NBA Playoffs 2015: Examining Top Stats and Highlights After Latest Scores
The 2015 NBA playoffs are off to a high-flying start with Sunday's quartet of Game 1 action that wrapped up a scintillating opening weekend of the postseason.
Sunday didn't produce any down-to-the-wire affairs with three of the four teams winning by 13 points or more, and the lone single-digit win by the Atlanta Hawks over the eighth-seeded Brooklyn Nets proved more lopsided than the final score suggested. The only upset of the day was the Los Angeles Clippers beating the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs, which isn't much of an upset when considering LA's No. 3 seed and home-court advantage.
That doesn't mean viewers were at a shortage of action, however, as some of the league's best players shined bright in what they hope to be the start of a long playoff run.
Below are the scores from each of Saturday's four games, as well as a closer look at three of the best individual performances.
NBA Playoffs Day 2 Scores
| Cleveland Cavaliers (2) def. Boston Celtics (7) | 113-100 | Kyrie Irving (30) | Isaiah Thomas (10) | Kevin Love (12) |
| Atlanta Hawks (1) def. Brooklyn Nets (8) | 99-92 | Kyle Korver (21) | Joe Johnson (6) | Brook Lopez (14) |
| Memphis Grizzlies (5) def. Portland Trail Blazers (4) | 100-86 | LaMarcus Aldridge (32) | Marc Gasol/Beno Udrih (7) | LaMarcus Aldridge (14) |
| Los Angeles Clippers (3) def. San Antonio Spurs (6) | 107-92 | Chris Paul (32) | Three Tied at 6 | DeAndre Jordan (14) |
Best Stats and Individual Performances
Stats: 30 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds
Remember when it was cool to question Kyrie Irving's ability to be LeBron James' sidekick due to an absence of playoff experience? Those were the days.
Perhaps one performance doesn't prove how the 23-year-old will respond in the pressure-cooker moments to come, but Irving undoubtedly started his playoff career off like he's begun his NBA career—scoring at will. He poured in 30 points on 11-of-21 shooting—including five three-pointers—in a Game 1 victory over the Boston Celtics that proved notably more difficult than the pundits predicted.
It's hard not to notice the point guard's two assists, but many games this season have called for Irving to almost exclusively take on a go-to scorer role with James opting to be the primary ball-handler. Sunday was one of those games, as James had a team-high seven helpers, which only helped to open up things even more for Irving.
From breaking down Celtics guards off the dribble to canning a buzzer-beating three at halftime, Irving put his full scoring arsenal on display en route to a career playoff debut that ranks up there in the franchise's history books, as NBA Stats noted:
While everyone looks to James first, Irving was charged with setting the tone for his teammates with no playoff experience. That's not an easy thing to do when it's also your first-ever playoff game, but from the sounds of their two-time champion teammate, all signs are promising after 48 minutes, per Bleacher Report's Ethan J. Skolnick:
Yes, it's just the Celtics—a team that dealt its best player in a full-blown rebuilding effort this season, only to make the playoffs, finishing two games below .500. But there's no simulation for playoff basketball, which Irving, Kevin Love and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers' playoff newcomers are getting more and more accustomed to by the game.
Irving and his teammates will need to get accustomed quick, as a second-round matchup with the Chicago Bulls—and a supposedly healthy Derrick Rose—looms.
Beno Udrih
Stats: 20 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds
The biggest question mark surrounding the Memphis Grizzlies entering the postseason was the health of point guard Mike Conley, who missed the final four games of the regular season. He answered those questions convincingly with 16 points and by dominating the Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard, but he wasn't alone in calming the Grizzlies fans' worries.
Joining him in the charge was Beno Udrih, who began the postseason with a killer mentality. He scored a team-high 20 points off the bench on 9-of-14 shooting while also tying the team lead in assists (seven) and grabbing seven boards.
This type of performance from the veteran journeyman doesn't come often to say the least, as ESPN Stats and Info uncovered:
With the Trail Blazers struggling as a unit, Lillard played all but nine minutes of the game despite missing 16 of his 21 shots. Much of that was due to Udrih and Conley wearing him down—each played 24 minutes, keying on Portland's primary ball-handler for much of that time.
For all of Udrih's offensive output, that's where his biggest impact came. Lillard wasn't just held in check—he couldn't buy an open look. And if Udrih can have that type of impact on both ends as things move forward, the Grizzlies will be immensely dangerous, as SB Nation's Grizzly Bear Blues' Andrew Ford noted:
It remains to be seen whether Udrih can keep this up for multiple postseason series, much less for the rest of this series. Sunday marked the worst playoff performance of Lillard's young career, and everyone who saw him take down the Houston Rockets last postseason knows he's not going to fold.
But as long as he's going up against two point guards who are rotating minutes and at least matching his level of play, it figures to be a short series tilted in Memphis' favor.
Stats: 26 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals
This is the Blake Griffin who the San Antonio Spurs desperately hoped wouldn't show up this postseason.
After averaging nearly 25 points and 10 boards per game against the Spurs in four playoff-like meetings this regular season, conventional wisdom would suggest a strong series from Griffin against San Antonio. Conventional wisdom was right in Game 1, as he put up 26 points and 12 rebounds while throwing down poster dunk after poster dunk over overmatched Spurs defenders.
The king of modern-day highlight-reel dunks at the rim, Griffin put Aron Baynes on a poster twice in a span of just over four minutes. NBA on TNT couldn't help but frame the sight:
Get an ice pack for your morale, Baynes. That one hurt.
The dunks and alley-oops were great and all, but they paled in comparison to the 43 minutes Griffin played to help mask a ghastly Clippers bench. Despite sitting just five minutes for the entire contest, he rose his game in the fourth quarter as LA got out in transition to bite the Spurs.
Lakers legend Magic Johnson was excited to see the nearby team clicking:
Game 1 proved to be the ideal start for the Clippers to steal this series, something that very few expected them to do entering the postseason. Now comes the nerve-wracking task of trying to repeat that three more times.
The Clippers got the star play from Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan that they needed in Game 1, but how long can it last? Each played at least 38 minutes Sunday, and Griffin's 43 were 10 more than any other Spurs player.
Eventually, the Spurs' balance and fresher bodies may prevail. But if Griffin has a few more performances like Sunday's, that might not be the case after all.
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