We are underaway with the NBA Playoffs after a thrilling weekend of hoops. For the most part, the games were pretty good. After a rough start last season, it appears we have a few series going long already with the results in the Toronto-Milwaukee, Los Angeles-Utah and Boston-Chicago. other look reasonable, and it appears we are going to have a good first round compared to what happened last season where it was pretty nothing down the stretch.

Utah 97 Los Angeles 95 – Playoff Joe beats buzzer while Jazz lose Gobert: What a win for Utah Jazz. A young team trying to make a name for themselves beats the seasoned Clippers on the road at the buzzer getting a complete throwback game from Joe Johnson. They could be without Rudy Gobert for the rest of the series, and if they are, it changes things quite a bit. Jazz does have some confidence now playing without him.

Cleveland 109 Indiana 108 – Cavs can’t escape bad defense: Pretty simple, Cleveland Cavaliers are really bad defensive team. I’m not sure if anything is going to fix it really. LeBron James couldn’t shut down Paul George who went off again versus Cavs. Cleveland let Indiana sneak back into this game late which didn’t happen with Cleveland last season.

Chicago 106 Boston 102 – Bulls aren’t going quietly into the night: Chicago Bulls might need to be euthanized to get rid of in the postseason after they fought to get here, they win Game 1 versus Boston with a tough effort led by Jimmy Butler and Bobby Portis. Butler shut down Isaiah Thomas in the fourth quarter to propel this team to victory. Jae Crowder needs to be better for Boston.

Golden State 121 Portland 109 – CJ and Dame’s big day doesn’t phase Warriors: Imagine this for Blazers, CJ McCollum had 41 points and Damian Lillard had 27 points yet they still lost by double figures to Golden State… Ouch. Warriors received a hell of an effort inside from Draymond Green with a near triple-double plus tough defense against their young big men. Golden State looks poised to make a deep run and afraid of no one.

Houston 118 Oklahoma City 87 – Harden’s big night leads to ass kicking: Dominating performance by Houston Rockets causing me to buy stock in them yet again. What an impressive night for James Harden who had 37 points, seven rebounds and nine assists in a victory over MVP foe Russell Westbrook. Harden put up 37 with only making 9 from three which is significant seeing how Golden State guarded him late this year.

Washington 114 Atlanta 107 – John Wall is superhuman: Much will be made about Giannis this weekend, and for good reason, but holy shit, what a performance by John Wall. He went off for 28 points and 14 assists in Game 1 versus Atlanta. This was my fear for Hawks that Dennis Schroder would be completely lost covering Wall leading to him having big games against this team.

San Antonio 111 Memphis 82 – Different year, same results for Spurs-Grizzlies: What a dominating performance by Spurs after a slow start where they were down to begin the second quarter. San Antonio would bounce back in a major way and before you knew it, they led by 20+. Kawhi Leonard was impossible to guard with 32 points leading the way. Memphis is in big trouble.

Round 1 continues tonight with Indiana-Cleveland and Memphis-San Antonio