NBA Playoff Standings 2015: Latest Postseason Bracket Picture and Records
It took five days, but one NBA playoff series has finally provided some drama. There's often a wide gap between the top and bottom teams in the postseason, and that's been evident through the first two games of most series this season.
With the exception of the San Antonio Spurs-Los Angeles Clippers series, there hasn't been a lot of mystery in the first round. There are individual components getting talked about—Rajon Rondo's status in Dallas is fascinating even though Houston's dominated that series—but not a lot about the actual games.
This isn't unexpected because when you have teams with 55-60 wins during the regular season competing against teams that won 38-45 games, there's a disparity in talent and/or ability. It does get the postseason off to a slow start, so hopefully things can pick up in a hurry.
| Eastern Conference | Series Standing | Western Conference | Series Standing |
| No. 1 Atlanta Hawks vs. No. 8 Brooklyn Nets | Hawks lead, 2-0 | No. 1 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 8 New Orleans Pelicans | Warriors lead, 2-0 |
| No. 4 Toronto Raptors vs. No. 5 Washington Wizards | Wizards lead, 2-0 | No. 4 Portland Trail Blazers vs. No. 5 Memphis Grizzlies | Grizzlies lead, 2-0 |
| No. 3 Chicago Bulls vs. No. 6 Milwaukee Bucks | Bulls lead, 2-0 | No. 3 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 6 San Antonio Spurs | Series tied, 1-1 |
| No. 2 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 7 Boston Celtics | Cavaliers lead, 2-0 | No. 2 Houston Rockets vs. No. 7 Dallas Mavericks | Rockets lead, 2-0 |
Playoff Storylines
The Spurs-Clippers' Heavyweight Battle
Of the eight playoff series, San Antonio vs. Los Angeles feels like a main event showdown worthy of being on this stage. The Clippers used a hot first quarter and Blake Griffin's ridiculous aerodynamics in Game 1 to secure a 107-92 victory.
Tim Duncan continues to defy all laws of aging, dropping 28 points and grabbing 11 rebounds days before turning 39 to help the Spurs even the series in Game 2 with a 111-107 overtime win.
Speaking to reporters after the win, via The Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), Duncan wasn't entirely happy with his performance because he went 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter:
"I was awful," Duncan said. "I missed two or three layups, I made two or three defensive mistakes, got out of position and gave up dunks to DeAndre (Jordan)."
The AP report says Duncan actually apologized to his teammates because of the poor fourth quarter. It was a historic night for the future Hall of Famer, per Michael Scotto of the AP:
As good as Duncan was and as well as the Spurs played, the Clippers blew a golden opportunity up 94-92 with less than 30 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. Here's the full sequence from NBA.com:
Griffin's miscue is a dagger in the heart of Los Angeles. Credit the team for being able to put it behind it quickly enough to keep things interesting in overtime, but Chris Paul is the player worth talking about.
Paul, who is unquestionably one of the best point guards in the NBA, has endured his share of criticism for not winning big in the playoffs. Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times wrote about how this postseason can be a turning point in the 29-year-old's career after what happened last year against Oklahoma City:
"With the series tied at two games apiece and the Clippers holding a two-point lead with 17.8 seconds left in Game 5, Paul bungled three plays as part of his team's seven-point collapse in the final minute.
He made a turnover after jumping into the air, expecting to be fouled but instead having the ball stripped; he fouled Russell Westbrook on a three-point attempt, the resulting free throws giving the Thunder a one-point lead; and he lost the ball with less than a second to play, preventing the Clippers from getting off one last shot.
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Bringing things back to the bungled play in Game 2 against San Antonio, while not directly Paul's fault, he didn't set up the play well. He moved to his right and gave Griffin the ball at the top of the key, hoping the big man would make a play or draw a foul on his own.
There are a lot of times Griffin would come through in a situation like that, but this wasn't one of them. It wound up costing the Clippers a win while giving San Antonio momentum and confidence heading back home for two games.
Time will tell if that one play costs the Clippers more than just one win. They entered the playoffs on a hot streak, winning 14 of their last 15 regular-season games, so there are reasons to be optimistic.
