Game Ones

Every single one of them was awesome this weekend. I've always loved the first round of the playoffs in theory, because you finally get to see good teams that you hardly get to see on TNT, ESPN, or ABC (which doesn't care about any game that's not Lakers vs. Heat, or Celtics vs. Heat, or Lakers vs. Celtics). Then again, the first round series usually feature superpowers, like the Magic, beating sub-.500 playoff teams so bad that you wish the first-round was still following the best-of-five format. But through all of the game ones this weekend, there have been no superpowers, just a lot of good, evenly-matched basketball teams. Here's a quick, somewhat biased, recap of all the game ones (in order of appearance):

Indiana 99 - Chicago 104: Tyler Hansbrough may or may not be the Pacers' best player. I mean, after getting an eyeful of KURT THOMAS'S ELBOW, he walked off (what I'm pretty sure was) a minor concussion (though I have no credentials which qualify me to make that statement). But Derrick Rose.

Philadelphia 89 - Miami 97: During the game, I forgot Chris Bosh played for the Heat, despite him putting up a double-double and leading the Heat in scoring. Thaddeus Young was rampant. The 76ers played well (for the 76ers) and could've won that game, but didn't for the same reason—whatever it is—that they lost half of their games this season.

Atlanta 103 - Orlando 93: Atlanta played the best tactical game of the playoffs so far on both offense and defense. They let Dwight Howard fall in love with himself in the first half by not double-teaming him, so that they could instead shut down the other four positions. Howard set selfish screens all night—him rolling to the basket before his teammate rubbed off. The Hawks' offensive routes were disciplined and well-timed. They got (and usually made) whatever shot they wanted. Kirk Hinrich—defensive stopper.

Portland 81 - Dallas 89: Nowitzki looked like a fool all night. He was getting all huffy, because he couldn't make any shots. Somehow he was deemed the Mavericks' game one hero. Thirteen-for-thirteen at the line makes him the biggest beneficiary of the NBA's sissified foul-calling policies. Jason Kidd lit it up. Man, he's old. The Blazers blew it. Gerald Wallace played Dirk well, but also played like a Bobcat on offense.  Dallas seems like a hard town to win in, with Mark Cuban weirding everybody out on the sidelines with his caring too much.

Memphis 101 - San Antonio 98: Sunday ended with Marc looking like the least soft Gasol, despite that he's one of those centers who lays the ball up off the glass instead of dunking it when he gets a dime dropped on him near the rim. It’s good to see Battier back in a Grizzlies uniform. Forty bucks says Ginobili grimaces (more than usual) all throughout game two, while wearing some sort of unignorable elbow wrap.

New Orleans 109 - Lakers 100: Chris Paul did his thang. Everybody hates Gasol again. There’s nobody for Artest to shut down in this series; 2-for-13 is an average shooting day for Ariza. Will the Elias Sports Bureau please produce the +/- statistic for the subtle dominance that ensues when the Hornet twin-towers, Aaron Gray and Jason Smith, are on the floor together? Witness.

New York 85 - Boston 87: How’s Billups going to go out like that? I love watching Kevin Garnett actually have to guard somebody now that Perk is gone. The offensive foul on ‘Melo in the last minute of the game was an NBA call. If you even just let Ray Allen catch the ball in the last minute of a game, don’t bother contesting the shot. And don’t watch to see if the shot goes in. Just walk straight to the locker room immediately after he catches it, even if there’s still time on the clock.

Denver 103 - OKC 107: Best game of the weekend. Back-and-forth scoring runs all game. Gallinari threw down an alley-oop, which seems like something that needs to be mentioned. Kevin Durant became George Gervin.  And I want to mention an unmentionable, Eric Maynor, who took over the eleven minutes that he was in the game.  I would give you some of Harden's minutes were I the newly-spiked-hair Scott Brooks.