The NBA postseason is finally here, and it was a wild first weekend. 

After Sunday night, all 16 teams had competed in their series opener. A couple of upsets took place — Chicago over Boston and Milwaukee over Toronto; some nail-biters happened in Cleveland and Los Angeles which was nice, and San Antonio, Houston and Golden State all won their first meetings with relative ease.

Since so much happened, there’s a lot to take in, and I’m here to help you sort through it all.

Kyle Lowry Still Struggles In The Playoffs

Last spring, the Raptors’ bulldog made just 131 of his 330 field goal attempts, and that trend continued against the Bucks on Saturday. Toronto lost 97-83 to a Milwaukee squad that played exceptionally well, but, if Lowry had shown up, the game would’ve been much closer and Toronto might’ve even pulled out the victory.

Also Read: The Burning Question For Each Eastern Conference Playoff Team

Lowry can’t get blamed for the loss entirely, but he didn’t play to the All-Star level that we all know he’s capable. In 34 minutes, he totaled just four (4!) points on 2-of-11 shooting. On top of that, he was a ghastly minus-22 and didn’t do much else to help his team aside from handing out six dimes.

The most disheartening part is that his aggression was noticeably missing, and the same player who averaged 6.1 attempts from the foul line during the regular season missed his only attempt on Saturday. As great as Toronto’s been this year, their playoff success is contingent on DeRozan and Lowry playing well, and Milwaukee’s team is too lethal for either of them to slip up.

John Wall Is The East’s Best Player Not Named LeBron James

All season long, the debate of the East’s best point guard was on-going. As of Monday morning, it’s John Wall. It’s not a wide margin, but the way he manipulated the Hawks during their first meeting was a joy to watch, and he was feeding off the D.C. crowd like a toddler who finally moved on from baby food.

The game as a whole was a joy to watch, and Atlanta did a great job weathering the storm and made the contest close in the fourth. Unfortunately, the third quarter was all that was needed. Wall had 15 of his 32 in the third, handed out four assists just for good measure and cooked Kent Bazemore a few times just for style points.

Per Basketball Reference, Wall became just the second Wizard since 1984 to finish a playoff game with at least 30 points and 10 assists, joining Gilbert Arenas who did it back in 2006.

The East Is LeBron’s Until Proven Otherwise (Oh, And Paul George Is Pretty Good)

Since 1984, 45 players have had a 30-point, 10-assist games in the playoffs. Of them, only 10 were forwards or centers and LeBron (13) now has more than the other nine combined (12). In 43 minutes of action, James torched the Pacers for 32 points, 13 dimes and six assists as the Cavaliers squeaked by Indiana 109-108.

Jeff Teague, Lance Stephenson and George were all called on to stop James and they flat couldn’t. He finished 12-of-20 from the field, but a lack of help outside of Kyrie Irving kept the game a lot closer than it should’ve been. On the flip side, George went shot-for-shot with James.

All of Indiana’s lethality starts with PG, and he finished with 29 points and seven assists on a modest 9-of-19 from the floor. He made the right play time and time again, even if he believed he should’ve taken the last shot over C.J. Miles.

C.J. McCollum And Draymond Green Are Much Better Than We Thought

With Golden State and Portland going head-to-head, the spotlight immediately shined on Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry. After the first game, it moved. McCollum and Green were undoubtedly the two best players out there on Sunday.

The game was closer than the 121-109 score shows, and it took one of the Warriors’ patented runs to separate the two. McCollum’s 27 first half points contributed significantly to the 56-56 halftime tie, but quarters three and four belonged to Green. He dropped 12 of his 19 points in the second half and had two grossly disrespectful rejections on Lillard and Noah Vonleh.

Those were just half of his four rejections, and I can’t leave out the five boards, three assists and two steals in he had in the second half.

The MVP Vote Needs To Include The Playoffs

If they handed out the hardware before the playoffs, this would be different. Instead, the NBA is waiting until late June to give Russell Westbrook or James Harden their trophy.

It’s just one game. However, this small sample size might be indicative of the series. If that’s the case, and Westbrook is named the MVP, he’s not going to look deserving.

Also Read: James Harden Is The NBA MVP

I get that the award represents the regular season only, but we don’t judge greatness that way. Performance in the playoffs is what matters, and Harden drastically outplayed Westbrook in the series opener. Houston whipped the tails off Oklahoma City 118-87, a beating far worse than anytime they met beforehand.

The Beard totaled 37 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and had just two turnovers while shooting 13-of-28 from the field. Westbrook had 22 points, 11 boards, seven helpers, nine turnovers and was just 6-of-23 shooting. We still have at least three more games, and I hope — as a fan of both players — that it doesn’t continue this way.

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