that to win the game?), but the New York Knicks finally recorded their first playoff win in over a decade.

For a moment there, we thought it wasn't going to happen.

The Heat led by as much as 11 in Game 4, but failed to deliver the knockout punch due to some senseless turnovers, poor free-throw and perimeter shooting, and a few questionable calls from the sideline that they might want to have back. The Knicks took advantage with 'Melo and Stoudemire finally working together to win a playoff game.

Game 4 was a relief for Knicks fans.

Carmelo finally began to hit some shots he hasn't been making and Amar'e played huge despite having his left hand heavily bandaged after an unsuccessful fight with a fire extinguisher door. Most of all, the city is just happy to see those two play well together and for the team to finally win a playoff game and snap an embarrassing streak of losses.

It's just a shame that Game 5 will probably look more like Games 1, 2 and 3.

Before that win in Game 4, the Knicks were an absolute travesty. They were creamed by 33 points in Game 1, lost by 10 points in Game 2 and succumbed to a 17-point defeat in Game 3. That final game was possibly the most disappointing when you consider that the Heat were only holding on to a two-point lead heading into the fourth.

Instead of competing, the Knicks decided it would be more their style to get outscored by LeBron James 17-14 in the final frame. That fourth quarter was the lone sliver of hope the Knicks had to make this a series, yet they responded by playing some of their worst basketball of the year and that's saying something.

What else can you say about this team? Anthony still doesn't like to pass, J.R. Smith has one of the most pitiful shot selections you will ever see, and injuries have devastated them. Already playing without Jeremy Lin, the Knicks have already lost Iman Shumpert to a torn ACL and Baron Davis to a dislocated patella.

I won't even get into the Stoudemire injury. That ailment has a life of its own.

They're now down to Mike Bibby as their lone pure point guard. Lin is close to coming back, but it won't make much of a difference. The kid from Harvard had eight points and eight turnovers in his lone meeting against the Miami Heat and that came when he was healthy. How do you expect an injured Jeremy Lin to have any sort of positive impact?

The Knicks will go on to lose this series in five games. There's no other way around it.

Miami isn't going to lose at home to a team playing without three point guards. It's also not going to lose a team with a selfish small forward who cares more about his own statistics than adjusting to his new team and helping to lead this team to some victories.

It took the Knicks 41 points from Anthony and 20 from an injured Stoudemire to win a game by two points. I doubt it will happen again.