Throughout the NBA play-offs, The National's resident NBA dudes Jonathan Raymond and Kevin Jeffers will be breaking down the key talking points of the night before. Below, the takeaways from the first night of the 2016 post-season:
• Read more: 2016 NBA Play-offs – Previews and predictions, plus schedule in UAE time
Saturday, April 16 scores:
Toronto Raptors 90-100 Indiana Pacers (Pacers 1-0)
Golden State Warriors 104-78 Houston Rockets (Warriors 1-0)
Atlanta Hawks 102-101 Boston Celtics (Hawks 1-0)
Oklahoma City Tunder 108-70 Dallas Mavericks (Thunder 1-0)
Stephen Curry’s ankle will be the most talked-about body part of the play-offs
• It seems like a lifetime ago. In many ways, it seems like it never even happened, like the Stephen Curry we know today – the visionary-passing, feverish-ball-handling, angelic-shooting whirling dervish assassin – simply emerged fully-formed out of the basketball ether when he ascended to superstardom a couple seasons back.
But before this Curry, there was merely the pretty-good Curry, who shot fewer threes, didn’t go to the rim as confidently, created fewer opportunities and whose defence was so suspect it brought into genuine question his long-term viability as an NBA starter.
And that Curry, before he could become this Curry, also had to answer the question of whether there would be a Curry in the NBA at all.
The ankle injuries, and surgeries, that sapped the eventual MVP’s 2011/12 season, at age 23 his third in the league, are easy to forget about now. Easy to forget that before Stephen Curry was master of the basketball universe, he was a frustrated kid telling his trainer: “I feel like I’ve been doing nothing but rehabbing for two years. I feel like I’m never going to be able to play again.”
We can thank Dr Richard Ferkel, Brandon Payne and Keke Lyles for that.
But it still always lingers, quietly in the background, and every now and then – like on Saturday night – we are ominously reminded of it.
Curry is almost certainly fine. He even tried to come back in against Houston; coach Steve Kerr refused him, and may keep him out of Game 2. Still, it’s a reminder. A reminder that Curry’s potential Achilles heel is always lurking there, inside his ankle. And a reminder that any foregone coronation could have an unforeseen kink looming.
It still helps to be able to go old school
• All season, the Warriors and Spurs have been showing us that ball-movement and three-point shooting – pace and space – are the engine to a modern offence. Screwing around with inefficient mid-range jumpers and plodding isolation plays is dinosaur basketball.
And then we are reminded not every team in the NBA can be the Warriors and Spurs. And that it still helps to be able to get points out of mid-range and isolation offence if it’s what players can effectively do.
As the Raptors’ attack ground to a halt in the final five minutes in their opener against the Pacers, there was Paul George, sinking a step-back 17-footer, dishing off inside for a couple easy buckets, hitting a contested jumper from the top of the key. And suddenly what was a one-point nail-biter looked more like a one-sided snooze.
The Pacers had George as a trump card. George, whose game is smooth, simple and straight out of 1996. Don’t say it doesn’t have a place in the modern NBA.
The West is a series of mismatches
• Even with Curry missing a full half, the Rockets were dismantled by Golden State. The team that went to the Western Conference Finals last year is long gone. Houston looked like they lack cohesion, desire and anything resembling a gameplan. Whether they’re not even trying or just plain bad, it doesn’t really make a difference. They’re toast.
Similarly, the Mavericks are overmatched with the Thunder. Rick Carlisle has done a fantastic job keeping that team together this season, and making what they could of what is probably Dirk Nowitzki’s final year, but there just isn’t enough there.
If either of these series, and with them the Spurs-Grizzlies pairing, is anything less than a four-game sweep, it would count as a massive shock.
The East, however, will be fun
• The Celtics and Hawks looked coming into their series like they would be pretty evenly matched, and they delivered. Both play well-rounded, distinct, entertaining styles of basketball, and this series might very well be the most rewarding to watch in the first round. It could go seven games.
Meanwhile, old ghosts are already haunting the Raptors. Their crumbling was cringe-worthy, and it seems all the mentality questions hovering around a team who have disappointedly exited in the first round each of the past two seasons remain.
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