NBA playoff scores 2017: Cavaliers are first team to advance to Round 2

NBA Playoff Sunday gave us four great games as we head into week two of the posteason. The Cavaliers sent the Pacers fishing, the Rockets took a commanding 3-1 lead, and both the Celtics and Jazz tied up their series. Here is what went down on Sunday.

LeBron James has now won 21 straight first round playoff games. The man rarely loses and he definitely does not lose in the first round.

The King is now 12-0 in his career in first-round series and won each of his last 21 first-round games, dating back to his four straight trips to the NBA Finals with the Miami Heat. All-time, James is 48-7 in the opening round of the postseason and has swept his opponent seven of his 12 trips to the playoffs.

For a Pacers team that was as strange as they were all season, they played the Cavaliers fairly well in the series. In fact, after four straight Cavalier wins, the deficit of the entire series was still only 16 points. The problem was, they were playing against LeBron James.

But, the defending world champs took care of business and now it could be a week before they have to play again. They’ll face the winner of Raptors-Bucks which will at least have two more games. Good day all around for the Cavaliers.

The Thunder badly needed a win on Sunday but yet when it came down to it, they let the Rockets erase a second half deficit and come away with a win. This was Game 2 all of over again.

In all, the Thunder held a 14-point third-quarter lead. That advantage evaporated when Westbrook went to the bench. Oklahoma City outscored Houston by 14 points with its MVP front-runner on the floor. When he exited the game, the Rockets erased that lead wholly.

The main reason of the collapse was also a hot topic in the post game press conference. When Steven Adams was asked about the team’s struggles, Russell Westbrook interjected saying that it was the entire team, not just one player out there.

I don’t wan’t nobody to try to split us up, we all one team. Regardless if I go to the bench, if Steven is on the floor, if I’m off the floor, we in this together. Don’t split us up. Don’t try to split us up, make us go against each other.

Either way, the Thunder are now down 3-1 and are headed to Game 5 in Houston. They need to figure out something or their season will be over soon.

The Bulls went into Boston and won the first two games of this series. Then the Celtics went to Chicago and won the next two. So now this No. 1 vs. No. 8 seed matchup is all tied up and will be a best-of-three series moving forward. Two of those three games are in Boston but at this point, no home team has won a game. Paul Flannery nailed it in his Sunday Shootaround:

This is a series where one can say with a straight face that an injury to Rajon Rondo changed its entire complexion. It’s a series where Gerald Green can start a must-win game. If we are living in basketball’s age of reason, this series has been a satire worthy of Swift.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Boston.

The Utah Jazz got back Rudy Gobert on Sunday, but they were without Gordon Hayward who was suffering from food poisoning. So who stepped up? None other than Joe Johnson. He finished the night with 28 points, 13 of those coming in fourth quarter.

While Johnson was big late, there were several role players who stepped up big in the absence of Gordon Hayward. Rodney Hood finished with 18 points, Derrick Favors with 17, and George Hill with 13. Rudy Gobert finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds in his return.

Game 5 will be Tuesday in Los Angeles

Cavaliers 106, Pacers 102 (Fear the Sword recap | Indy Cornrows recap)

Rockets 113, Thunder 109 (The Dreamshake recap | Welcome to Loud City recap)

Celtics 104, Bulls 95 (Celtics blog recap | Blog A Bull recap)

Jazz 105, Clippers 98 (SLC Dunk recap | Clips Nation recap)