What We Learned from the First Weekend of the NBA Playoffs

Now that we've seen game one of each playoff series I'm going to analyze the five most important things we can take away from this past weekend:

1. Fitting 66 games in such a condensed period of time was a BAD idea.
The human body is only meant to take so much abuse. This season teams played 66 games over a span of 124 days, which is an average of playing more than every other night. Going into this condensed season everyone thought that older veterans may have trouble making it through the rough schedule, but in reality players of all ages have had a hard time. In the first two games of the postseason we witnessed two players tear their ACLs, ending both of their seasons. Age was not the issue for these two players, seeing as they were the 23 year old reigning  MVP, Derrick Rose, and the 21 year old rookie Iman Shumpert. Rose has been battling various injuries all season resulting in him missing over a third of his team's games. After battling to come back as soon as possible in order to miss the minimum number of games, Rose's body just never had the time to become fully healthy. Shumpert had a relatively healthy season, playing in 59 games this year as a rookie. Yet, on Saturday, his young body finally broke down resulting in this season ending injury while he was simply running down the court. In hindsight it would have been a better idea to either extend the length of the regular season, or cut the number of games down to 48.

2. The Magic have more heart than most of us anticipated.
When it was announced that Dwight Howard would miss the remainder of this season with a herniated disc, the entire basketball world all but wrote off the Magic as destined for an early first round exit from the postseason. However, the Magic came out and made a statement on Saturday, showing a lot of heart in a grind-it-out victory against the Indiana Pacers. The team had stand out performances by Jameer Nelson (17 points and 9 assists) and Jason Richardson (17 points with five 3-pointers). The most impressive performance for them was turned in by Glen 'Big Baby' Davis. Starting for the injured Dwight Howard, Davis logged a team high 40 minutes, scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, to go along with 3 blocks. The defensive intensity displayed by the Magic was even more commendable. Despite playing without the three-time Defensive Player of the Year, the Pacers were only able to score 77 points against the stout defense of the Magic. They may have lost their best player but it is clear they will not just roll over.

3. Kevin Durant is ready for the pressure of no longer being an underdog.
The Oklahoma City Thunder spent most of this season as the first seed in the Western Conference only to be passed by the San Antonio Spurs late in the season. Despite being the two seed they are still considered by many to be the favorites to make it out of the West and into the NBA Finals. The first step for the Thunder is to take down the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks, which is no easy task. After Dirk Nowitzki hit two clutch free throws to give the Mavs a 1 point lead with 9 seconds left, the ball was going to Kevin Durant for the last play and everyone knew it. To that point, Durant had been struggling from the field, making only 9 of his first 26 shots. Despite his struggles, he embraced the pressure of taking the last shot and buried it with only 1.5 seconds remaining to give the Thunder the lead and the win. It takes a great player to come up big with the game on the line, and Durant showed the world that he can handle the pressure.

4. Reggie Evans is still in the NBA.
Who knew!? But in all seriousness the Los Angeles Clippers were all but defeated, trailing by 27 points late in the third quarter. Most people probably already had stopped watching this game, and who could blame them. But for those of us who stuck with it, we got to witness one of the greatest comebacks in postseason history as the Clippers won 99-98. Obviously this was a team effort to complete the comeback, but Reggie Evans was the catalyst. He entered the game with a little over a minute left in the third quarter when the team was down by 25 points. He would stay in the remainder of the game, exerting a seemingly infinite amount of energy at both ends of the court. His passion and energy rubbed off on his teammates, affecting the game much farther than his stat line would suggest. The culmination of his effort was a go ahead lay up with under a minute left to take the lead for the first time in the game. The most telling stat was his plus/minus number of +24, showing how his presence on the floor was extremely helpful for his team. Clearly no matter how large the deficit, you can never count out the Clippers.

5. LeBron James is on a mission and will do whatever it takes to win an NBA Championship.
LeBron James sent a message out to the NBA on Saturday that everyone better watch out because he is more focused and determined than he has been his entire career. He played a phenomenal game as the Miami Heat blew out the New York Knicks 100-67. James had 32 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals, while shooting 10 of 14 from the field. The efficiency of his performance was extremely impressive, but it was his defense that truly got his message across. Carmelo Anthony came into the playoffs as one of the league's hottest players, scoring 29.8 points per game while shooting 49.5% from the field during the month of April. LeBron had the job of guarding 'Melo for a large portion of the game and did so with sheer excellence. 'Melo was never able to get going, only scoring 11 points while shooting a mere 20% from the field. Now, as a Heat fan, I understand there is a long way to go for them to win it all, and I'm not going to overreact to just one game. But if LeBron continues to play with that same intensity, then the NBA better watch out.