2017 NBA Playoffs: Cavaliers survive late Pacers run, Bucks demolish Raptors, Spurs clobber Grizzlies

Hello. Here is a photo of Giannis Antetokounmpo holding onto the rim and touching the ground at the same time:

I tried to find Antetokounmpo’s standing reach, but it doesn’t appear that the information is online. Even if it were, Antetokounmpo has grown at least two inches since entering the league, and those measurements wouldn’t even be correct.

Jazz center Rudy Gobert went down with a knee injury just 11 seconds into Utah’s Game 1 matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night. During the game, Gobert was taken offsite for an MRI and according to Yahoo! Sports Shams Charania, Gobert suffered a hyperextended left knee with a bone bruise.

Gobert banged knees with Luc Mbah a Moute as Gordon Hayward came around an off-ball screen on the Jazz’s first possession. He was unable to get to his feet under his own power and was carried to the locker room by multiple teammates.

This game should have never been in reach for the Utah Jazz. Within the first 20 seconds of the game, they lost their centerpiece and defensive anchor in Rudy Gobert. They watched their star, unable to put weight on his leg, be carried off the court after suffering a knee injury. The Jazz could have folded. They could have quit. Instead, they stole Game 1 on the road against the Clippers.

The Jazz fought and battled with the Clippers all game long and led by four points heading in the fourth quarter. They then went up went up 79-72 with 9:56 left in the 4th quarter causing the Clippers to call a timeout as the Jazz looked like they were about to pull away. Chris Paul went on a scoring fury, scoring 10 straight points for the Clippers but the Jazz held off every single the Clippers tried to make.

Marc Gasol picked apart the San Antonio Spurs for 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting in the Grizzlies’ Game 1 loss on Saturday night. He scored 25 points in the first half, setting a franchise record for most points scored in a half, and set his own playoff career-high in the process.

The problem? No other Memphis players stepped up as the Spurs extended a three-point halftime lead to a 29-point victory.

The Kawhi Leonard experience continues to be absolutely stunning. His defense has always been special, but now his offense is coming into a league of its own. The Spurs found themselves in a hole early as the Grizzlies jumped out to a 22-9 lead and led 30-25 after the first quarter. But as you would expect, the Spurs responded in the second and third quarters, to take a 84-64 lead thanks to a Kawhi Leonard takeover that would put the Spurs ahead for good.

The third quarter belonged to Leonard as he scored 15 points, the same amount as the Grizzlies team scored in the entire quarter. When the third quarter ended, he had 32 points on 14 shots, which tied a playoff career high.

There are many good and smart reasons that you can think of for why the Toronto Raptors will beat the Milwaukee Bucks. There’s one reason to think they won’t, and that one exhibited itself in the Bucks’ 97-83 Game 1 win: they don’t have the best player on the floor.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was incredible on both ends of the floor as Milwaukee stole Saturday’s game on Toronto’s home floor. Let his stat line do the talking: 28 points on 13-of-18 shooting, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one emphatic block.

For 29 teams, Lance Stephenson is just Lance Stephenson — a below-average ball handling guard who can’t really shoot and doesn’t do enough to make up for it. In an Indiana uniform, though, something special happens. Lance Stephenson becomes Born Ready.

The Pacers lost Game 1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, but it was close — a 109-108 loss that came down to a final missed shot at the buzzer. For a minute, though, it looked like Cleveland was pulling away. At the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers led by eight, and they immediately expanded that lead to 10 points by making the first shot of the fourth quarter.

It was a rough Saturday evening for the Indiana Pacers, who lost Game 1 by a single point to the Cleveland Cavaliers after CJ Miles blew a potential game-winning shot.

But you have to feel particularly bad for Jeff Teague, who the Cavaliers consistently targeted and abused on defense — leading to a myriad of easy buckets for LeBron James and Kevin Love.

The Utah Jazz will play their first playoff game in five years on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers in California. A win would be their first in the playoffs since 2010.

Both teams couldn’t be trending in more opposite directions. For the Jazz, this is just the beginning, behind an all-star in 27-year-old Gordon Hayward and defensive phenom in 24-year-old Rudy Gobert.