2018 NBA Playoffs: One Big Takeaway from the First 2 Games of Each Playoff series
The first 2 games of every playoff series have been played out thus far, and we've seen a number of interesting narratives arise. Most of the series have gone according to a script avid basketball fans were able to foresee.
Seeds 1 and 2 in both conferences have justified their high seeding, and have won both their first 2 games on home court. The likes of Cleveland, the 76ers, the Thunder and the TrailBlazers have, however, raised more questions than they've answered thus far.
Ideally, the tone of a playoff series needs to be set in the first 2 games itself, but none of these aforementioned teams have been able to truly get going. We take a look at the most important lesson learned from each playoff series thus far:
#1 The Raptors are the real deal this playoff season
Early in the season, when Dwane Casey was asked if he'd consider shortening his team's rotations in the playoffs, he responded with:
We will find out. The goal is to find out. Why not? What is our record right now? So why change this because some rulebook somewhere, if you find it, please send it to me because I have been on some teams where you keep the same rotation, and somebody somewhere in the back of a room says well, playoffs you have to shorten your rotation, so we have to find out unless this group proves us wrong.
Casey's group has proved him right thus far. In Games 1 and 2 at home, their bench mob has put up 41 and 42 points respectively. The difference between the two benches playing a was clear as daylight especially in Game 1, when the likes of John Wall and Bradley Beal both delivered for the Wizards but their bench could not keep up.
Wall has played as well as one could reasonably expect of him till this point. The 8th year guard has 24 assists in 2 games while scoring 52 points. But while the Wizards have shot below-par in their first two games, the Raptors have shown up big-time in important quarters.
They blew the game open for themselves in the 4th quarter of a close game 1, while not even needing Lowry and DeRozan to deliver at that point. Game 2 was a blowout from the beginning, as the Raptors put up a franchise playoff record 44 points in their first quarter and the Wizards had no answer to it.
The Wizards are one of the tougher 8-seeds in recent memory, so it's not like the Raptors are doing this against an objectively mediocre team. They're rolling as they did in the regular season to grab the NBA's second-best record, and in the first two games they've reiterated the legitimacy of their title contention.