But nothing fazes the Spurs, having won as much as they have since 1999 and riding their own hot streak with 11 straight wins at the end of the regular season before losing to New Orleans in the finale, so giving them a slight opening is enough to unlock the floodgates.
The Enigmatic Derrick Rose
No player seems to change the conversation around his team like Derrick Rose for the Chicago Bulls.
He's not the best talent in the playoffs—LeBron James is still the best player on the planet, Stephen Curry is presumably going to be the MVP, and Anthony Davis is a monster playing on an undermanned team—but Rose's importance to what the Bulls want to do can change the dynamic of that team.
Through two playoff games against Milwaukee, Rose has shown both sides of his game. He scored 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting with seven assists over 27 minutes in Game 1. The 2010-11 MVP struggled early in Game 2, going 0-of-6 with three turnovers in the first half.
Rose did finish well in Game 2, scoring 15 points (all in the second half) with nine assists and seven rebounds, to give the Bulls faith that he can turn things on at the flip of a switch.
Brian Phillips of Grantland summed up Rose's entire frustrating talent with one sequence late in the fourth quarter that wound up sealing Chicago's Game 2 win:
"I don't know if he's on his way back or if this is just his 1,250th false start. But Thibodeau sent him back onto the floor in the fourth, and with 54 seconds left, he sank a 19-foot jumper that definitively ended the Bucks' chances of catching up. He'd stumbled with the ball when he caught it. Then he found his balance, found the range, and trotted away with a little shake of his head.
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There's a mental aspect to Rose's game that no one but him can begin to describe. He is just 26 years old, won his MVP award at the age of 22 and has played a total of 100 regular-season games since 2011-12. The knee injuries have to always be in the back of his mind.
It's easy to say Rose should be fine because he did the rehab, but this is a human being trying to reconcile things that have happened to his body with the player everyone expects him to be.
The Bulls are going to beat Milwaukee whether Rose is at the top of his game or not. There's not enough scoring talent on the Bucks roster for them to keep up in this series. What everyone will be watching for is how Rose looks heading into the presumed second-round series against Cleveland.
If Rose is able to be the player he was in Game 1 more consistently, the Bulls will be difficult to beat. If he's the player who showed up early in Game 2 against Milwaukee, it's hard to see how Chicago gets past a Cleveland team with James and Kyrie Irving as hot as any duo in the playoffs.
The Sleeping Giant
There's a team dominating in the playoffs so far against a terrific opponent that no one is talking about: The Memphis Grizzlies. It's not a surprise there hasn't been much national attention paid to them because they're not a sexy team loaded with superstars and don't play in a major basketball market.
The Grizzlies have taken it to a 51-win Portland team through two games, winning both by at least 14 points, Head coach Dave Joerger's defense has been fantastic thus far, limiting the Trail Blazers to 36 percent shooting (62-of-172).
Just as impressive as the defense, the Grizzlies are using a balanced offensive attack. Five players have scored at least 10 points in each of the two games. Beno Udrih in Game 1 is the only guy to break 20 points for the Grizzlies, so they don't need to have one player take over in order to win.
The Grizzlies have been on the edge of greatness for years, playing in the Western Conference Finals two years ago and taking Oklahoma City to seven games in the first round last year.
Memphis' key to success so far has been shutting down Damian Lillard. The All-Star point guard is shooting 27 percent from the floor through two games. Looking at points above average created (PAAC), via Utah Jazz radio announcer David Locke, the 24-year-old is one of the worst in the postseason:
PAAC examines how a player uses scoring chances compared to the NBA average. Lillard's number shows that he's costing the Trail Blazers more than six points per game with his play thus far.
That speaks to how well the Grizzlies are playing defense. There's nothing sexy about the way Memphis plays, but it's worked to great effect in recent years. The only downside to this team is it would presumably have to play Golden State in the second round.
The Warriors took two out of three games against Memphis during the regular season—though two of the games were decided by seven points or less.
The Grizzlies may not have enough firepower to keep up with Golden State, which ranked first in defensive efficiency and second in offensive efficiency during the regular season (h/t Basketball-Reference.com), but that has the potential to be an instant classic seven-game series.
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