9 Reasons the 2014 NBA Playoffs Are Already the Best Ever

Who likes wire-to-wire blowouts by the higher-ranked team? Nobody. They're boring.

The playoffs should be about all the things that shock you—the things that make you leap off the couch, spill your Doritos, scream at the TV and frighten your neighbors. The moment when an All-Star is embarrassed by a guy with cold muscles coming off the deep bench. The moment when a team that is down by 20 storms back to tie the game. The moment when victory is snatched from the claws of defeat when only three seconds are left on the clock.

The easy wins aren't interesting. It's the 48-minute dogfights that keep the heart pumping.

The first round of the 2014 NBA playoffs gave us all of that nail-biting tension and Doritos-spilling excitement. Let's tally up the ways in which those first 50 games have already made this the best playoff season ever.

3 Upsets

Perhaps the No. 5 Portland Trail Blazers beating the No. 4 Houston Rockets wasn't a huge shocker. Even the No. 6 Brooklyn Nets beating the No. 3 Toronto Raptors wasn't a stunner, since Brooklyn is packed with veterans and Toronto had three starters who'd never been to a playoff game before.

However, nobody thought that the No. 5 Washington Wizards had a chance against the No. 4 Chicago Bulls. Even though the Bulls had hardly any offense to speak of, everyone assumed that their defense would slow down John Wall enough to win the series handily. Yet Wall, Bradley Beal, Nene and Marcin Gortat proved to be too much for Joakim Noah and company, and the Wizards won the series in just five games.

24 Road Wins

Home-court advantage counted for just about nothing in the first round. Almost half of the games (24 out of 50) were won by the visiting team. That might not have been great news for half the fans who dropped money on playoff tickets, but it was a fun twist for those watching at home.

14 Four-Point Plays

By the end of the weekend, game announcers stopped referring to a four-point lead as a two-possession game, because in 50 games there were 14 four-point plays.

Probably none was quite as devastating at the one in Game 3 of the Thunder vs. Grizzlies series, when Russell Westbrook got the and-1 on a three-point jumper, tied the game, sent it into overtime and caused Memphis fans' stomachs to do backflips. Fortunately for the fans and their stomachs, the Grizzlies went on to win the game (but lose the series).

8 Overtimes

It's hard to decide which of the Round 1 series was best, but it's got to be a tossup between Blazers vs. Rockets and Thunder vs. Grizzlies. One of the many things that made those series so exhilarating was that most of them went into overtime—three of the Portland vs. Houston games and four of the Memphis vs. Oklahoma City battles.

5 Game 7s

Only one team, the Charlotte Bobcats, got swept in the first round. Yet even those games—between the NBA champions and a team that hadn't been to the playoffs in ages—were not foregone conclusions. No. 7 Charlotte came awfully close to beating the No. 2 Miami Heat in Game 2.

All told, there were 50 games played in the first round and five Game 7s. Two of those Game 7s were to decide the No. 8 vs. No. 1 matchups. On Saturday, three Game 7s were played on the same day—for the first time in NBA history.

329 Lead Changes

There were 329 lead changes (not including ties) in these 50 games. That's an average of 6.58 lead changes per game.

The Portland vs. Houston series averaged more than nine lead changes per game for the series. Yet Game 3 of the Dallas vs. San Antonio series caused the worst whiplash: the lead changed 18 times.

24 Tight Victories

Of the 50 games in the first round, 24 were won by five points or less—14 of those were won by less than three. Four of the six games in the Portland vs. Houston series were won by fewer than five points.

There were even two series decided by one-point victories: Portland's glorious last-second defeat of the Rockets in Game 6 and Brooklyn's way-too-close 104-103 Game 7 win over the Raptors.

2 Buzzer-Beater Wins

More than 20 quarters ended with someone sinking a shot in the last second, but there are two that stand alone as buzzer-beating victories. In second place, you have the corner three from Vince Carter to win Game 3 of the Mavericks vs. Spurs series for Dallas.

This Moment

First place, however, goes to this shot by Damian Lillard that won the series for Portland. The game was tied at 96 and almost surely going into overtime. Houston had possession.

With 4.9 seconds to go, James Harden put up a step-back jump shot. He missed. There was a mad scramble for the rebound. Somehow Houston's Chandler Parsons sneaked out of the tangle of red and white jerseys, tossed in a reverse layup and put the Rockets up 98-96 with only 0.9 seconds left on the clock.

The Blazers immediately called timeout, but it seemed to Blazers fans this game was as good as lost and they would have to pin their hopes on Game 7 on the road.

Yet, Nicolas Batum and Lillard had other plans. With less than a second left to inbound the ball and put up a shot, Batum got it to Lillard, who put up a three from way outside. The buzzer blared, the ball swished right through the net, everyone in the arena went insane, and Lillard provided further proof that he must have ice water in his veins to be that cool.

It was not such a great few moments for Rockets fans, though.

Best Series Yet

Of all the Round 1 matchups, the Rockets vs. Blazers series was the most electrifying, although Thunder vs. Grizzlies is a close second.

Three overtimes. Three road wins. More than nine lead changes per game. Four games won by less than five points. A buzzer-beater three to end the series.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 40-plus points in each of the first two games. James Harden looked befuddled. Dwight Howard was unstoppable in the paint in Game 7. Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin broke down defenses. Damian Lillard. Damian Lillard. Damian Lillard.

If the rest of the 2014 playoffs are half as interesting as the first round, they will go down in the record books as the best NBA postseason ever.

So what can we expect in Round 2? Every one of these series is poised for an upset.

During the regular season, the No. 6 Nets swept the No. 2 Heat, 4-0. "But this is the playoffs," you might say, but this year the Nets have guys like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, who have spent half their lives winning postseason games.

The younger, better-rested No. 5 Blazers will give the No. 1 Spurs all they can handle. Although the unflappable trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Gregg Popovich should never be underestimated, the Blazers have proved that they can hang with the Spurs on the coolness meter.

As for the other two matchups, the underdogs are already up one game. On Monday night in their Game 1s, the No. 3 Clippers smashed the No. 2 Thunder 122-105, and the No. 5 Wizards continued their surprising run with a 102-96 win over the No. 1 Pacers.

What do you think? Who will make it out of Round 2? Do the struggling Pacers have another four wins in them? Will the Heat crack the code that made the Nets unbeatable against them in the regular season? Who ya got?