NBA playoffs 2017 scores, highlights, and updates: Rockets demolish Thunder, Bulls upset Celtics

Marcus Morris has been in D.C. to cheer on his identical twin brother, Markieff Morris, during the Washington Wizards’ 2017 playoff run.

At least he claims to be Marcus.

You can be mad in so many different ways in the sport of basketball. It’s a sport, and sports are very maddening basically all the time. Maybe your team wins the championship, and you go mad, but it’s a mad world, and this is my attempt to set the record number of times using the word “mad” in a single paragraph.

Fans are mad all the time, but the real treat is when the players get mad. Sometimes, it leads to instant karmic amusement.

Patrick Beverley should be on bedrest for the rest of the week, if he actually felt pain.

That’s the outcome an average human would have after being flattened by a Steven Adams screen early in the third quarter of Game 1 against the Thunder. Beverley might have been better off running head-first into the Great Wall of China than abruptly being introduced to Adams’ shoulder, which is something that usually causes casualties.

With each opening game of the playoffs in tow, the stage has been set for the first round. Now, fans are treated to a delightful duo of No. 2 vs. No. 7 matchups on Monday that will influence the way both series pan out.

Coming up first is an Eastern Conference showdown between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers.

There’s one place you don’t want to be if you’re not a confident perimeter defender, and that’s on an island with James Harden.

Enes Kanter took a first-class trip to that destination and got left behind after The Beard put a vicious set of moves on the Thunder big man on Sunday.

Patrick Beverley got absolutely rocked on this screen. There is really no other way to put it. Steven Adams set a screen that any professional football player would be proud of.

The aftermath was brutal. (Patrick Beverley is okay)

Typically, the No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup in the playoffs is the easiest to call. It’s ostensibly a David vs. Goliath showdown, one which Goliath traditionally wins the majority of the time.

But if we learned anything on Sunday night as the Chicago Bulls downed the Boston Celtics, 106-102, in a paschal Game 1, it was that this first-round series isn’t at all a lock for the Celtics.

It’s been a tough two days for Isaiah Thomas. He lost his 22-year-old sister, Chyna Thomas, in a car accident on Saturday and had to turn around and play in the Celtics’ first playoff game on Sunday. Thomas got a warm reception from Boston before the game, full of support and love.

To start the game, he set up Avery Bradley for a three-pointer on the break. The next play down, he set up Bradley again but the shooting guard bobbled the pass and got it back to Thomas. Thomas instantly launched a 26-footer and when it went in, the city of Boston went crazy.

On Saturday, it was reported Isaiah Thomas’ sister, Chyna Thomas, passed away after a car accident in their home state of Washington. The All-Star guard insisted on playing in Game 1 of Celtics’ first-round matchup against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.

He was welcomed onto the court by an emotional TD Garden crowd.

Eat like the French, drink like the British, and play basketball like C.J. McCollum, because he’s unbelievably good at this sport. The Portland Trail Blazers’ costar rattled off 27 points in the first half in a blistering performance, keeping Portland with the Golden State Warriors step for step in the two team’s first 24 minutes of postseason play and leaving the game tied at 56 at halftime.

He then followed it up with 14 more in the second half. Though the Warriors shut he and Damian Lillard down in the fourth quarter to win, 121-109, the Blazers’ dynamic duo announced that they’ll be a threat in this series. The two combined for 75 of Portland’s 109 points.

What more could Draymond Green have done on Sunday?

There’s actually an easy answer to that. With 6:52 left in the fourth quarter, Green stole the ball, sprinted with it down court in traffic, and rose up for a vicious one-handed tomahawk slam ... that bounced off the back iron and into the Trail Blazers’ hand. There’s a flaw from Green’s performance in the 121-109 Game 1 win against Portland. It might have been the only one.

The Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers played a heck of an opening playoff game for a first-round matchup between the No. 1 and No. 8 seeds.

Many had the Warriors sweeping.

Klay Thompson’s horrible turnover turned into one of the best blocks of Draymond Green’s career, and there have been a lot of good ones.

Damian Lillard found Noah Vonleh on a 2-on-1 that would’ve been an easy score against almost anyone else.

John Wall’s third quarter was a tour de force that made something clear: we are watching a master of his craft. In a 114-107 win, Wall steadily and methodically picked apart Atlanta’s defense, including one stretch where he scored or assisted on 19 of the Washington Wizards’ 20 points. It was a full, loaded display that blended excellence with flair and creativity, and it left anyone watching shaking their head.

Washington led most of the game, even though Atlanta never let them pull away. But the Hawks couldn’t find anyone that could bother Wall. He finished with 32 points and 14 assists on 12-of-24 shooting, breaking down Atlanta’s defense repeatedly with a feathery touch. Take this pass, for example.

Marcin Gortat slammed a dunk right in Paul Millsap’s face in the final minutes of the Washington Wizards’ first playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks.

Millsap is a big, strong man, but he looked like a mere bug in the way on this one.

John Wall is a legitimate flamethrower from everywhere, doing everything on the court in the Washington Wizards’ opening playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks.

Through three quarters he scored 28 points and dished 11 assists, and none came in forgettable fashion.

Tim Hardaway Jr. ended the third quarter with a disgusting poster dunk after the Washington Wizards gave him a lane to drive. Whew lawd this man ain’t messing around.

I was watching this play develop, and I kept waiting for Hardaway Jr. to shoot a jumper. Then we realized he had a lane, so I was waiting for a floater. Then out of nowhere, Hardaway Jr. got all the way to the rim and banged out right over Bogdanovic.

John Wall is putting on a show against the Atlanta Hawks, and Markieff Morris is helping provide him the tools to do it. For example, this alley-oop lobbed right over the defense with the shot clock ticking down, that Morris spiked right on Paul Millsap’s head.

On the previous possession, the two connected for a bucket, as well.

Markieff Morris made a weird scramble for a loose ball even weirder in the opening half of the Washington Wizards-Atlanta Hawks playoff game.

Paul Millsap dove for the ball and had possession before Morris joined the scramble. The Wizards forward then sort of collapsed on top of him and tried to grab the ball from behind his back.

The NBA playoffs are made for Stephen Curry three-pointers, LeBron James no-look passes, Giannis Antetokounmpo dunks, and John Wall chasedown blocks.

If you haven’t been watching much of the Washington Wizards, you’ll now learn that swatting shots from behind has become a staple of Wall’s game.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the biggest stars in the NBA, who also happens to have a long Greek surname to pronounce. There’s a well-documented history of people trying to say “Antetokounmpo” and not getting it quite right, despite the Greek Freak being in the league for a while now.

On Sunday, Charles Barkley tried to say Antetokounmpo’s name while praising him, and he sounded so confident about it. He told his co-hosts he was working on pronouncing it correctly “all night.”

Saturday gave us several thrilling playoff games. On Sunday, however, the No. 1 seeds in both conferences kick off their postseason, while the MVP duel that everyone wants to watch also begins.

The slate of games starts with Washington vs. Atlanta before moving onto the 67-win Warriors. With 140 (!) regular season wins the previous two seasons, Golden State has completed the most ever wins during a three season stretch, topping Michael Jordan’s late 90s Bulls. You would imagine they will have little trouble up against Portland, a team that finished the season strong but didn’t even finish the season over .500. (They ended the year at 41-41.)