Good morning, there’s no place like the road in the NBA playoffs
Home teams were 1-3 on the first day of the NBA playoffs. That and a whole lot more in Sunday’s NBA newsletter.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
SATURDAY IN ONE LINK: If you want the quickest version of what happened on Saturday, we have you covered with our morning-after feature. We’ll be running this every day over the next couple months.
TODAY: Here’s what Sunday’s schedule looks like.
Mavericks at Spurs, 1 p.m. ET, TNT
Bobcats at Heat, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Wizards at Bulls, 7 p.m. ET, TNT
Blazers at Rockets, 9:30 p.m. ET, TNT
WHAT THE HAWK: The Pacers got smoked by Atlanta in Game 1. Here’s Paul George’s night in two GIFs. Playoff Teague Is Not A Myth. And Kyle Korver blocked Roy Hibbert twice! As the great Lang Whitaker would/did say: #ATLshawty.
ZEBRA GAMES: A consistent issue on Saturday was uneven refereeing. Nowhere was that more apparent than in Clippers-Warriors as both Andre Iguodala and Blake Griffin played only about 20 minutes before eventually fouling out.
When Griffin was booted for No. 6, he took out his frustration on a courtside Warriors fan via a half-filled cup of water. He was coy about the incident in post-game comments. We’ll see how coy Adam Silver is.
The Warriors pulled out the victory as Chris Paul got sloppy in the closing minute. Have you heard that no one in the history of the known universe has ever believed in the Warriors?!?
F--K FONDUE: Toronto was a bit crazed on Saturday. Downtown swarmed with fans, Masai Ujiri screamed “F--k Brooklyn” at a pre-game rally and Drake took to the airwaves to criticize Jay-Z for ... enjoying a nice fondue?
The Nets smacked back with a Game 1 win. #TeamFondue
HOME SWEET HOME: Only one home team -- the Thunder -- won on Saturday. And even they gave up a massive lead before closing it out.
MEANWHILE, IN LAKER LAND ...: A huge, important story on the present and future of the Lakers by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The most stunning news included: Jim Buss has vowed to give up the reins of basketball operations if the Lakers are back contending for the West crown within 3-4 years.
LOVE AND WAR: Interesting angle on the Mark Jackson-Joe Lacob relationship from Ken Berger. (And if you’re keeping track, Jeff Van Gundy did indeed criticize Lacob for not extending Jackson’s contract during the broadcast.)
’I LOVE YOU, MAN’: Via Holly MacKenize, this is an amazing passage in a great Charlotte Observer story on the relationship between Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson: “He [Kemba] looks over at me [Big Al] this time and says, ‘I love you, man.‘ In the middle of the game! I didn’t know what to say. So I just thought, ‘Okaaaay.’ But I said, ‘I love you, too.’ ”
Al would understand if he’d gone through what Kemba did the past two years in Queen City.
Happy Game 1 Sunday. See you next time.
