NBA Playoffs Off To Interesting Start

by terah on 18. Apr, 2011 in Featured

Only just three days in, the 2011 NBA playoffs are shaping up as the most intriguing in years.

With potential first round upsets lurking from the Grizzlies, Hornets, and the Hawks.

Teams that were expected to be easy first round wins are not going down without a fight.

“I’ve been saying all along, just get us to the playoffs,” said New Orleans guard Chris Paul, who led the Hornets to a shocking Game 1 upset of the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. Paul said: “Just get us to the playoffs, and we’ve got a chance.”

The “underdogs” are giving NBA fanatics a run for their money.

Memphis stole the win from top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the series opener at San Antonio. One of the league’s most perplexing teams, Atlanta, beat up Orlando even with a top notch performance by Dwight Howard.

The Knicks, ready to send Boston home from the playoffs early, gave the Celtics a run for their money in Sunday night’s game, but lost by 2 (87-85) in game 1. The Knicks may have to play without Billups, who hurt his knee late in game one.

Chicago the No. 1 seed in the East, has a 2-0 lead on the Celtics in the first round. Derrick Rose, the MVP in waiting, said after the Bulls struggled to another close win over Indiana on Monday night: “We knew it was going to be tough”… “They’re a good team. They finished the regular season strong. I’m just happy we won.”

The Pacers got started late with a 10-point lead in Game 1, but Rose led the Bulls on a closing 16-1 run. In Game 2 on Monday Rose scored 36 points squeezing out a win 96 to 90 over the Pacers. That is twice, in as many games, that the Bulls, and Rose, have had to come back and win.

Los Angeles Lakers’ regular season losing streak followed them right into the playoffs, losing Game 1 against the Hornets in Los Angeles on Sunday jeopardizing a third straight title.

We have to change our disposition as a team,” Lakers forward Lamar Odom said on their day off. “We have to get a different energy.”

The only series going as predicted is Heat vs 76ers. Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh took Miami Heat to a 2-0 series with their second win over Philadelphia on Monday Night.

History strongly favors the higher-seeded teams but this years’ front running teams are struggling to the lower seeded scrappy teams in this first series.

Over the past 30 years, only five teams seeded lower that third have made it to the NBA finals, and only one champion qualified as a genuine surprise: No. 6 Houston, which strung together four straight upsets in 1995.