NBA playoffs, Day 1: Thunder only team to protect home court

“It ain’t like it’s rocket science or nothing,” DeRozan said. “Everybody keeps talking to me like, bringing it up like it’s rocket science or I’ve got to know trigonometry or something. You just figure it out. You just go out there. I’ve been playing this game long enough, I’ve been in the league long enough, been in a lot of situations. So it shouldn’t be hard.”

That didn’t stop the questions from coming -- what about adjusting to the officiating, the physicality?

Home court advantage meant little on the NBA playoffs’ first day. Three home favorites went down, most notably the Pacers, who continued their slide by falling to the 38-44 Atlanta Hawks.

Durant and Westbrook combined for 35 points through the first half and propelled the Thunder to a huge lead going into halftime. The Grizzlies defense turned the game around in the third quarter, though, holding the Thunder to 18 percent shooting and forcing five turnovers.

Oklahoma City was the only team to win at home through the first day of playoff basketball. The Thunder host Game 2 Monday.

George still finished with a team-high 24 points, thanks to a 9-for-12 performance from the free-throw line. Lance Stephenson added 16 points, but their third-quarter drought was too much to overcome.

Game 2 is Tuesday night in Indiana as the Pacers attempt to tie the series before heading to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4.

It’s been a rough night for Paul George and the Pacers. How rough?

That rough.

Cross, gather, boom.

Is this really necessary, Coach? Take the W and celebrate. Save some strawmen for when the Warriors drop a game. You might need them then.

In the third quarter, stuff got real. There was a stretch from 8:11 left to 5:01 left where neither team missed a shot in 11 attempts as the score jumped from 61-61 to 73-73. The teams continued to trade baskets on both the inside and outside, as David Lee got going and Griffin finally found the rhythm of the game.

As the quarter wound down -- and Griffin picked up his fifth foul on a nonsense call -- the Warriors began pulling away. The Dubs made 14 of 20 shots in the quarter and led by eight points entering the final period, despite Andre Iguodala being largely planted on the bench with five fouls.

Blake Griffin got knocked out of Clippers-Warriors with his sixth foul, but his day wasn’t quite over. He still had one thing left:

Alternate angle:

Glen Davis was called for a foul with 0.2 seconds left in the first half. That’s bad, and whether he agrees with the call or not (he doesn’t), he’s pretty broken up about it.

It didn’t take long.

That’s the end of the first quarter, and that’s a half-court buzzer-beater. Playoffs!

The Brooklyn Nets got huge performances from their veterans and took a 1-0 series lead over the Toronto Raptors Saturday afternoon with a 94-87 win.

Before the game, the crowd in Toronto was pretty mindblowing considering it’s a first-round playoff game, and Raptors GM Masai Ujiri got them fired up with some good, ol’-fashioned profanity.

First of all, what’s wrong with eating fondue? Fondue is great. If I could afford to eat fondue while I watched a team I used to part-own on TV, I’d do that. Second of all, you don’t eat fondue off a plate. It’s usually in a pot. STEP YOUR BEEF GAME UP, DRAKE.

(via Alex Kennedy)

A power malfunction has shorted the shot clocks in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, and backup shot clocks weren’t working fast enough, so this is how the shot clock will be handled for the foreseeable future.

The PA announcer, on the right there, is calling out the seconds at 24, 10, and count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. At the of the 24 second clock, he yells “horn”. HORN:

Thousands of Raptors fans are hyped over their team hosting a playoff series for the first time since 2008, and so is Toronto GM Masai Ujiri:

Yup, that’s an NBA executive screaming “FUCK BROOKLYN!” in front of thousands of screaming fans, then ... well, not dropping the mic, but handing it off. WELCOME BACK, NBA PLAYOFFS.

There are 5.5 million people in Toronto and a heck of a lot more in Ontario. We’re not saying all of them are in the streets, but holy smokes are there a lot of people.

TV schedule: ESPN, 9:30 p.m. ET

Announcing crew: Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown and Heather Cox

The Toronto Sun responded to Brooklyn’s tanking strategic positioning efforts.

TV Schedule: ESPN, 12:30 p.m. ET

They split the season series and they beat the Pacers by 19 points in Indianapolis under a month ago. Atlanta may not beat the Pacers in a seven-game series, but they could steal a game or two.

Game 1 tips off Saturday, here’s how you can watch it:

So, yeah, this series will be chippy, fast paced and a total whirlwind. This is a fun, star-studded series even without the animosity. Stephen Curry is a human heartbreaker and Chris Paul has been the league’s best point guard for a half decade. The Warriors not having Andrew Bogut is a bummer, but this is still a must-watch series.

Game 1 tips off on Saturday. This is how you can watch it.

We expect some sass from the New York tabloids. But the Toronto Sun is representing, too.

Because they are old, get it?