NBA playoffs schedule and results: Clippers win without Chris Paul, Bulls outlast Cavs

When Hedo Turkoglu sprained his ankle against the San Antonio Spurs, Doc Rivers joked that he wasn’t aware that a guy that slow could sprain his ankle. Turkoglu has been averaging 0.6 points in 4.6 minutes during the playoffs. He met his playoffs standard in less than half the time in the Clippers’ 117-101 Game 1 win over Houston.

That’s the most damning indictment of the Rockets’ dreadful performance. A player who runs as if he’s jokingly reenacting the effects of slow motion and inexplicably wears a hideous white shirt under his jersey had one of his “good” games against them. He wasn’t the only one. Chris Paul’s injury forced the Clippers to give their horrible bench extra minutes, and they still blew Houston off its own floor.

The Clippers aren’t playing too well without Chris Paul in Game 1. To make matters worse, it’s happening on May 4. You know what that means:

[Darth Vader Blake Griffin voice] NOOOOOOOOO.

Yeah, that’s not how you do it.

Anyone expecting a blowout between these evenly matched teams was dreaming. The Cavaliers once again came back thanks to James and Irving as the Bulls’ offense stagnated. However, as was the case the entire game, Cleveland got close but never took the lead. Chicago remained calm during the times of adversity and got a valuable Game 1 win.

Rose was aggressive from the start. He looked for his shot inside but had no problem taking what the defense gave him, knocking down mid-range jumpers when the big man dropped to the paint after a ball screen. Even the three ball was falling for him, which makes him almost impossible to guard. Rose has been great when he’s rested all season long and the trend continued on Monday.

Derrick Rose exited the Bulls’ Game 1 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night after suffering an apparent right arm injury in the final seconds of the game. Rose appeared to be in pain coming off the floor but never headed to the locker room. Rose looked to be in high spirits after the game and said it was “just a stinger”.

Here’s a look at the play:

Please keep in mind: Chris Webber made the following comments after someone missed a field goal:

It’s true, though. He does love basketball. Basketball is fun!

After missing six minutes of game time following the initial injury, Paul returned to the game, only to further tweak the hamstring in the third quarter. However, he quickly returned to the court and played 37 minutes in total. Paul finished with 28 points and six assists and his acrobatic shot with one second remaining turned out to be the game-winner.

In the Clippers’ first round series against the Spurs, Paul averaged 22.7 points, 7.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 39.7 minutes per game. With him on the court the Clippers scored 115.1 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.

HOW did Kyrie Irving pull this off? Shouldn’t he have used his other hand? Did he really scoot around Jimmy Butler that easily? Irving is on fire in the first half, keeping the Cavs in it by himself. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Here’s how to watch Monday:

Time: 7 p.m. ET